Switzerland to expand rail network and drop more than 30 road projects
On Wednesday, the Swiss government set out the main plans for expanding Switzerland’s transport network through to 2045, with a focus on boosting rail capacity and easing pressure on key motorway routes. At the same time, more than 30 road projects are proposed to be dropped.
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
Switzerland to expand rail network and drop more than 30 road projects
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
For the first time, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive body, plans to bring rail, road and urban transport together in a single proposal. A public consultation is set to launch in June.
In the rail sector, the Federal Council plans to improve the connection between Biel/Bienne, Lausanne and Geneva by 2030. By 2035, it aims to introduce quarter‑hourly services between Zurich and Bern, and half‑hourly services on the Bern-Lucerne and Basel-Zurich lines. Regional lines would also move to consistent half‑hourly timetables.
+ How to behave on a Swiss train
Further major projects are planned by 2045, including the first phase of the Lucerne through‑station and the Grimsel tunnel, both already approved by Parliament. The Federal Council will spell out which rail projects are set to be dropped once the consultation process begins.
To fund the rail upgrades, the government is proposing to extend the VAT surcharge that supports the Rail Infrastructure Fund (BIF) beyond 2030. According to its estimates, this would raise an extra CHF8 billion ($10 billion) by 2045, bringing the total budget for rail expansion to CHF24 billion.
On the motorway network, the Federal Council wants to prioritise projects that can be delivered quickly. It plans to ease two major bottlenecks on the A1 by widening the road to six lanes between Aarau‑Ost and the Birrfeld junction in canton Aargau and between Perly and Bernex in canton Geneva.
In contrast, more than 30 motorway projects are set to be scrapped, including the A1 widening schemes between Schönbühl and Kirchberg in canton Bern and between Le Vengeron in canton Geneva and Nyon in canton Vaud, both rejected at the ballot box. To ease congestion, the authorities plan to rely instead on operational measures such as converting emergency lanes for regular traffic when needed.
Translated from German by AI/sp
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
External Content
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.