White awakening becomes a challenge for traffic
Published: Saturday, Dec 2nd 2023, 12:31
Volver a Live Feed
Large parts of Switzerland woke up to a blanket of snow on Saturday. The beautiful white was not to everyone's delight. There were traffic disruptions at home and abroad and numerous accidents.
Over 50 centimetres of snow have fallen in the mountains in the past few hours. In Klosters and Bergün GR, for example, there was 70 centimetres of fresh snow according to SRF Meteo, and 65 centimetres in Arosa GR. In the lowlands, 48 centimetres of snow fell in Elm GL, 30 centimetres in St. Gallen and 26 centimetres in Zurich-Zürichberg, according to the private weather service Meteonews.
Various rail service disruptions
As a result, fallen trees interrupted regional rail services in several places. In the Bern region, the Bern-Schwarzenburg and Belp-Thun S-Bahn lines were affected. In the Lucerne region, a tree fell onto the tracks of the Langnau i.E. - Lucerne line between Wolhusen and Schachen LU.
Between Wimmis and Boltigen BE in the Bernese Oberland, an obstacle on the tracks also made rail traffic impossible. And between Lucerne and Hochdorf LU, a technical fault caused an interruption on the Lucerne-Lenzburg AG line.
In Graubünden, for example, the Chur - Arosa line, the section between Tiefencastel and Samedan on the Albula line and the Davos - Filisur line were interrupted due to the snow. Some replacement buses were in operation.
There were also restrictions on international rail services between Switzerland and Germany. The route to Munich was interrupted, while traffic to Stuttgart was restricted, according to SBB. According to SBB, the Constance-Kreuzlingen TG line was also disrupted on Saturday morning. No trains were running.
Numerous accidents on the roads
The effects were also visible on the roads. A total of over 120 accidents occurred on the snow-covered roads in the cantons of Bern and Zurich. Most of the accidents only resulted in fender benders. In the canton of Bern, the cantonal police registered 60 traffic accidents since Friday morning, with eight accidents resulting in injuries, as reported by the Bern cantonal police in response to a Keystone-SDA inquiry.
There were a further 60 reports of trees falling on the road. The Bernese Oberland, Emmental and Oberaargau regions were particularly affected. The road between Frutigen and Adelboden was closed.
During the same period, the Zurich cantonal police and the municipal police recorded 71 traffic accidents in the canton (excluding the cities of Zurich and Winterthur). Only one accident resulted in injuries, it was reported on request. The reason for the accidents was that the drivers had not adapted their driving style to the road conditions.
There had already been nine accidents in Chur the previous evening. For example, two pedestrians were hit by vehicles at different locations. In addition, one car crashed into a house wall and another into a fallen tree. The pedestrians were injured and taken to the Graubünden Cantonal Hospital. A car driver was also slightly injured. The other accidents caused only material damage.
Air traffic comes to a standstill
Air traffic was also affected. At Zurich Airport, 22 departures and 21 arrivals have had to be canceled since the start of operations. Swiss flights to Berlin and Munich, which was particularly affected by the snow, were canceled. Flights to Brussels and London, for example, were also canceled, according to the airport website. Airport media spokeswoman Elena Stern said on request that the winter service had been busy clearing the snow all night.
There were also delays because the planes had to be de-iced. This cost 20 to 40 minutes each time. "The snowfall leads to additional work," says Stern. Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse, on the other hand, only reported the cancellation of departures and arrivals to and from Munich on its website. According to the airport's website, Geneva-Cointrin was also largely operating normally. A flight to Munich was also canceled in Geneva.
©Keystone/SDA
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic