CFF regional train in canton Vaud
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The lower house of parliament Monday backed an upper house vote to provide the Swiss railway system with an additional CHF9.5 billion from 2013 to 2016 to ensure the system maintains its current level of quality despite growing demands on the railway infrastructure.
The bulk of the money will go to the CFF national rail line, CHF6.62b, while private rail companies will receive CHF2.83b.
Swiss trains transport some 306 million passengers a year.
In the first half of 2012 the number of passengers per kilometre fell, from 8.7 billion to 8.5b, costing the CFF some CHF65m. Regional traffic and subscriptions remained stable and the CFF attributed the fall in passenger traffic, the first in several years, to the problems faced by Swiss tourism this year, with the franc remaining high.
