The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced that it has begun construction of a new rail line between Founex and Coppet on the Lausanne-Geneva route, in order to maintain freight transport capacity. This work will also help to increase the capacity of passenger traffic. Its costs, estimated at CHF 73 million (EUR 67 million), are financed by the railway development stage 2025, the group said.
The construction works will be completed at the end of 2019, the line being part of the Leman 2030 program estimated at CHF 3.8 billion (EUR 3.4 billion) in total. The new Coppet-Founex rail line will allow the transit of approximately two freight trains per hour during the day. In addition, this infrastructure will allow freight trains to stop to allow faster passenger trains to run.
Freight traffic has steadily increased in recent years in the region. In 2016, more than 30 trains transported a total of about 7000 tonnes of goods per day on the Lausanne-Geneva line, representing an increase of about 14% each year since 2011.
On average, a single freight train helps to avoid the traffic of around 40 trucks, SBB points out.
Photo source: www.ceva-france.fr
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