Regional trains, especially in border areas, suffered losses as tourism dropped when the franc climbed
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Four rail groups are receiving CHF21 million in aid from the Swiss government to offset some of the losses they suffered in 2011 due to the rapid increase in the value of the Swiss franc during the year.
All four provide transalpine shipping and use combined or piggyback cargo transport, carrying trucks to reduce the environmental impact on the Alps.
The government in 2011 set aside more than CHF28m in credit for which companies could apply, showing the losses directly linked to the currency’s sudden rise. Four presented their figures at the start of 2012 and will be helped out of the funds set aside: BLS Cargo, CFF Cargo International, Crossrail and TX Logistik.
Another CHF11.2m was distributed in December 2011 to a number of transport companies, mainly regional, which lost money because of a sharp fall in tourism due to the high franc.
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.
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.
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
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”.
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.
Bad news: Swiss train prices going up in 2011, but good news: hike is less than expected (photo: Lake Brienz from the train)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Public transport costs for consumers will rise by 2.4 percent rather than 3.4 percent in 2011, “Mr Price”, Switzerland’s consumer watchdog, announced Wednesday 4 August.
Lengthy negotiations between the office of Stefan Meierhans and public transport unions succeeded in getting price hikes down.
Another bit of good news for consumers is that the CHF40 day tickets offered by many communes to their residents will remain valid for use before 09:00.
When the 2011 prices were announced earlier this year the CFF rail company had said the communes’ tickets would be valid only after 09:00.
Be sure to buy a ticket before getting on a Swiss train
Bern and Bellinzona, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Train passengers without tickets or sitting in first class when they have only second class tickets will be treated alike by Switzerland’s CFF rail company, following a decision by a Swiss court: subject to CHF80 fines plus the missing fare or the difference between classes. Travelers should be aware that the fines are collected on the spot and that tickets must be purchased before getting on a train.
The Swiss administrative high court ruled Wednesday 23 December in favour of the CFF rail company, which had appealed against a decision of the Swiss Transport Office.
CFF mobile ticketing is one of several changes boosting Swiss rail traveler numbers
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Discounted tickets, a new venture by the Swiss rail company starting in May 2009, appear to have paid off: the company says that 60,000 people took advantage of the tickets, designed to encourage people who are not regular users to discover the Swiss rail system. Half of them used the train during non-peak hours to take advantage of bargain prices, a boon particularly to tourist lines. The CFF plans to offer another discount promotion starting in October. The figures were part of the financial results published Thursday 10 September by the company, which show a surprising 26.8 percent increase in turnover, given the economic climate, of CHF132.8 million.
Zurich, Switzerland (ats/romandie, Fre) – First-class travellers on Swiss CFF trains will have access to the rail company’s first lounge, in Zurich, starting 8 June. The lounge, with four rooms, is designed for 50 people and is open from 05:00 to 21:00 seven days a week. It is on the first floor of the train station building.
Bern, Switzerland – The CFF Swiss rail company is set to spend CHF2.1 billion buying 59 double-decker trains. Monday it published the news in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (le Feuille officielle suisse du commerce), launching the largest call to tender in Swiss rail history. The new trains, to be put in service by 2013, will be used for Intercity and Inter-regio rail service.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The talks are only exploratory and will remain theoretical, but Vaud cantonal councilor François Marthaler has met with a group of private investors, whose identity he will not reveal except to say they are European, to discuss a possible private-public approach to building a third rail line between Lausanne and Geneva.
