Switzerland remains the European railroad champion

In no other European country is rail travel more popular than in Switzerland. Last year, the Swiss traveled an average of 2,466 km by rail and took the train a whopping 68 times. Worldwide, only the Japanese travel more by train.

That Switzerland remains the European champion of train travel it owes to a dense railway network of 5,200 kilometers and, how could it otherwise, the punctuality of its trains. Last year, for example, 92,5% of SBB/CFF/FFS, the national railway company of Switzerland, passenger trains ran on time.

The famous ‘Swiss model’

The internationally renowned ‘Swiss model’consists of trains running according to a clockwise, symmetrical, and integrated timetable with junctions. In that system, the frequency of trains is increased, and schedules are coordinated so that trains cross each other at the station, thus increasing supply. In that way, more connections in all directions can be ensured.

Moreover, there is also excellent coordination between services and the country—there are no less than 74 railway companies in Switzerland—can pat itself on the back for the excellent integration rail has with other modes of transport.

In the acclaimed Swiss hub model, local L trains, buses, and cabs arrive at the station before the trains cross there, making it much easier and more efficient for travelers to transfer or use another mode of transportation. At the same time, Switzerland also has an integrated ticketing system for rail, bus, and other modes of transport.

Lonely at the top

The share of commuters who travel to work using public transport is 30%. Last year’s figures show this as well: on an annual basis, Switzerland’s passenger kilometers by rail increased by 13.2% and trips by 11.5%.

Looking at all these figures, Switzerland may not have surpassed the 2019 record of 2,505 passenger kilometers per capita, but in absolute terms, rail traffic in 2023 has surpassed that of 2019, the year before Covid-19: with 22.3 billion passenger kilometers, transport performance in 2023 is 2.5% higher than before the pandemic.

With this, the Swiss use rail 50% more than Austria, which at 1,576 passenger-kilometers is number two in the European ranking of passenger kilometers per capita. Following Switzerland and Austria are France, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Italy. Finland and the Czech Republic close out of the top ten, while Belgium falls just outside as 11th.

Within Europe, rail travel is least popular in Greece, followed by countries such as Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, and Romania.