Lows of -28C cause travel delays across Switzerland

Temperatures have dropped across Switzerland this week, reaching as low as -28 degrees celsius in some areas. The low temperatures and icy weather conditions have disrupted train services on Tuesday, January 6.

Weather conditions cause disruptions to Swiss trains

Switzerland woke up to particularly cold, icy weather conditions on Tuesday morning, causing delays to public transport across the country. Passengers experienced disruptions on trains between Winterthur and Zurich, Lenzburg AG and Lucerne and in other parts of the country, including Basel and Bern. 

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) website shows that there are still some disruptions to trains between Bellinzona and Locarno, Lausanne and Puidoux, Champéry and Aigle and in Lucens. Check the website for the latest travel information.

SBB media spokesperson Carmen Hefti told Blick that the cold and icy weather caused some of the rail company’s 7.500 switch heaters to malfunction. “Meteorologically, we are facing more icy days – so it remains a challenging time. We apologise to passengers for the inconvenience,” Hefti continued.

Temperatures reach -28C in Switzerland

On Tuesday morning, temperatures across the alpine nation dropped to their lowest levels so far this winter. The highest temperature recorded by weather stations was -0,9 degrees celsius in Poschiavo, Graubünden. 

In La Brévine, temperatures reached a chilly -28 degrees celsius at 5am on Tuesday, reports 20 Minuten. In Bern, it was -13 degrees celsius and in Zurich and many other cities it was -10 degrees celsius.

On Wednesday, weather forecaster MeteoSwiss predicts that temperatures in Swiss cities will range from -13 degrees celsius to -7 degrees celsius, reaching -3 degrees celsius by the afternoon. Between 1 and 5 centimetres of snow is expected to fall by Thursday morning.