Swiss rail freight drops by 6 per cent in first six months of 2023
Rail freight in Switzerland over the first six months of 2023 dropped by 6 per cent compared to the same period in 2022, for a total of 13,9 million tonnes. Throughout the same period, the modal share of transalpine rail freight also decreased, by 0,9 per cent, to 72.7 per cent.
The trend was highlighted by the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT), which added that hard times are expected for 2024 as well due to the many infrastructure works planned. Moreover, the Gotthard Base Tunnel will not be fully operational until next summer after a derailment caused its partial closure in August. Another somewhat negative trend underlined by the FOT is that “only about half of the freight trains reached their destinations on time”. This is claimed to be connected to the scarce reliability of transit traffic.
A general drop in freight transportation in Switzerland
The downward trend in freight transport in Switzerland does not only concern the rail sector. As much as for some it might be a good statistic, the number of trucks along Swiss roads also decreased during the first half of 2023. To be more precise, 13,000 less, for a total of 463,000. This translated to 100,000 tonnes less (2.7 per cent) than the first six months of last year. However, this would be good news for rail if these volumes would have moved on trains, which did not happen. On the contrary, there was a drop in overall volumes (19,1 million tonnes), with one million fewer tonnes of goods transported via road or rail in Switzerland. The FOT attributed this decrease to the current economic developments in Europe and the reduced productivity of many industries, including steel, chemical, and automotive.
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