Swiss and German railways sign new deal
The Swiss federal railways is planning to invest more than SFr1 billion in new trains connecting Germany and Switzerland that will enter service by the end of 2014.
The government-owned service and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn signed a memorandum of understanding in Basel on Friday.
This deal will improve services between the two countries greatly according to the two companies, increasing train numbers as well as upgrading the current fleet.
High-speed trains will run from the end of 2014 but will only reach their full speed in Germany, where infrastructure is designed to handle it.
The two firms will create a common subsidiary to reinforce traffic between Switzerland and Germany. It will be headquartered in Switzerland and the Swiss federal railways will own 60 per cent of the new company.
From 2016 onwards, Zurich will link Munich in just three-and-a-half hours, saving travellers 40 minutes. The number of trains connecting the two cities will double.
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