BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Airline Swiss will begin using City Airport in London rather than Heathrow for its Basel flights starting 21 May.
The airline says “the modifications to Swiss’s Basel services have been prompted by the planned sale of sister Lufthansa Group carrier bmi to the International Airlines Group.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Traffic jams are dying down in Geneva after three days of snarled traffic, but the Quai Général-Guisan will remain closed until at least Thursday. Work is continuing on the area around the burst pipes that gave way to the cold Sunday 5 February.
Swiss warming up for the March Geneva car show as new models announced
Geneva Motor Show 2011 by Mr Kio (on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/igievil/)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A record 420,900 new vehicles were put on Swiss roads in 2011, greatly overtaking the previous record set in 1989.
The number of registered vehicles rose by 2.2 percent compared to 2010, rising to 5.5 million.
The annual figures were published by the Federal Statistical Office in Neuchatel Tuesday 8 February.
Car sales weathering the gloomy economy is good news for the 2012 Geneva Motor Show that opens at Palexpo 8-18 March, with 260 exhibitors.
Among those already promoting the new models they will be showing:
- Italian car maker Fiat is unveiling its five-door version of Fiat 500, the 500L, which will replace the company’s Idea model, a mini MPV. The “new model is based on an evolved version of the Fiat Mini platform”, says the company
- Nissan will “unveil the new Invitation concept car,” reports Automotive Business Review. “The new concept car will be powered by a 1.0-litre engine that offers an ultra-low CO2 emission target of under 100g/km” but the Irish Times is more excited at the prospect of Nissan’s “Emerg-e electric range-extender sports car concept”, not to mention some promising surprises from Jaguar and Lamborghini
- NPR wrote recently that European carmakers keep getting better at diesel cars, which American manufacturers overlooked, but US carmakers are now rethinking diesel, but it’s anybody’s guess right now if they’ll be talking about it in Geneva.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Trains in both directions between Martigny and Sion will not be running again until Friday morning says the CFF rail company, after a heavy load fell from a bridge near Riddes, damaging contacts on the lines.
A bus service will replace local traffic but travellers between Geneva or Lausanne and Brig, including anyone going to resorts in the area, will have to travel via Bern.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – CFF train service between Lancy-Pont-Rouge and Geneva will stop from 09:00 Saturday until the end of service Sunday, 4 and 5 February.
The interruption is due to construction work on the line, part of the new Ceva regional rail project, and the CFF cautions that this is the first of what may be several such service cuts to allow work to move ahead.
Geneva transport services should be used instead of the train, the CFF says.
Sticky business but there is a method to removing your old Swiss autoroute “vignette”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A reminder to motorists who use the Swiss autoroutes: you must have your new sticker on the car today, correctly displayed and the old one must be removed. The fine for not observing the regulations has doubled to CHF200, and the highway patrol will be checking autoroute exits this week, so don’t take the risk of driving with just your old sticker.
How to remove your old one: the most effective method, according to several car forums in Switzerland (and this driver), appears to be using a hair dryer to dry out the glue, and a plastic window scraper to remove most of the remaining gummy bits. These can then be removed with a bit of gasoline on a rag, used with caution.
The Swiss customs office warns that to be correctly displayed the sticker must be placed on the windscreen, on the inside of the car, near the edge of the windscreen. All old stickers must be removed.
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ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – One of Switzerland’s worst spots for traffic jams will get some breathing space, with the Federal Highway Office approving a plan to widen the road from four to six lanes over 12 kilometres of the A1. A 3,300 metre-long additional tube will be added to the Gubrist tunnel.
The project, at a cost of CHF940 million, covers several works: the Weiningen and Affoltern intersections will be redone, a 750 metre viaduc will be built at Katzensee, anti-noise devices are being installed and a new drainage system will be built.
The project has been contentious, particularly over covering the west end of the Gubrist tunnel entrance, which the highway department rejected but which the commune of Weiningen has demanded. Federal, city and village authorities are now involved in talks to find a solution without delaying start of the construction project.
In addition, 113 property owners objected to the price they were offered for the land they are obliged to cede for the project, but their objections were overruled.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Flights in and out of Brussels are being disrupted Monday by a 24-hour strike by Belgium’s three main unions. The 30 January labour action comes at the same time as the Eurozone leaders’ summit to discuss the sovereign debt crisis. The unions’ protest against higher taxes and an austerity programme is causing havoc with air, rail and road traffic.
Geneva flights are so far operating mostly on schedule, but check your airline to confirm, the two airports caution.
Major Swiss highway programme changes announced
Annual highway tax/sticker to jump from CHF40 to 100 by 2015
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The roadworks weren’t welcome at the time, but the switch in Morges from two to three lanes during rush hour, using emergency lanes, has been such a success at reducing traffic jams that the Federal Highway Office plans to set up the same system in Geneva and Lausanne.
The measure is part of a series of highway improvements announced by Bern Wednesday 18 January, with the focus on shifting 378km of cantonal roads to the national highway system by 2014, to better needs today that are the result of a series of urban developments over the past five decades.
Morges again has special treatment, with the office adding a Morges bypass to the list of projects to be developed sooner rather than later, to ease the growing congestion in the Crissier area. The cost: CHF220 million. Details of a likely bypass, published in 2009, call for a larger loop from Morges Ouest (west) to Ecublens.
The A1 around Morges was given three lanes in 2009, for rush hours
The package includes traffic flow improvements for Coppet-Le Vengeron, at a cost of CHF175m.
The number of kilometres driven on Swiss autoroutes has doubled since 1990. Recent studies show a 34 percent increase in 2010 in the number of hours of traffic jams, to 15,910, compared to 2009 In the next 18 years, some 400km of autoroute will regularly suffered congestion.
The Morges area switch to three lanes during rush hours has improved traffic flow, the highway department says, lowered the accident rate by 15 percent in general and 80 percent locally, and it has also brought about a 20 percent reduction in pollution next to roads: CO, CO2 and NOx emissions.
Bern and Winterthur will see their emergency lanes changed in the near future, with Geneva and Lausanne, but also several other areas including stretches along Lake Zurich, scheduled for later.
Automatic signals to reduce speed for better traffic flow to go from 85km to 400km
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A number of Swiss trains, including Intercity trains between Zurich and Basel and Zurich and Bern, have been running late for most of the day due to a break in the line at Deitikon, in canton Zurich. Trains have had to alternate on the same line in some areas, causing delays of up to 30 minutes. The main Geneva-St Gallen trains have been affected.
CFF rail company authorities say cold may be the culprit, affecting some electric lines. Monday night was Switzerland’s coldest night to date this winter.
Highest number since 1964, as steady annual growth continues
The busiest day of the year on Lake Geneva, for the CGN boat company, was 11 August, when it carried 17,500 passengers
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The CGN boat company carried more than 2 million people on Lake Geneva in 2011, the highest number since the national expo year of 1964, despite the high franc compared to the euro.
There were some 100,000 more travelers in 2011 compared to 2010, an 8 percent increase in line with the increases of the past 10 years.
The company notes that productivity has risen sharply, thanks in large part to the growth in cross-lake ferrying, mainly of commuters, by the Navibus, which have been running since 2006.
But 2012 is likely to prove more difficult, with demand outstripping supply in the short term, for cross-border traffic.
The busiest day of the year was 11 August.
British passengers are by far the largest group flying into Geneva, followed by the French, US passengers and Spanish (source: Genève Aéroport, December 2011)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – It was a very good year for Geneva’s international airport: 2011 saw 10.5 percent growth in the number of passengers, with 13.1 million people flying in and out of the city.
Planes carried more passengers, with the number of takeoffs and landings increasing by 6.6 percent.
Financial information will be published later, the airport noted while announcing its traffic figures for 2011, Wednesday 4 January.
Growth will slow considerably in 2012, according to airport projections.
Lausanne-Geneva train traffic to grow 35% in next three years
View from the rails, Lausanne, 20 December 2011
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The additional CHF90 fine that went into effect 11 December for CFF rail travelers taking the train without a ticket has resulted in half a million francs in additional revenue in 10 days, according to Zurich’s NZZ newspaper 21 December. The CFF’s spokesperson Lea Meyer told NZZ that most passengers are nevertheless traveling with tickets: on average one person is fined for every two trains, some 800 fines a day.
The company said when it announced the sharp increase in fines (in addition to the price of the ticket passengers must pay) that the goal was not to bring in income so much as to reduce the inefficiency and high cost of ticket-takers issuing tickets.
Major extensions to Lausanne station moving ahead
In other Swiss rail news, the CFF in the past week acquired three buildings next to the station in Lausanne, as planned, that will the station to add new lines and double the rail capacity between Geneva and Lausanne by 2025.
The CFF told GenevaLunch this week that traffic on the line is expected to see a 35 percent increase by 2015, in just three years, due to the population growth in the region.
