Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Commuters who take CGN boats between Nyon in Switzerland and Chens or Yvoire in France are out of luck Tuesday, with high winds on Lake Geneva forcing the boats to remain docked. The Thonon-Lausanne line is also not operating, although Evian-Lausanne is, with bus service between Thonon and Evian. The winds, gusting up to 100kph, are not the problem for the boats, but docking properly is, according to the company.
Weather forecast: high winds are expected to continue until Thursday, when they will die down to low to moderate. Cold temperatures will continue, with the high in Geneva expected to be -1C and -14C at 2,000 metres altitude. MeteoSwiss
To check for updates: CGN
Geneva, Switzerland tram
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The federal government has extended TPG’s (Geneva Public Transport) concession to cover two additional tram lines, Bernex to Meyrin via the Cornavin train station and from Bernex to the SNCF Eaux-Vives train station. The move allows federal funds to be used to build the additional 2.3km of line that is part of the Cornavin-Onex-Bernex (TCOB) project to extend Geneva’s transport system to the greater urban area.
Update 12:00 Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute into Geneva had very heavy traffic Thursday morning, due to a combination of the Geneva Motor Show (Nyon to Geneva tailback) and an accident between Gland and Nyon which blocked the hard shoulder. Traffic was back to normal by noon.
For updates, check the federal truck alerts site, updated every few minutes.
Overturned truck on Swiss A1 autoroute, heading into Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The driver of a heavy truck was injured and taken to the hospital in Nyon after his rig overturned about 05:00 Wednesday morning 3 March on the A1 autoroute. The extent of his injuries has not been announced, but police say his life is not in danger. He is, however, being denounced to a judge. (GenevaLunch traffic alert from Wednesday morning)
The driver, in his 20s, had leaned down to pick up a CD that fell on the floor, according to Vaud police, shortly before the Gland exit on the A1 heading towards Geneva. His truck veered onto the shoulder of the road and when he tried to right it, it overturned.
Nice drive if everyone goes the same way
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 72-year-old woman had her driver’s license taken by police after she drove about 4 kilometres the wrong way on the A9 autoroute Sunday evening 28 February, in heavy traffic, near the Bex Nord junction. The woman, apparently in a confused state, hit another car and caused minor damage. Her own car had a flat front right tire. She then continued to drive along the road that heads towards Simplon, but going the other way, towards Lausanne, in the passing lane during heavy Sunday evening traffic.
Update 10:05 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute, in the direction of Geneva, is closed between Rolle and Gland due to an accident involving a large truck. Officials say the road will remain closed until at least 11:30 and traffic, which is badly backed up, is being diverted to the N1 (lake road).
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Drivers age 20-29 have the highest number of people whose licenses were taken away in 2009: 24,858. But drivers over age 50, with nearly 15,000 licenses removed, make up the fastest growing group.
Swiss federal road safety statistics were published Tuesday 23 February and they show a 5 percent increase, to more than 34,000 drivers, in the number of people whose licenses were taken away for speeding. Drivers whose licenses were removed because they were over the alcohol limit, with 0.8 per thousand or more, decreased by 7.8 percent, some 17,000 fewer. The two make up the bulk of cases of the nearly 75,000 licenses removed in Switzerland by police in 2009.
A growing number of people, some 9,000 last year, had their licenses taken away for inattentive driving, generally due to using a cell phone or GPS system.
Consumer use of Lake Geneva boats on the rise
Leaving Lausanne, a CGN boat's trail in Lake Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Thonon-Lausanne CGN (Compagnie Générale de Navigation) boats are now accepting season tickets for the Evian-Lausanne route, the company announced Tuesday 23 February, as part of its new prices and schedules for 2010. An annual pass on the Thonon-Lausanne line, increasingly used by commuters, is CHF2,916 (€2,010 approximately), second class. The pass can be combined with the Mobilis zone 11 and 12 cards for buses, trams and metros in the Lausanne area, at a lower than normal rate.
The boats leave once an hour during peak times, morning and evening, and the trip takes 27 minutes.
Details, CGN
Update 07:00 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A strike by Lufthansa pilots was called off at midnight Monday 22 February, the pilots’ union and Lufthansa announced. Talks will resume with no preconditions and the striking unions have committed themselves to avoiding industrial action before 8 March, in an agreement with the German labour court in Frankfurt.
The strike of 4,000 pilots was expected to cause major disruption, but appears to have had a relatively minot impact: Zurich and Geneva airports reported they were fairly calm, despite 27 canceled flights Monday out of a total of 87.
The airline Swiss announced late Monday evening thatwhile its flights are not affected directly by the strike, codeshare flights are and the company will continue to keep a close eye on the situation. The Swiss-based airline, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group,
A general strike in Greece 24 February will affect some Swiss flights, the company notes.
Links to other sites: NZZ (Ger), ats/Romandie
Nyon, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The A1 autoroute will be closed between Nyon and Gland Wednesday night 17 February on the lake side of the road, heading towards Lausanne, from 21:00-05:00. Roadworks which have been going on since late January to repair a damaged bridge joint will be finished on the lake side by 18 February. The road will be closed again 25 February on the Jura side, heading towards Geneva, also from 21:00-05:00, to finish the roadworks and remove equipment.
