The Swiss railways are preparing to invest almost 75 billion euros to expand the network with new lines or the modernisation of existing routes, yet this ambitious programme, which on paper appears to have all the credentials to deliver tangible results, is not fully convincing all stakeholders. A critical voice is SwissRailvolution, a combative association advocating for a nationwide interconnected rail development, born out of Pro Gottardo–Ferrovia d’Europa, a historic committee representing cantonal interests.
The debate intensified after a statement given to the Swiss-German daily Tages-Anzeiger by former federal railways director Benedikt Weibel, who argued that instead of expanding the already planned Zurich–Bern line, preference should be given to a new connection linking the left bank of Lake Zurich to Bern via Zug and Lucerne. According to SwissRailvolution this is an improvised suggestion, since it lacks any in-depth analysis to determine whether the project truly holds potential.
Weibel’s intervention is not being dismissed as one of the many proposals on the table, which may be legitimate even if more or less debatable, but rather highlights what critics describe as a fundamental dilemma: there is no long-term strategy, discussed and decided at political level, for the nationwide expansion of the railway network that indicates where the greatest potential lies for shifting traffic from road to rail. For this reason, SwissRailvolution is calling for a coherent plan to be drawn up before vast sums are squandered in a disorganised way on isolated projects of limited impact.
There is certainly no shortage of initiatives. After the more than six billion euros invested with significant results in the Rail 2000 project and 18 billion in the alpine transversal railways, the next stage, the 2035 expansion plan together with other projects, will absorb resources amounting to almost 75 billion euros, without any clear demonstration of their real impact beyond generic references to increased capacity and improved services.
SwissRailvolution points to the new line between Bern and Olten as a positive example, where investments slightly below 32 million euros per kilometre show how tangible results can be achieved without chasing multi-billion spending plans. Resources could also be better optimised in other cases, since a potential new line between Lausanne and Geneva would likely entail less costly works than the multitude of individual projects currently proposed.
The Zurich–Aarau tunnel, which feeds directly into the Olten railway hub, the main bottleneck of the Swiss network, also deserves more careful consideration. Above all, however, what is needed is an approach that takes into account the entire system. This is seen as essential in order to determine which alpine transversal access routes should be built first, with the aim of maximising capacity growth for freight transport.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
