Current Challenges in the Swiss Railway Network

Switzerland's railway infrastructure is facing a dual challenge: increasing performance and safety requirements while simultaneously being under pressure in terms of costs and deadlines. To ensure the long-term availability of the network, safety and cost-effectiveness, clear rules, reliable partnerships and targeted technical developments are required.

General challenges and market mechanisms:

Planning security and investments: The expansion and maintenance of the infrastructure require significant upfront investments in personnel, qualifications and machinery. These capacities are capital-intensive and must be secured through reliable remuneration and contractual models.

Skills shortage: Regulatory requirements and operational regulations are increasing, including those relating to track reinforcement teams. Recruiting, training and retaining key personnel are becoming critical success factors and significant cost drivers.

Fleet strategies of infrastructure operators: Whether operators procure their own infrastructure vehicles (including financing, depreciation and utilisation) or outsource services has an impact on overall system costs. Make-or-buy decisions should be assessed and supported based on life-cycle costs, availability risks and the industry's level of innovation.

Partnership models: Alliance models promote close cooperation between operators and industry. Risks are addressed where they can be managed most cost-effectively. Framework agreements increase visibility, reduce transaction costs and strengthen planning security.

Division of responsibilities and vertical integration: The allocation of responsibilities between operators and industry should be continuously reviewed. A targeted level of in-house capabilities on the operator's side can reduce dependence on suppliers but requires clearly defined responsibilities and interfaces.

Procurement practices and innovation: The procurement of railway infrastructure projects in Switzerland is particularly demanding due to high safety requirements, various RTEs, complex planning processes and construction work carried out while operations continue. In addition, the shortage of skilled workers, rising costs and limited time windows make project implementation even more challenging. In public tenders, bids are evaluated not only on price but also on criteria such as quality, cost-effectiveness, sustainability, scheduling, references and technical expertise. These requirements should, however, be aligned with the industry through dialogue to ensure their appropriateness. Cooperation on an equal footing should be ensured to reduce conflicts, enable cost optimisation and promote innovative, pragmatic solutions (e.g. condition-based maintenance, data exchange between all partners, and efficiency improvements in planning and approval processes within specialist planning).

Swiss railway infrastructure benefits from a dynamic market, high standards and outstanding technical expertise. To achieve future performance and availability targets, reliable contractual and partnership models, data-driven maintenance, strategic fleet and make-or-buy decisions, and consistent measures to secure skilled labour are essential. This will help maintain the balance between safety, quality and overall system costs.

Conclusion

With this topic, Swissrail has deliberately chosen a key focus for 2026. The association aims to deepen the discussion on costs and efficiency while continuing to drive cultural change within the industry. This focus will be accompanied throughout the year by a series of in-depth contributions, including a mini-series in "express", Swissrail's association magazine. In this series, Andreas Haas, Managing Director of Swissrail, explores the topic from different perspectives. This article is the second of a series of four.

This article was published in the June 2026 edition of "express", Swissrail's association magazine.

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