These cities are among the ten most popular flight destinations from Geneva, yet they could be reached by train in less than eight hours, the VCS said on Tuesday.
“The international rail offer is unsatisfactory, the number of connections has fallen and the remaining ones are overloaded,” said Caroline Marti, President of the Geneva section of the VCS.
According to the association, just three destinations can be reached via direct daily connections from Geneva: Paris, Milan and Venice. Marseille is also an option, but only in summer. And while night trains run from Basel and Zurich to northern and eastern Europe, there are no longer any such connections from Geneva to western and southern Europe, despite the great potential, the VCS says.
The association thus outlined these findings in a report addressed to cantonal, federal and cross-border authorities.
“To offer a real alternative to air or car travel, rail connections must be practical, comfortable and easy. Switzerland must take a clear position so as not to be isolated from the European network,” said Matthieu Jotterand, vice-president of VCS Geneva.
European coordination
The report also proposes solutions. For example, Swiss authorities could contribute to financing the Lyon area rail bypass project, the VCS says. This would help to speed up development of the project in the nearby French city, which would in turn help to connect Switzerland to France’s high-speed lines.
Switzerland, which according to Jotterand “lacks a coherent vision for international transport”, could also improve its own network. The VCS suggested reinstating a direct connection between Geneva and Basel in order to link up with night trains to Germany.
Most direct connections heading abroad from Switzerland are available from Zurich station. From here, rail travellers can reach destinations such as Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague or Budapest without changing. There are also direct connections from Zurich to Zagreb, Milan or Venice. From Basel, direct international connections lead almost exclusively to the north.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dos
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.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Trump tariffs: ‘I’m a bit perplexed’, says former US ambassador to Switzerland
This content was published on
The former US ambassador to Switzerland, Edward McMullen, says he is optimistic for the Alpine country with regard to the 31% tariff on imports imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Swiss Federal Court upholds Beny Steinmetz’s bribery conviction
This content was published on
Switzerland's highest court has upheld the conviction of French-Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz for bribery of foreign public officials.
This content was published on
The Trump administration has imposed a 31% tariff on imports from Switzerland. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has warned against "giving in to alarmism" in an interview published on Saturday,
This content was published on
Scientists have shown that bonobos combine their calls into complex sound sequences that resemble combinations of human words.
This content was published on
US parliamentarians have threatened the UN Human Rights Council with sanctions similar to those against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This content was published on
Thanks to abundant snowfall, lift operators benefited from increased visitor numbers, with the number of guests jumping by 12% year-on-year.
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.