The company had 25,000 travelers a day on the line in 2000 and it has already doubled to 50,000 daily this year. By 2025 it will reach 100,000 a day.
Geneva airport's new visitor centre
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Genève Aeroport has officially opened its new visitor centre at the arrivals level, just in time for the nearly month-long Christmas and New Year’s holidays followed by the winter ski season. And with Switzerland welcoming huge snowfalls for the past five days, the skiers are already flocking to the Alps, high franc or not.
The new centre has separate information desks for Geneva’s tourism office, the long distance bus system Gare Routiere and a French tourism office as well as a separate welcome spot for conferences and events, all highly visible. Friday for the official opening the European football Body Uefa had a desk open.
The airport’s signage system is also getting a makeover and the first new colour-coded signs went up last week: blue background bars for flight-related information, gray for airport services and red for shops. The new signs will be replaced gradually in the next month.
Another change will take a year to implement: the airport’s reserved parking spaces are working all right, says Airport head Robert Deillon but travelers need to be able to reserve a space on much shorter notice.
The airport has just selected a partner to completely overhaul the electronic system.
The changes are part of a push by Geneva to become a centre for luxury shopping, with the tourism office and airport joining forces to bring in more high-end travelers. Geneva’s airport already outpaces Zurich’s for per traveler spending, by one franc (what they spend is a closely secret).
Geneva's trams, buses, have new schedules starting 11 December
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva public transport system (TPG) buses and trams will run on new schedules, new routes and new fares starting 11 December, the same day the new CFF Swiss rail schedule goes into effect.
This year’s annual changes are more significant than in some years, the result of a major and ongoing overhaul to better service the growing population. The new system can be reviewd line by line on the TPG web site, in French. To make sure your line is still running and at what time, you can also enter your itinerary on the route planner, in English.
New fares are available in French and English.
If you’d rather ask a question in person, you can either go to one of the TPG associates who are walking around stops and stations wearing bright orange jackets or go to the Plainpalais Circle temporary booth.
Customer approval up as on-time arrivals rise by 13% in year
Easyjet comes into Geneva near the Saleve; it remains Geneva's busiest carrier
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Easyjet ended its year 30 September with a good year in Switzerland and overall customer approval up strongly, in large part because of a 13 percent increase in on-time arrivals.
The company also announced when it issued its financial report covering the period, published in mid-November, that it will begin trialling assigned seating in Spring 2012, as part of its push to increase customer approval ratings.
It has not provided details about the routes or flights or how the new seating system will work.
Passenger numbers for the company as a whole rose nearly 12 percent, and 56 percent of customers are now outside the United Kingdom.
On-time arrivals rose from 66 percent at the end of September 2010 to 79 percent on average for the following 12 months, but Q4, which ended 30 September, showed an 85 percent on-time rate.
The company carried 7.7 million passengers in Switzerland, it told Swiss news agency ATS, almost exactly the same number as the population of Switzerland, during the period.
More evening trains on weekends on the newly renovated track 1 out of Geneva
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Check your train schedules carefully in the next few weeks if you’re used to stopping at either Cointrin or Vernier-Meyrin on the Geneva-La Plaine route, for both are changing their names.
The stops’ new names go into effect with the new CFF Swiss rail schedule 11 December.
Cointrin will in future be called Vernier and Vernier-Meyrin will be called Meyrin, at the request of the canton.
One of the reasons behind the change is to avoid confusion on the part of travelers heading for Geneva Airport, which used to be called Cointrin Airport.
It changed its name officially to Genève Aéroport in April 2011.
Other changes for Geneva travelers:
- a fast train from La Plaine to Geneva will be added in the morning, when the trains carry students heading to school, leaving at 07:11 and arriving at 07:26
- the Coppet-Lancy-Pont Rouge line will run every 30 minutes until the trains stop for the night, on Fridays and Saturdays.
More on the 2011 train schedule changes, including improved service for some communes on the Lausanne-Geneva line.
IOC President Jacques Rogge, YOG Ambassadors and the Innsbruck 2012 YOG mascot Yoggl at the Olympic Museum (photo ©2011 CIO / Richard Juilliart)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions, will close 30 January for 20 months for major renovations. Entrance to the museum, which has 200,000 thousand visitors a year, is free from 1 December to 29 January.
During the renovations a CGN Lake Geneva boat docked in Ouchy will house a temporary, smaller museum.
The International Olympic Committee is investing CHF55 million to modernize the museum, which opened in 1993.
