Swiss Federal Railways launches campaign for safety on public transport

Train staff suffer on average ten verbal or physical attacks every day, some of which have become more serious in recent years, says the Swiss Federal Railways. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss Federal Railways is launching a campaign for greater respect and safety on public transport. Starting next week, posters and screens in stations and on trains will feature a message that aims to prevent assaults.

The campaign “Respectfully on the move together” advocates respectful treatment of travellers and employees. Railways staff suffer on average ten verbal or physical attacks every day, some of which have become more serious in recent years, the transport company said on Monday. These include insults, threats, verbal abuse or assaults.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The feeling of safety is at a high level and remains strong, said the Federal Railways, as passengers on trains and in stations still feel safer than in other public spaces. But awareness needs to be raised, the company added.

Since last summer, part of the security training for Railways staff is taking place at a new security training centre. As part of practical training modules, employees receive recommendations for actions to take in critical situations. The aim is for them to react calmly and professionally in the event of aggressive behaviour and to reassure passengers. The staff are taught to not endanger themselves in the process.

+Swiss rail police to be equipped with body cameras

The transport police have been using bodycams throughout Switzerland since September. These are intended to de-escalate conflicts. The transport police work closely with local police forces and are supported by additional security services. Federal Railways customer service staff also now travel in pairs on all long-distance trains starting at 10pm.

The Federal Railways is organising the information campaign together with the transport workers’ union SEV, the Transfair staff association and the Swiss association of locomotive drivers VSLF.

Translated from German with DeepL/gw

How we work

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 [e-mail].