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.
Rolle, Lake Geneva, 16 December 2011
GENEVA / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich airport is suffering major disruptions due to storms Friday evening 16 December and Geneva airport saw delays during the day, as winter blew into Switzerland with a vengeance.
Valais police are reporting several roads closed due to heavy snow, and the car/train link between Goppenstein and Kandersteg was closed Friday. Trees are down in several parts of Vaud, with one tree hitting three cars in Lausanne.
Joachim is the name of the storm that blasted its way across parts of the Jura and Bern Friday morning, bringing high winds and storms that churned up Lake Neuchatel.
Zurich airport reported some cancelled or delayed flights Friday morning, notably from Nice, London and Amsterdam, all affected by storms. By Friday evening Swiss was sending people to a “bad weather in Europe” page and Zurich airport was showing several flights cancelled or delayed, including Paris and London flights.
Geneva airport, which opened its new visitor center officially 16 December was only lightly touched, with some London flights cancelled and minor delays as the Lake Geneva region was drenched by winds and torrential rains.
The Swiss Institute for snow and avalanche danger has put most of canton Valais on a red alert (level 4) for avalanche danger. Postal cars on the Gampel-Steg and Blatten (Lötschen) line are not running because of the danger of avalanches.
Weather has also closed several regional train lines, including Rochers-de-Naye.
Lake Geneva at Rolle 16 December, looking towards Evian and the French Alps where the clouds are dumping snow
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Vaud police are trying to identify the body of a person who early Friday evening slipped under security rails to go onto the M1 metro lines in Renens-Flon, shortly before the junction of Pontet and Chavannes-près-Renens, ATS has reported. The M1 metro system driver hit the brakes and emergency alert system immediately, but the person was thrown and emergency services that rushed to the scene could only confirm that the person had died.
M1 services Friday evening were disrupted by the accident.
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Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - A major fire at the Opeo Gouttes factory that recycles Pet (polyethylene) bottles, on avenue de Sévelin in Lausanne, broke out at 04:30 Thursday morning 8 July. Police say there is no danger from fumes and no one has been injured, but as a precaution the M1 Metro line has been closed between Flon and Malley to check the system for damage.
TSR reports that 30 firefighters were at the scene at 06:30 and that traffic in the area remains disrupted.
Buses are being used to replace the Metro trains. Updates on the Metro line are posted on the Lausanne Transports Publique site.
Expect tight security around the WTO buildings, but mainly at the CICG where the conference takes place
Several thousand in Geneva for WTO meeting, demonstration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The barriers were being readied in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Thursday 26 November along the lake road in Geneva, and security measures around the area began to move into place for the start of the Seventh Ministerial Conference Monday 30 November, with several thousand people expected to take part.
Hotels have little space, but for local residents the main sign of the global talks will be disrupted traffic.
Detours and road closings begin Saturday 28 November, when 3,000-5,000 demonstrators are expected to take part in an anti-WTO march that starts at 14:30 at the Place Neuve.
Anti-WTO march Saturday after in centre of Geneva
The Vengeron exit (where the road split before the airport) on the A1 autoroute into Geneva, coming from Lausanne, will be closed early Saturday 28 November until the end of the march late afternoon. Traffic will be directed to the airport exit.
The march itinerary supplied by Geneva police:
