Disappointed travelers
French -speaking Switzerland, great forgotten night trains
The 47 million subsidy for a Basel-Malmö link irritates the French-speaking elected officials. They denounce the total absence of night connections to Italy or Spain.
Swiss night trains serve only the north -north -to -north regions.
KEYSTONE
While the night trains offer develops in Switzerland, a geographic imbalance arouses controversy. The recent announcement ofA Basel-Malmö linkbenefiting from federal support of 47 million francs until 2030, highlights the total absence of night trains serving French -speaking Switzerland and southern Europe. Currently, all night trains are leaving Basel and Zurich, and go north or east, notes the RTS.
An observation which stirs up the frustration of the French -speaking elected officials, like the national Green Councilor Delphine Klopfenstein Broggin, who denounces to the public service a “French -speaking Switzerland poor of international bonds”.
Marie-France Roth Pasquier, centrist member of the Transport Committee of the National Council, is also surprised by this decision with the RTS: “The destination may seem surprising. We never talked about it in our committee work. We had asked for other international lines. ” For this Friborg deputy, it is above all the absence of offers to the south which poses a problem, while many Romands claim nighttime bonds towards Rome or Barcelona.
CFFs focus on high speed
SBB justify their strategy by a logic of efficiency. Jean-Philippe Schmidt, their spokesperson, explains favoring diurnal high-speed trains for southern destinations: “For destinations well served by high speed, such as Italy, Spain or France, we put more on day trains, allowing to reach these destinations in a large half-day.”
This orientation is also explained by the considerable economic challenges represented by night trains. The example of the Basel-Malmö line is eloquent: with operating costs from 40,000 to 60,000 francs per journey and revenues of around 25,000 francs, even with a federal subsidy of 30,000 francs per trip, financial balance remains precarious.
CFFs claim that these night bonds will not be self -defined “even after 2030”, due to their intrinsic characteristics: fewer passengers than a standard train and the impossibility of reuse the berths for several partial journeys.
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