Geneva Motor Show 2009: 2010 should pull in as many car-lovers
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Geneva Motor Show will open to a full house of 205 exhibitors from 30 countries, presenting 700 models of cars, much to the relief of the organizers, local, cantonal and federal governments, which are sponsors. The 80,000m2 of space promises to be very busy this year, with every major car company represented and some 60 press conferences scheduled two days before the public opening. One hundred world premiers are scheduled during the show.
The Geneva Motor Show, which celebrates its 80th year in 2010, is one of the world’s “big five”, alongside Detroit, Frankfurt, Paris, and Tokyo. It is the only one in Europe to take place every year. Up to 700,000 visitors are expected during the 10-day show.
Geneva Motor Show: 4-14 March at Palexpo in Geneva, near the airport
Ed. note: the easiest way to get to the show is by train, to avoid the heavy car traffic in the area. The CFF rail company offers a series of deals, including 10 percent off to anyone who shows their car show entrance ticket, and if you buy a combined train/car show ticket the first is 10 percent off and you qualify for a discount on the entrance to the show.
Keeping Swiss garages busy: traffic on the A1 autoroute in winter
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Touring Club Suisse has launched new online service, available in French and German, to help you calculate the cost of repairing your car.
The new service also makes it possible to compare what your garage is charging with average rates. TCS has set up the ervice based on its 30 years of experience in the field, with its own figures used for a database. Car owners can search by model and age.
Among its recommendations:
- try to use the same garage regularly
- intervals for car services have become shorter, but if the recommended one for your car is long, you are still responsible for ensuring that oil and water levels, for example, are maintained
- keep in mind that the hourly rate at garages varies from CHF80 to 180 but the average is CHF145 an hour
- overall, calculate that a car driven 15,000 km a year will require between CHF2,000 and 6,000 to service by 180,000 km.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Eurostar will not be running trains in or out of Brussels, Belgium for a second day, following the train crash near Brussels Monday 15 February that killed 18 people. Passengers with tickets are asked to exchange them for a later date or they can ask for a refund. Paris trains are operating normally and Lille service is suffering some delays. Contact: Eurostar.
SCNF has special site, phone line for French trains affected
Bern, Switzerland and Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Rail traffic between France and Belgium has stopped and rail authorities say the interruption could last all day Monday 15 February, following a violent head-on collision of two trains south of Brussels. The Eurostar and Thalys are particularly affected.
The accident killed more than 20 people and there appear to be many serious injuries, but authorities have not yet provided official figures. The crash occurred around 08:30 Monday morning during rush hour, with the two trains were filled with commuters.
Heading towards Lausanne, three lanes on the A1 autoroute, January 2010
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss national highway department says that the first month of a Swiss experiment near Lausanne has been successful. Eight months of road works led to the opening in mid-January of emergency lanes to traffic at peak times on the A1 autoroute between Morges and Lausanne. The accident rate in 2009 on the stretch of road was on average one a week, further clogging the road, used by 90,000 drivers a day. There was only one accident during the first month of the new system, one-quarter of the previous rate.
A1 heading into Lausanne, from Morges, three lanes as a temporary measure, January 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The problem of congested roads in regions where some of Switzerland’s worst traffic jams occur inched closer to a solution Friday, when a commission of the Swiss upper house of Parliament agreed to modify regulations governing how certain national road funds are spent.
The commission had asked for a report on how cantons would help fund projects in congested road areas, such as the stretch of A1 autoroute between Versoix and Geneva, and the A1/A9 roads around Lausanne, which routinely have heavy traffic buildups. The problems are expected to worsen in the next 10 years, with the Lake Geneva region one of the fastest growing in Switzerland.
Zurich International Airport, dusk 4 February 2010
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss International Airlines will fly non-stop six times a week between San Francisco and Zurich starting 2 June 2010, the company said Friday 5 February.
Direct flights will leave Zurich at 13:15 every day except Tuesday, when a non-direct flight will operate. The flights arrive in San Francisco at 16:30.
The non-stop flights from San Francisco will leave there at 19:25 every day except Tuesday, arriving in Zurich at 15:40.
Links to other sites: MySwitzerand national tourism office, Swiss airlines
Switzerland's 2010 autoroute sticker: fines start 1 February!
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Today is the first day when you must have a current autoroute sticker if you take a Swiss motorway, or you risk a CHF100 fine. Police will be checking for them at several autoroute exits. The sticker, which costs CHF40, must be correctly displayed in the left corner of your front windshield. Note that it must be stuck on, to avoid people sharing the sticker between cars, since it is a per car annual highway use road tax.
Dusk at 1,100 metres in Valais, Switzerland Friday: snow falling, icy roads, few cars
Snow falling steadily, but snowplows quickly clear even secondary Swiss mountain roads.
