Population: 9,121 million inhabitants – Administrative languages: German, French and Italian.
Political capital: Bern
Political system: Switzerland is a federal state with three political levels: the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. The 26 federated states (cantons) cede part of their sovereignty to the federal state, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Member of the Schengen area (2008)
Brief rail characteristics:
• UIC code : 85
• Main track gauge: 1,435mm + secondary networks
• Main electrification: 15kV AC
• High Speed > V250 : no
Rail transport
• History of rail in Switzerland
• Details of institutional organisation
• Swiss rail news highlights
Notified bodies
• Regulation : RailCom
• Security : Federal Office of Transports
Public transport
• National / local and regional authorities
The 10 top ranking cities:
• Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Bern, Winterthour, Luzern, St Gall, Lugano, Bienne
Organisation of rail transport in Switzerland
Manager of the main railway network
SBB, Infrastructure Division
Main historical railway company
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) since 1902
Public limited company since 1999 – Integrated group with divisions
Name in German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)
Name in French: Chemin de fer Fédéraux Suisses (CFF)
Name in Italian: Ferrovie Federali Svizzere (FFS)
Liberalisation (depends on the legal scope given to it)
International passenger traffic: none
National mainline passenger traffic: none
National regional and local passenger traffic: BLS, SOB
Freight traffic: a few independent operators (excluding secondaries)
Mainline and international train services
Non-subsidised long-distance trains: SBB operates its Intercity trains on a non-subsidised basis. Despite its short distances, this traffic is considered ‘mainline’.
TGV traffic, generally non-subsidised to France (under the SNCF Lyria brand)
ICE and Eurocity traffic, generally unsubsidised to Germany and Italy.
Railjet and Nightjet services managed under a service contract with the ÖBB.
Alternative mainline operators
None, despite the arrival of Flixtrain at Basel-Bad…
Local / regional train services
Subsidised regional and local trains:
• SBB operates its regional and local trains on a subsidised basis;
• secondary operators run their regional and local trains on a subsidised basis by their respective cantons (without qualifying as ‘private’).
Other local and regional operators
None within the country. Reminder: secondary networks are public…
SBB has an international subsidiary that operates a small amount of local traffic in Germany.
Freight train services
• SBB Cargo SA has been an independent company since 2019 – 65% owned by SBB and 35% by 4 private partners (Planzer, Camion Transport, Galliker and Bertschi)
• SBB Cargo International SA, owned by the SBB Group since 2020.
Alternative rail freight operators
• One private operator for domestic services: RailCare
• Several operators for Alpine transit (DB, TXL, etc.)
• BLS Cargo (2001, currently BLS AG 52%, SNCF 45% and Ambrogio Trasporti 3%) operates on Italy-Benelux routes.
• Ralpin (2001, Hupac, BLS and SBB Cargo) operates a loss-making ‘rolling road’ between Freiburg (DE) and Novara (IT).
Bus / lightrail / metro
The regions are responsible for programming, planning and supervising their public transport, as are the major cities.
Glossary of rail transport in Switzerland
Infrastructure
◼ Main network manager:
• SBB Infrastruktur
• 3.265km of lines
◼ Others secondary network managers:
• 2.277km of lines
◼ Passenger stations:
• 804 (SBB)
• 1330 (other companies)
◼ Companies registered:
• 93 opérators
◼ Main issues:
• Rail 2000 concept
• Alpin’s tunnels
• Cross-border services
• Lausanne station
• Signalling & ETCS
Rolling stock
◼ Véhicules autorisés :
• Electric vehicles
• Autonomous vehicles
• Emu
• Dmu
• Railway cars
• Freight wagons
• Others
◼ Suppliers:
• History of the industry
• Industry today
Passenger services
◼ Incumbent:
• SBB
• National traffic yesterday
• Rail 2000 concept
• Transport today
• RER / S-Bahn
• PRODES 2035
• Cross-border services
◼ Other operators :
• BLS, SOB
◼ Other secondary operators:
• Secondary operators
• Rhaetian Railway (RhB)
• MOB
• Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
• CdF du Jura
◼ International traffic:
• Traffic organisation
• Destination Italy
• TGV Lyria
• ICE International
• ÖBB Nightjet
◼ Swiss operations abroad:
• SBB GmbH
◼ SBB stations:
• 804
• History & Heritage
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main lines / secondary lines
• Modal share & economy
Freight services
◼ Industry sectors
• Steel
• Chemistry
• Intermodal
• Wood / Paper
• Other
◼ Operator:
• from single SBB to 2 enterprises
• Other operators
◼ Swiss operations abroad:
• SBB Cargo International
◼ Infrastructure :
• little freight stations
• Marshalling yards
• Main north-south routes
• Ports
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main lines / secondary lines
• Modal share & economy