Expansion of the Swiss rail network delayed, according to the federal government
Published: Monday, Apr 29th 2024, 11:40
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According to the Federal Office of Transport, the commissioning of all the infrastructure decided on for the expansion of the rail network in Switzerland will be delayed until the 2040s due to delays and additional costs. The service originally planned for 2035 can only be realized with additional expansions, the federal government announced on Monday.
The implementation of the more than 300 construction measures is very challenging, it continued. The existing network can only cope with a limited number of construction sites at the same time if ongoing operations and punctuality for passenger and freight traffic are not to be affected too severely.
According to the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), the delays affect several major projects - such as the expansion of the Bern, Lausanne and Geneva rail hubs. A FOT spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request that it was not possible to provide more precise information at the moment, as not all major projects are affected to the same extent and the situation could change again.
According to the rail companies, further additional costs are also to be expected. It is not possible at the moment to put a figure on how high these will be, as this is a current inventory, the spokesperson continued on request.
Either way, the next Federal Council dispatch on rail expansion - which is due to be adopted in 2026 - will focus on the consolidated 2035 service concept with additional infrastructure measures and an update of ongoing expansion projects, as the FOT also announced on Monday.
However, the scope for new major projects and expansions to the Swiss rail network, which the FOT is examining on behalf of Parliament, is limited within the scope of the 2026 Dispatch, the statement continued. Their feasibility must now be examined. This is because: "Due to numerous smaller measures for the consolidation of the 2035 expansion step, there is less money available from the rail infrastructure fund for new projects," the FOT spokesperson told Keystone-SDA. This means that these projects would then have to be "phased".
The FOT is currently examining several new major projects, for example the Lucerne and Basel junctions, the Aarau-Zurich direct link and upgrades on the Winterthur-St. Gallen and Lausanne-Berne routes as well as the Grimsel Tunnel.
©Keystone/SDA
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