It will be enlarged, from 2,000m2 to 3,000m2, thanks to its research centre moving to a neighbouring building.
The restaurant will have a green roof and the museum will be equipped with at least 300 screens. The museum will be developing two new areas for school group visits.
The new-look museum will re-open in November 2013.
UK strike could cause flight delays: check with your airline
GENEVA / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A public sector strike in Britain Wednesday 30 November is expected to cause slowdowns at border crossings, including airports, Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed. The impact on Geneva and Zurich airports is not yet clear, with BA and Swiss flights on schedule early in the morning, but passengers should check for updates on airlines’ sites:
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Tourists who are tempted to drive across Switzerland on the faster roads without the sticker might want to reconsider. It will cost you double, with the fine jumping from CHF100 to 200. Swiss motorists beware: you have until 31 January to make sure the sticker is on your vehicles.
The cost of the sticker remains CHF40 for the 2012. It can be used starting 1 December and is valid until 31 January 2013. The old 2011 sticker is valid until 31 January 2012.
The highway department warns drivers they must remove their old stickers to make it easier to see the new one. The sticker has to be placed on the windscreen, on the inside of the car, near the edge of the windscreen; stickers not correctly placed can prompt a fine this year.
The stickers serve as a sign you’ve paid the Swiss road tax, which replaces the tolls in some neighbouring countries.
They are available at customs agencies, petrol stations, post offices, highway department offices and garages.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Easyjet is adding three new cities in southern Europe to its 2012 summer flight schedule: Catania, Sicily in Italy, Athens, Greece and Venice, Italy.
The first will be at least twice a week and the other two three times a week, starting 18 April 2012.
Swiss soldiers travel on Swiss trains for free when on duty (photo: Morges station, November 2011)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The 2012 train schedule that goes into effect 11 December will offer travellers better connections for trips abroad. Some parts of the Lake Geneva region will also see improvements. But the best news for many working travellers is that mobile connections are being improved, as is the online sales service.
The CFF rail company presented highlights of the new schedule to the press Thursday 17 November.
You’ll be able to plug in and connect better in 2012
All the new trains will have electric plugs and existing intercity trains will also get them. “All the new Duplex trains on the intercity trains will be equipped with WLAN,” says Jeannine Pilloud.
A major improvement could be the installation of equipment that amplifies signals received inside and outside the train cars, giving better access to the cell phone and Internet network.
1.8 million cell phone tickets ordered and number growing
The CFF app for ordering online tickets via cell phone is proving popular, with 1.8 million users since it was introduced in 2010, and the number is growing steadily, says the rail company.
Users of the small pocket timetables will find that some of the international ones are disappearing, in favour of online information, and that smaller stations’ stops are no longer listed, but are incorporated into regional listings. All details will be available online, however.
French-speaking Switzerland, especially commuters, to see significant improvements
A host of changes for trains in the Lake Geneva region will have a significant impact:
More double-decker trains will be used on the Geneva airport/Lucerne line, offering more seats
An additional InterRegio train will run between Neuchatel and Lausanne at 07:53 and the Neuchatel/La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle line will have additional service during rush hour and a pair of trains is being added to the Neuchatel to Bienne line
Canton Vaud: the S4 line is being extended from Morges to Allaman, stopping in Saint Prex and Etoy, which will now have trains every 30 minutes instead of once an hour, Monday to Friday.
Geneva: La Plaine/Geneva, more trains will run during rush hour. Coppet–Geneva–Lancy-Pont-Rouge trains, the 30-minute schedule is being extended for weekend night and trains will run every half hour on Fridays and Saturdays until the end of the day.
New international connections, travel time cut on major links
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The politicians, and there were many of them, at the groundbreaking ceremony for Ceva, the new French-Swiss regional rail system, made much of the historic importance of the moment. The ceremony Tuesday morning 15 November comes 100 years after Switzerland and Geneva signed an agreement to undertake the financing of a rail project that would link the city to the French rail system. At that point discussions had already been underway for some 60 years.
The Tuesday ceremony marks the end of years of effort to overcome political hurdles and opposition in order to treat the border area as one region, for transport purposes.
Source: Ceva (click on image to view larger)
The kickoff for the CHF1.57 billion Ceva project signals the start of a number of related rail projects for the Lake Geneva region, noted Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard in a speech.
She noted that the federal government recognizes the rapid growth of the region and the desire for an expanded public transport system that will better link cantons Vaud and Geneva.
