Officials at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the main provider of public transport in Switzerland, have criticised the government for spending billions on rail projects that may turn out to be pointless. The chief federal auditor has labelled some of the greenlit plans as "thoughtless", while those within the provider itself have argued that more should be spent on maintaining the railways rather than expanding them.
Switzerland to spend big on its railway network
Over the next decades, Switzerland is set to radically expand its railway network, which is already the most densely packed in the world. Under the original plan, 3,5 billion francs was to be spent on railway expansion from 2025, with a further 11,9 billion francs planned to be spent from 2035.
However, alongside plans approved by both the government and SBB, company head of timetables Daria Martinoni told the Tages-Anzeiger that parliament had greenlit around over 20 other projects that were “not based on a timetable concept” - i.e, the plans are not based on a proven need or request from transport providers.
The most expensive of these extra non-SBB approved projects include the expansion of the main station in Geneva (790 million francs), the expansion of rail lines between Gümligen and Münsingen, Canton Bern (630 million), and in Pratteln, Basel-Land (510 million), and a new direct rail route between Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds (600 million).
Some rail projects "thoughtless", declares Swiss auditor
In all, Switzerland is now expected to spend 22,3 billion francs on 305 rail expansion projects in the next decades, up from the 15,4 billion originally intended. The Tages-Anzeiger estimated that 6,9 billion francs are going to be spent on projects where it is unproven whether it is useful or desirable.
The revelations led former SBB boss Benedikt Weibel to call for a moratorium on all railway expansion projects in Switzerland. Speaking in Lucerne in early June, he said that while parliament has fully funded the projects, once completed they are expected to cost SBB up to 3 billion francs to run. Peter Kaderli, head auditor at the Federal Audit Office, wrote in an article in NZZ am Sonntag that "thoughtless expansion of the infrastructure is endangering the future of the SBB."
What's more, in April 2023, the Swiss Financial Control Authorities warned that SBB will need 6,5 billion francs in order to repair and maintain the network it already has, echoing the maintenance woes currently besetting German railways.
In response to Weibel, Martinoni conceded that "expansion costs entail enormous follow-up costs in terms of maintenance and operation as well as in terms of service... Priority must be given to sufficient funds for the maintenance of the current network." She went on to argue that "every infrastructure expansion should be based on an offer concept that shows what it brings to the customer."
SBB CEO Vincent Ducrot added that the “problem is that Switzerland has unfortunately stopped planning properly. We focus far too much on infrastructure and far too little on customer benefits."
Clarifying later in a statement, SBB said that it was "wrong" to assume that they were against the extra projects approved by parliament. "The SBB believes that further expansions are absolutely necessary in order to ensure rail traffic in the future," the statement read. However, the company also emphasised that it was "important to first develop timetable concepts and then implement expansion projects."
For their part, Peter Füglistaler, director of the Federal Office of Transport said that Weibel is “completely wrong”, with his office adding that all of the projects are “affordable” and funded by parliament. They added that many of the unjustified projects mentioned are designed to address issues other than passenger numbers, such as avoiding lengthy closures of lines, boosting freight traffic and adding more services.
Ueli Stückelberger, director of the Swiss Association of Public Transport, labelled Weibel’s comments as “scare-mongering.” He concluded that the projects are necessary if public transport is to cater to more passengers in the future.