PostedJuly 1, 2022, 8:30 PM
The CFF are abandoning the idea of saving a few minutes, using technology installed on the trains and are now pleading for a new section.
The defenders of a new railway line have found a new ally, and not just any one: the CFF themselves.
20min/Marvin Ancian
Winding, the “Lausanne-Fribourg-Berne” line does not allow trains to run at the same speed as on the very efficient “Berne-Zurich”. The CFF however announced on Friday the abandonment of the ambition to make the trains run a little faster on the line, which was provided for by the “rapid crossing of curves”.
too uncomfortable
One technology, roll compensation, was supposed to save five minutes on the journey between Lausanne and Bern. Just over 32 million had been invested by SBB to test and, possibly in the long term, equipping duplex trains with the necessary means to run faster. However, “the CFF will not invest more”, announced the company on Friday.
“Test runs have indeed revealed negative effects on travel comfort. This highly complex technique, tailor-made for a niche market, is demanding in terms of maintenance, a source of errors and therefore not promising for the future”, justifies the railway company.
resuscitate the line
In French-speaking Switzerland, the decision dismays the political world, but it might paradoxically revive an idea that had never succeeded, now with the new strong ally that is the SBB. “The construction of a new section is favored by SBB,” reads the statement.
It is the Confederation which must also go faster
For the Transport Conference of Western Switzerland (CTSO), which brings together the State Councilors in charge of transport, the cup is full. Because in addition to the abandonment announced today, it recalls that the SBB timetable will lengthen the travel time between Lausanne and Bern by 2 to 3 minutes, from 2025. It is now necessary to give “the highest priority” to a new line, to make up for the “delay of almost 40 years” and the “planning errors of the Confederation and the SBB”.
The OuestRail association, through its president Olivier Français, adviser to the States (PLR/VD), also now believes that: “the only realistic solution is a new line for conventional rolling stock, as proposed more 40 years old”.