Snowfall, dusk, Swiss Alps 20 January
Click on images to view larger
Update 19:20 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Weather forecasters in the Lake Geneva region had it right: snow began to fall Friday afternoon on the plain in the Lake Geneva region and more heavily in the mountains.
Given the cold weather and cold ground, the snow is likely to accumulate faster than usual, they said, suggesting traffic problems around rush hour Friday.
They had that right as well, with icy roads throughout the region by 16:00.
Cars were slipping on the snow-covered icy roads even at low altitudes and the only happy cars above 800 metres were those with chains or four-wheel drive vehicles.
Salt supplies are running low in most cantons, so plows will be out, but some back roads may not be de-iced as quickly as usual.
The snowfall is good news for resort areas, though, with good accumulations by late afternoon Friday, even along the Rhone, at the base of roads leading up to Vaud, Bern and Valais resorts.
Switzerland winter holidays traffic jam areas, times
Jura in its winter glory
Jura snow! see additional photos with Jura report, below
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The main news this weekend: expect snow! That sounds good, but it promises to come with something less welcome, the potential for major traffic problems. The Swiss federal government has issued its annual end-January winter holidays traffic predictions, so be prepared. Peak times are Saturdays 08:00-15:00 heading south and Saturdays 10:00-16:00 plus Sundays 15:00-20:00 heading north.
Expect heavy traffic and slowdowns in these areas
Heading south
- A1 Sankt Margrethen – Genève: between Zurich and Berne
- A2 Basel – Chiasso: customs, Bâle/Weil am Rhein, between the Belchen tunnel and the interchange at Haerkingen, north entrance to the St Gothard tunnel
- A3 Basel – Zurich: customs, Basel/Saint-Louis interchange, la Wiese
- A6/A8 Berne – Interlaken: Thoune-Interlaken
- A9 Lausanne – Sion: Lausanne-Vevey
- A13 Sargans – Bellinzone: Sarganserland-Landquart, between Chur/Coire-Sud and Reichenau, north entrance to San Bernardino tunnel
- contournements/ bypasses around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Heading north
- A1 Genève – Sankt Margrethen: Berne-Zurich
- A2 Chiasso – Basel: south entrance to Saint-Gotthard tunnel between Reiden and Wiggertal ramp, customs at Basel/Weil am Rhein
- A3 Sargans – Basel: à la douane de Bâle/Saint-Louis
- A8/A6 Interlaken – Thoune: Interlaken-Spiez
- A8 Sarnen – Hergiswil: Alpnachstad-Lopper ramp
- A9 Martigny – Lausanne: between Bex and Glion tunnel
- A13 Bellinzone – Sargans: south entrance to San Bernardino tunnel, between Rothenbrunnen and Reichenau, between Zizers and Sarganserland ramp
- contournements/bypasses for Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A3/A1).
Jura report, from Shirley Curran
All week, as usual, we have skied above the clouds that enshroud the Geneva basin. Conditions in the Jura are spectacular. The hard packed base has had sprinklings of new snow and the weather has been glacial with wonderful views of trees all clothed in white. Colder, snowy weather is now predicted for a few days – that is good news for us!
Ed. note: GenevaLunch will be adding a report from the Alps during the weekend, including coverage from the Chateau d’Oex Balloon Festival.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - 20 Minutes earlier reported an accident involving several cars near the Perly exit on the contournement (bypass) stretch of the autoroute in Geneva, not far from the airport. One lane was closed and traffic badly congested for two hours, but police say traffic is now back to normal in the area.
Nyon train station, CFF controllers will be helped by new transport police
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss transport police, who will have the right to make provisional arrests, will become part of the CFF rail system starting in 2011.
The Federal Council Wednesday 27 January approved legislation drawn up by a parliamentary transport commission which will create two security systems for public transport companies. The transport police, who will be identifiable by their uniforms, will be employed only by the CFF, and they will have greater policing powers than those given to security officers, who will be used by smaller transport companies.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Work on the new tram line between the Cornavin train station and Bernex at 21-22 January provoked a water leak from the Rhone river. Workers have been repairing the leak and cleaning up flooding that affected several cellars on the street, near the Place Bel-air. Traffic has been rerouted in the area while the work goes on, expected to last through the day Monday.
A1, Morges, at dusk Monday 18 January
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The first week of the A1 autoroute’s new six-lane stretch being open has gone smoothly, with no incidents or accidents, reports the Swiss highway department. Signals opening a third lane in each direction between Morges and Lausanne light up automatically once there are more than 36 cars per kilometre. The system became operational Monday 18 January, but only in the afternoon. It will be used around the clock starting Monday 25 January.
Geneva to Lausanne traffic slowed significantly Wednesday afternoon, evening
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute from Geneva to Lausanne came close to a standstill late Wednesday afternoon thanks to urgent repairs on the Pont de l’Asse bridge, before Nyon. The joints on the bridge were repaired urgently some days ago, and the temporary measure was expected to last until a more permanent solution, scheduled for the end of January. The temporary patch did not hold, however, and the Tribune de Geneve quotes a spokesperson for the federal roads office as saying they will use fast-drying glue and a plate to cover the problem area.
