Rail traffic Railroads rush from record to record in passenger traffic

Passengers are storming the Swiss railroads. After setting a record for the first quarter, the railroads also set a new second-quarter record in 2024. Between April and June, they recorded 5.78 billion passenger-kilometres.

This represents growth of 2.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, as announced by the Association of Public Transport (VÖV) on Tuesday. In addition to equalling the record for a second quarter, the railroads also recorded the second-highest passenger-kilometres ever measured in their history. The record is held by the third quarter of 2023 with 5.79 billion passenger-kilometers.

With an increase of 1.4% to 2.41 million train-path kilometers, train performance broke the record set in the first quarter of 2024. The VÖV identified the summer holiday season as the reason for the new records.

Rail freight transport, on the other hand, continued to weaken. Nevertheless, the erosion slowed from a decline of 3.6% in the first quarter of 2024 to 1% compared to the previous year. In total, VÖV registered 3.05 billion net tonne-kilometers from April to June.

The main reasons for this development are the economic situation in Europe and the many construction sites on the north-south axis. In the first quarter of 2024, the railroads achieved a performance of 2.91 billion net tonne-kilometers.

SDA