The Swiss Federal Council set a spending limit of 15,1 billion francs (15,43 billion euros) for rail operations as well as maintenance and modernisation of the infrastructure. Despite being 0,7 billion francs more than what was allocated for the period between 2021 and 2025, the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) claimed that fewer resources will be available for infrastructure managers.

In other words, the same amount of funds is expected to deliver fewer results than in the previous years. The reduction in resources mentioned is due, as FOT highlighted, to the recent increase in prices. Because of this, operations considered non-urgent and quality maintenance operations have been temporarily postponed. The Federal Council is also requesting a guaranteed credit of 185 million francs to invest in private freight facilities in the 2025-28 period. This initiative aims at boosting the modal shift from road to rail across the Alps.

As the FOT pointed out, the consultation procedure to implement these funds started on 28 June and will end on 20 October 2023. It is not yet clear whether the 185 million francs requested specifically for rail freight are part of the 15,1 billion allocated in total. “The FOT considers the payment framework for the coming years to be sufficient to maintain the condition of the facilities at a good level”, commented FOT director Peter Füglistaler on LinkedIn.

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