Football rioters face transport clampdown

Football hooligans who run riot in trains could find themselves dumped in the middle of nowhere if plans now under discussion are implemented.

Every season rampaging fans cause about SFr3 million ($3.5 million) worth of damage to trains. The damage caused after May’s cup final alone went into five figures.

“Things can’t go on as they are,” Peter Füglistaler, head of the Federal Transport Office, told the Sunday newspapers NZZ am Sonntag and Le Matin Dimanche.

The Transport Office and Federal Railways are holding a top level meeting before the end of the month to discuss possible measures, which include alcohol tests, and a ban on alcohol and glass bottles, as well as the possibility of throwing troublesome travellers off the train between stations.

Füglistaler said they were currently checking what the railway authorities are legally allowed to do. If necessary, changes to the law would be proposed.

He said the top priority was safety and the security of other passengers. Although fans are normally separated from the ordinary travelling public by selling them reduced tickets for special trains, this does not eliminate the problem.

Hooligans have thrown items – including seats – out of the train onto the track, which endangers all traffic.

After the last cup final a passenger waiting for a train in Lausanne was injured by a bottle thrown out of a special train, and the platforms in Neuchâtel and Biel even had to be cleared as a fan train went through.