The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Gotthard tunnel: Ticino annoyed by lack of information

Derailed train
On August 10 a freight train derailed, causing the temporary closure of both tunnels of the Gotthard Base Tunnel © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Normal operations in the Gotthard Base Tunnel will not be possible until September 2024. The southern Swiss canton of Ticino is irritated by what it considers slow communication from the Swiss federal railways.

Fabio Regazzi, president of the Swiss Trade Association, considers the estimated time for the tunnel repairs to be inconceivable and unacceptable, according to a reportExternal link on Swiss public radio, SRF, on Monday. Regazzi has the impression that the federal railways is hardly making the greatest effort to reduce this time.

Regazzi also criticised the federal railways’ late communication. Christian Vitta, director of finance and economics for Ticino, agrees. The timetable change is already due in December and only now are they finding out how long the repairs will actually take, and therefore also when the second tunnel of the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be fully accessible again, he said.

+ Gotthard Base Tunnel opens again for freight trains

+ Why is the Gotthard Base Tunnel so important?

Vitta said he would have liked to have known earlier. “We could have prepared better for this long period if we had known about it earlier,” he said.

Tourism in Ticino is declining

With more lead time, a special campaign for tourists could have been prepared, for example. Ticino is already experiencing a decline in day tourism. Since the accident in August, the federal railways has recorded 30% fewer journeys to Ticino.

However, federal railways spokesperson Sabrina Schellenberg defended the timing of the communication. “We cleared the tunnel of everything that didn’t belong there and everything that was damaged by September 24,” she said.

Once the federal railways had certainty, it became clear that the repair would be more complex, she said.

Christian Vitta hopes that the federal railways will communicate better in future if there are further delays. He is now waiting with bated breath to see how many passenger trains will be allowed to travel through the base tunnel from the timetable change on December 10.

The federal railways has already promised to run more and faster passenger trains. For the time being, however, this will happen only at weekends. Goods trains will continue to run during the week, while the tracks are being repaired.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

A live scarecrow competition to thrill Denens (VD)

More

Live scarecrow competition set to thrill Swiss

This content was published on The Fête de l'Epouvantail (scarecrow festival) is celebrating its 30th anniversary and returns to Denens in canton Vaud for its seventh edition from July 10-20.

Read more: Live scarecrow competition set to thrill Swiss
Man dies in accident on toboggan run in Matten near Interlaken BE

More

Man dies on Swiss toboggan run

This content was published on A 35-year-old man has died in a work accident at the valley station of the Heimwehfluh toboggan run in Matten near Interlaken, canton Bern.

Read more: Man dies on Swiss toboggan run
The Swiss embassy in Tehran reopens

More

Swiss embassy in Tehran re-opens

This content was published on The Swiss embassy in Tehran re-opened on Sunday after being closed on June 20 owing to the unstable situation in the country.

Read more: Swiss embassy in Tehran re-opens
Queen of the Netherlands attends European Championship match in Lucerne

More

Euro 2025: Dutch queen cheers on team in Lucerne

This content was published on Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and her youngest daughter Princess Ariane attended the Netherlands' women's European Championship football match against Wales in Switzerland on Saturday.

Read more: Euro 2025: Dutch queen cheers on team in Lucerne
30-year-old charged with drone flight at Women's European Championships

More

Man charged with flying drone at women’s Euro 2025

This content was published on A man flew a drone around the venue on Wednesday evening during the first match of the Women's EURO 2025 in St. Gallen. The 30-year-old violated the absolute ban on flying during match days. He was reported to the police.

Read more: Man charged with flying drone at women’s Euro 2025
257 Swiss companies are members of the SBTi

More

More than 250 Swiss companies sign CO2 reduction initiative

This content was published on A total of 257 companies from Switzerland have signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). In doing so, they are committing to CO2 reduction targets that are compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Read more: More than 250 Swiss companies sign CO2 reduction initiative

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR