Snowfall Some transport companies are slowly resuming operations

The winter services put in a night shift in many places in the lowlands. The transport companies in Basel and Zurich partially resumed operations. SBB expected delays and train cancellations to continue on Friday morning.

Several hundred SBB staff were doing their utmost to prevent the effects of the cold, SBB announced on Platform X early on Friday morning.

Reasons for the restrictions included disruptions to overhead lines and vehicles as well as icy points. The railroad company is working at full speed to rectify the disruptions as quickly as possible, said an SBB spokesperson.

According to the railroad company, prolonged snowfall, freezing rain and prolonged cold spells with sub-zero temperatures are particularly challenging for rolling stock.

No streetcar journeys in Bern and Basel

Due to precarious road conditions, streetcars and buses were still canceled in Bern on Friday morning. Bernmobil expects to be able to resume streetcar services around midday.

In Basel, too, snow-covered parts of the overhead line meant that streetcar services remained suspended. After the snowfall subsided after midnight, the emergency services of the Basel transport company (BVB) and the canton did everything possible to at least partially resume streetcar and bus services, the BVB announced.

They planned to gradually and partially resume bus services. However, the BVB was still expecting irregular service on various bus routes. The Zürcher Verkehrsbetriebe (VBZ) also expected this. They largely resumed operations on Friday morning, as a VBZ spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request.

Zurich Airport was ready

Zurich Airport did not expect any major disruptions. The runways were ready for the start of operations at 06:00, an airport spokesperson told Keystone-SDA. The airport's winter services had worked through the night, clearing the runways and other areas.

Numerous flights from Zurich Airport still had to be canceled early Thursday evening, according to information on the airport website.

Accidents on the roads

The onset of winter was also evident on the roads. In the canton of St. Gallen, it led to over 120 traffic accidents, according to the St. Gallen cantonal police. Ten people were injured to varying degrees in seven accidents. The main cause of the accidents was insufficient distance between vehicles and inappropriate speed.

Snow cover became thicker

In the city of St. Gallen, there was 25 centimetres of snow in the night to Friday. This was the result of the measurement taken by the federal measuring station at 02:00. The Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) announced on the X platform that the snow cover had grown to over 20 centimetres in places in the lowlands during the night to Friday. According to the MeteoSwiss forecast, there are likely to be isolated snow showers in the lowlands on Friday.

SDA