Swiss Federal Railways negotiates with neighbours to cut train delays
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB/CFF) is negotiating with Austria, Germany and Italy to minimise the impact of delays to rail services in Switzerland. SBB is only satisfied with the punctuality of French trains.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Delays to long-distance trains from Germany, Austria and Italy to Switzerland are commonplace and have a negative impact on connections in Switzerland.
To mitigate the delays caused by the German rail company Deutsche Bahn (DB), SBB no longer wants to include trains arriving from Munich to Zurich via St Gallen in the Swiss timetable, SBB told the Keystone-ATS news agency, confirming a report in the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Eurocity trains are integrated into the Swiss timetable, but if a Eurocity misses its slot, it is not possible to overtake a slower train and make up the lost time.
To reduce delays, SBB no longer wants to include these trains in the Swiss timetable on the St Gallen-Zurich line. The stop in St Gallen should only be used for disembarking in Switzerland from Germany. In addition, the waiting time for Eurocity trains arriving late in Switzerland must be adjusted.
Earlier departure from Milan
Trains from Italy’s Milano Centrale station to Switzerland are set to depart earlier. This will give SBB more time to absorb any delays on the Simplon rail route from Milan to Geneva or Basel via Brig.
According to SBB, punctuality on this line “fell over the summer, which is why we are working on improvements in collaboration with our Italian partners”, it told SonntagsZeitung. SBB estimated that the punctuality of international passenger traffic from Italy on the Gotthard route was at an “acceptable level”.
SBB did not reveal any details of negotiations with Austrian Railways (ÖBB). Various proposals for improvements are currently under discussion, it said in a press release. However, SBB said it was “not satisfied” with the punctuality of long-distance passenger services from Austria.
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.
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. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Switzerland to introduce flight passenger database
This content was published on
Switzerland plans to introduce a flight passenger database to collect and process personal data in a bid to combat terrorism and serious crime.
Government plans to invest over CHF16bn in Swiss rail network
This content was published on
The federal government intends to invest CHF16.4 billion ($18.1 billion) in railway infrastructure between 2025 and 2028, CHF2 billion more than for the current period.
Swiss to vote on pension reform and biodiversity in September
This content was published on
Swiss citizens will vote on occupational pension schemes and a biodiversity initiative on September 22, the Federal Council announced on Wednesday.
Ukraine peace talks: 50 countries have confirmed participation
This content was published on
To date, 50 countries out 160 invited delegations have confirmed they will attend the Ukraine peace conference, held in central Switzerland in mid-June, according to Swiss public radio, RTS.
Federer-backed On boosts forecast after sneaker demand rises
This content was published on
Swiss footwear company On Holding AG posted strong first-quarter revenue, boosted by demand for its running shoes and new line of training apparel.
Michael Schumacher’s watches fetch CHF4 million at Swiss auction
This content was published on
Watches belonging to Formula 1 great Michael Schumacher sold for around CHF4 million ($4.41 million) at auction house Christie's in Geneva on Tuesday.
Macron will attend Swiss summit on Ukraine, says Zelensky
This content was published on
French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the peace conference on Ukraine at the Swiss Bürgenstock resort next month, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
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.