A side benefit of the project will be the construction of 1,000 new housing units near the line, in La Praille, Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg.
Construction will start at the end of January 2012. Ceva will link Gare Cornavin in Geneva to Annemasse via a 16km long rail line, 14km of which is in Switzerland, with five stations: Lancy–Pont-Rouge, Carouge–Bachet, Champel–Hôpital, Genève–Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg. Most of the line will be underground, with two tunnels and several covered sections. Two bridges, one over the Arve and the other over teh Seymaz, are part of the project.
The end result of the six-year construction project will be to link the French SNCF rail system with the Swiss CFF, creating a true RER, or regional transport system.
The Swiss federal government is financing 55.47 percent of the project, canton Geneva 44.53 percent.
Negotiations are still underway with the French for their part of the line and some parts of the project still face legal battles, but the approval by Geneva voters in 2009 of a part of the money to be spent by the canton enabled the project to move ahead.
Key figures:
- Some 240,000 people live or work within 500 metres of a Ceva station
- Cornavin to Eaux-Vives will take 13 minutes
- 6 trains an hour will link Cornavin to Annemasse.
Some serviced is back, but expect delays, disruptions for the morning
Lausanne-Geneva trains, including Brig-Geneva airport line, not running Tuesday morning
Update 09:15 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Trains are back on the track and running btween Lausanne and Geneva, after a 70-minute stop during rush hour on one of Switzerland’s most heavily travelled routes, says the CFF rail company. A signal box breakdown in Coppet was responsible for stopping the trains from 07:30 to 08:40. Repair work will continue until noon, but travellers should expect disruptions and delays for the morning, says the CFF.
Regional and RER trains were not affected, between Geneva and Coppet, and between Lausanne and Allaman, but the breakdown left the Intercity trains unable to make the Lausanne-Geneva connection.
The CFF announced the problem via loudspeakers on the quais and put a team of helpers out to guide people.
Updates in English from the CFF.
Here are details from the CFF, provided at 08:21:
Between Coppet and Gland on the Genève-Aéroport – Lausanne line, no train services are operating.
The Lancy-Pont-Rouge – Genève – Coppet S-Bahn trains are running on schedule.
Trains RE Genève – Lasanne are cancelled between Coppet and Gland.
Trains IR Genève-Aéroport – Lausanne – Brig are cancelled between Genève-Aéroport and Lausanne.
Trains IR Genève-Aéroport – Lausanne – Bern – Luzern are cancelled between Genève-Aéroport and Lausanne.
Trains ICN Genève-Aéroport – Morges – Biel/Bienne – Basel SBB / Zürich HB – St. Gallen are cancelled between Genève-Aéroport and Morges.
Intercity trains Genève-Aéroport – Lausanne – Bern – Zürich HB – St. Gallen are cancelled between Genève-Aéroport and Lausanne.
Passengers travelling from Coppet to Nyon or vice versa travel via BUS TPN11.
Reason: Signal box malfunction
Duration of disruption indefinite.
Bags in the train luggage areas during rush hour - or risk paying for a second seat, says the CFF
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Watch where you set your bag on Swiss trains starting 11 December when the new timetable and new rules come into effect. More and more Swiss are taking the train, a mostly good thing, but for anyone traveling with a bag during peak hours, a new rule could be costly: if you set your bag on a seat during busy times you will be liable for a half-price ticket when the conductor comes by.
Ticket-takers have been trying, for some time, to improve awareness of the problem by making announcements asking people to take their bags off seats during busy times, with some trains no longer having enough seats for passengers during rush hour.
Passengers are free to use the seats near them for their gear, free of charge, during low travel times, the CFF rail company says.
Reminder: costly to take a Swiss train without a ticket as of 11 December
Another change that comes into effect 11 December is the hike in the fine for getting on a train without a ticket, which goes up to CHF90, plus the price of the ticket.
Ed. note: CNN today carries a feature article on the major construction work and changes at the Zurich train station, happily calling the Swiss “train addicted”.
Chinese tourists overtake Italians, catching up with French, British
Chinese tourists on Mt Saentis 29 October, next to Switzerland's first mountain peak weather station, commissioned in 1882: on a clear day six countries are visible from this point
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss franc continues to have a strong impact on European and US visitors to Switzerland, with the number of overnight stays by foreigners in September down 6.8 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.
Foreigners accounted for a little more than half of the industry’s 3.3 million overnight stays in September.
The overall figure for the year to date is down 2 percent, but in September overnight stays fell 3.4 percent.
