The Federal Office of Transport (OFT) has announced wish to commission a Basel-Copenhagen-Malmö night train line in April 2026. Operated three times a week, this line would be a survivor of the Confederation’s budget cuts.
The OFT announced the prioritization of this line and the commitment of 1.2 million francs in the preparatory work in 2025. By 2030, the Confederation plans to subsidize the line to the tune of 47 million francs. This money is intended to cover the non -covered costs linked to its operation (furrows, energy, staff and rolling stock).
The subsidies do not include the purchase of new rolling stock, because “the connection could be ensured, among other things with the currently used rolling stock from Zurich to Amsterdam”, specifies Sabrina Schellenberg, spokesperson for the KEYSTONE-ATS agency.
The 47 million comes from the CO2 law, which initially provided for 30 million per year before Parliament dropped this sum to 10 million. This decrease is already a compromise in itself, underlines, the OFT, because the Federal Council wanted to purely and simply remove this contribution within the framework of its 2027-2029 financial plan.
Final decision in parliament
This subsidy aims to promote less transportation means of greenhouse gas. “Offers in long-distance travelers traffic, in particular night trains, are encouraged,” said Michael Müller, spokesperson for the OFT, with Keystone-ATS.
But the final decision will return to the federal chambers as part of the debate on the 2026 budget. SBB have only filed one request for a night train line, Basel-Copenhagen-Malmö. Only Switzerland supports this line through SBB, no other country brings any grant for its realization, specifies the spokesperson. The train would circulate there three times a week.
In parallel, the OFT spent 5 million francs in 2025 to approve the “Giruno” model so that it can drive at 250 km/h, against 200 km/h currently. This aims to offer direct trains for Venice, Genoa and Bologna. Ultimately, time saving on the different routes are possible. Finally, 1.9 million francs were spent this year to replace the restaurant cars on the Zurich-Innsbruck-Graz line.
This article was published automatically. Source: ATS