The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Zermatt rail link interrupted for weeks after severe flooding in Switzerland

Rails: Visp-Täsch section closed until mid-August
Rails: Visp-Täsch section closed until mid-August Keystone-SDA

Following the recent floods in Switzerland, trains operated by Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn will not be running to the Swiss mountain resort of Zermatt until at least mid-August.

The Visp-Täsch rail link will stay closed until at least mid-August due to severe damage caused by the flooding of the Vispa river. Several sections of the railway route have been significantly affected. Replacement bus services are currently in operation.

More

“The situation between the region of Kalpetran and the village of St Niklaus is particularly critical,” said Egon Gsponer, Head of Infrastructure at the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, during a press conference on Wednesday. The extensive damage and the challenging access to the sites are complicating efforts to repair the tracks, thereby hindering the transportation of materials and construction machinery.

It is now impossible to provide a precise cost estimate. “However, repair expenses alone will exceed CHF10 million ($11 million),” said Fernando Lehner, CEO of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. He also said that more than a million will be required for the cost of replacement buses.

Translated from French by DeepL/sp

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

The start of the holiday season means long traffic jams on the Gotthard

More

Gotthard traffic queue hits 11km at start of holiday season

This content was published on The start of the summer holidays saw a long traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel on Saturday. Traffic jams between Erstfeld and Göschenen in canton Uri were up to 11 kilometres long early in the morning.

Read more: Gotthard traffic queue hits 11km at start of holiday season
Study: Rhine could become up to 4.2 degrees warmer by 2100

More

Rhine could warm by 4°C by 2100, scientists warn

This content was published on The water temperature of the Rhine River could rise by up to 4.2° degrees Celsius by the end of the century due to the warming planet, scientists warn.

Read more: Rhine could warm by 4°C by 2100, scientists warn
'Leopard 1 A5' combat tanks in Germany.

More

Switzerland eyes joining EU rearmament programme

This content was published on The Federal Council wants to explore the possibilities of joining the European Union’s €800-billion rearmament programme without compromising Swiss neutrality.

Read more: Switzerland eyes joining EU rearmament programme
Premiere for Swiss Air Force on French National Day

More

Premiere for Swiss Air Force on French National Day

This content was published on On July 14, the Swiss Air Force will take part in the traditional air parade in Paris to mark the French bank holidays with an F/A-18 fighter jet. This is a first for Switzerland.

Read more: Premiere for Swiss Air Force on French National Day

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR