Federal Council espouses 2021 “Year of the Railways”

Switzerland’s aim is to promote rail transport in Europe and contribute to the achievement of the local “Green Deal” climate targets

On March 29, Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga and the head of SBB, Vincent Ducrot, attended the digital meeting organized by the Portuguese President of the Council of the European Union to launch the so-called “Year of the Railways”.
The aim is to promote rail transport in Europe and thus help achieve the continental climate goals of the “Green Deal”.

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With the adoption of various measures, Switzerland is further expanding rail transport and thus climate-friendly mobility.
The country welcomes the EU initiative and has also set ambitious climate targets and aims for a CO2-neutral balance of emissions by 2050.
In order to achieve these goals, the railways must play an even greater role in mobility.

A very useful meeting point between EU and EFTA

In the margins of the launch of the “Year of the Railways”, an informal meeting has also been scheduled with the transport ministers of the EU to which the states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), i.e. Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, are also invited.
The Federal Councillor will present Switzerland’s commitment at the international level in favour of cross-border rail links that are closer to the needs of customers.
These actions proposed by Simonetta Sommaruga include the promotion of digital solutions and integrated, user-friendly international tickets.

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In addition, the Federal Councillor intends to thematize Switzerland’s efforts to shift transalpine freight traffic from road to rail during the meeting.
In the so-called “Year of the Railways”, Switzerland will strengthen the railroads with further measures: Switzerland is actively participating in the implementation of the “TEE 2.0” initiative (TransEuropExpress 2.0), which was launched last year as part of the German presidency of the European Council.
The initiative envisages the expansion of cross-border rail links in Europe.

Yes to the “fourth package” of cross-border traffic

The FOT is also working on implementing the technical pillar of the fourth European railway package as quickly as possible in order to further simplify and thus enhance cross-border rail traffic.
The FOT is also implementing the rail network expansion plans decided by Parliament. Preliminary work on the next stage of expansion is underway.

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In order to strengthen transalpine freight traffic by rail, a package of measures for modal shift decided on by the Federal Council in 2019 is being gradually implemented.
Measures for further strengthening of modal shift will be presented to the Federal Council with the 2021 modal shift report.