The decline in European stays continued, with Bern attributing this largely to the over-valued Swiss franc against sterling and the euro. Visits by foreigners were down 6 percent, but European visitors’ stays fell by 11 percent.
German tourist numbers were down 13 percent, British 13 percent, Dutch 12 and Italian 11 percent. US visitors are down 9.4 percent, although the number of overnight stays by Canadians rose
Chinese tourists to Switzerland: rapid increase as Alps tug Asians
Mt Saentis 30 October: a popular destination for German tourists, is attracting Chiense visitors
Asian numbers and in particular overnight stays by Chinese tourists continue to rise, with a 12 percent overall increase that includes a 43 percent increase by Chinese visitors, some 20,000 overnight stays. For the year to date, Chinese tourists show a 58.6 percent increase.
Germany remains by far Switzerland’s largest tourist client country, with some 470,000 overnights to date in September. The US was second with 172,000, Britain third with 152,000, France fourth with 100,000 – and then the surprise of China, with 67,000 overtaking Italy, with 65,000.
Wanted: British skiers, snowboarders, holiday fans and winter hikers
The British figures are likely to cause particular concern, with the crucial ski season coming up. Swiss statistics show 1.43 million overnights from January to the end of September, and the fourth quarter tends to be low, but the industry is holding its breath looking at winter ski season reservations.
British statistics register “visits” by its citizens abroad rather than overnight stays, and in 2010 the number of visits was down to 896,000 from a 2008 figure of 1.16 million. The first quarter of the year, with the ski season, saw 294,000 British visitors in 2011, compared to 350,000 a year earlier.
British tourists travelled again in the second quarter of 2011, but with the weakening pound, travel increased to North America, remained stable in the European Union and dropped to countries outside the EU, which includes Switzerland. Travel outside the EU during April to the end of June was at a level last seen in 2009 and before that, iln 2005.
Update Sunday 30 October 22:30 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Travellers’ alert: a court has ordered Qantas to resume flights and workers to go back to work after thousands were stranded by a strike Saturday. The Australian airline says it will resume flights Monday afternoon 31 October, Australian time.
Saturday 29 October grounded all flights worldwide, effective immediately, as it locked out three of its labour unions, including pilots and baggage handlers. The company is asking passengers not to go to the airport until further notice, but says it will refund ticket holders who want to cancel their flights.
Switzerland's new hybrid cargo and train maneuvering locomotives: cheaper to maintain, more energy-efficient
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A 4,000 ton annual reduction in CO2 and a significant improvement in maintenance costs: Swiss cargo trains will have 30 hybrid locomotives starting in 2013, the CFF rail company has announced.
The new engines are made by Stadler Winterthur, whose director, Hartmut Dietrich, calls them “the most modern and most innovative on the market”.
The locomotives were presented by the two companies 14 October in Winterthur.
The CFF’s traction energy consumption has remained relatively stable for the past four years, between 1,827 and 1,879 GWh.
The new engines are based on an existing model, entirely electric, used by the CFF for maneuvers with passenger trains, the Ee 922.
The new model’s (E 923) electric traction power is twice as great, but it also has a diesel motor for rail lines that have no electric contact points, which gives it far greater flexibility.
The new locomotives have a higher speed, up to 120kph, which will allow them to free the rail lines more quickly for other trains, resulting in sharply lower operating costs, says the CFF.
CFF is paying CHF88 million for the E 923 engines, some of which will be delivered in 2012, but it notes that it will lose the high maintenance cost of older locomotives, such as the Bm 4/4s, which are being retired.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Bicycle owners in Switzerland will say farewell at the end of the year to the CHF5 tax and stickers on their bikes, the Federal Council confirmed 13 October.
The tax, in reality a form of third party insurance, will no longer be necessary as of 1 January 2012, but the insurance coverage from 2011 licenses is valid until 31 May 2012.
The system is being phased out to allow private RC (responsabilité civile) insurance to provide third party coverage. Most Swiss have RC coverage but Bern says a campaign will start soon to make those without it aware of the risks they run.
Details, GenevaLunch 23 May 2011
Snow, mud and rainstorms have disrupted traffic, notably around Frutigen and Kandersteg (photo, winter 2010, BLS rail near Kandersteg)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A number of small train lines, mainly in central Switzerland, continue to have disrupted service after Monday’s storms and mud slides, and some will remain closed until 12 October.
The CFF provides a list and a map of areas where service is interrupted.
