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Swiss rail transport in the first half of 2026

Passenger-kilometres climb to a new record high

Rail passenger transport in Switzerland reached a new record high of 6.30 billion passenger-kilometres in the first half of 2026. At the same time, rail freight transport is recovering slightly and demand for train paths remains at a high level. This is shown by the latest data from the quarterly rail report.
© SBB CFF FFS
THE KEY POINTS IN BRIEF
• Passenger rail transport set a new record in the second quarter of 2026, reaching 6.30 billion passenger-kilometres.
• Rail freight transport grew slightly and returned to positive figures for the first time in several quarters.
• Demand for train paths remains high and continues to be driven mainly by passenger transport.

Pas­sen­ger rail trans­port in Switzer­land reached a new record high in the first half of 2026. At 6.30 bil­lion pas­sen­ger-kilo­me­tres, trans­port vol­ume rose by 5.2 per cent com­pared with the same quar­ter of the pre­vi­ous year. This is shown in the lat­est quar­ter­ly rail report pub­lished by LITRA and the Pub­lic Trans­port Asso­ci­a­tion (VöV). The analy­sis was pro­duced in col­lab­o­ra­tion with SBB.

Exceeded all expectations

Pas­sen­ger trans­port has thus sur­passed the pre­vi­ous record of 6.11 bil­lion pas­sen­ger-kilo­me­tres set in the fourth quar­ter of 2025. Com­pared with the first quar­ter of 2026, growth stands at as much as 8.8 per cent. This sharp rise is pri­mar­i­ly due to sea­son­al fac­tors. Demand for pas­sen­ger trans­port typ­i­cal­ly increas­es in the sec­ond quar­ter. At the same time, the result con­firms the high appeal of pub­lic trans­port in Switzer­land.

Rail freight transport shows signs of a slight recovery

Rail freight trans­port is also show­ing pos­i­tive growth. Trans­port per­for­mance reached 2.82 bil­lion net tonne-kilo­me­tres. This rep­re­sents an increase of 2.2 per cent com­pared with the same quar­ter last year. Com­pared with the first quar­ter of 2026, per­for­mance has grown by a fur­ther 2.8 per cent. Fol­low­ing sev­er­al quar­ters of declin­ing or stag­nant fig­ures, this points to a sta­bil­i­sa­tion.

Nev­er­the­less, chal­lenges remain. Capac­i­ty con­straints, struc­tur­al changes and demand­ing freight cor­ri­dors are weigh­ing on the sec­tor.

Passenger rail transport boosts demand for train paths

Demand for train paths remains high. In the sec­ond quar­ter of 2026, 53.24 mil­lion train-path kilo­me­tres were booked. This rep­re­sents an increase of 0.9 per cent com­pared with the same quar­ter of the pre­vi­ous year. Com­pared with the first quar­ter of 2026, demand rose slight­ly by 0.2 per cent. Once again, this growth is dri­ven main­ly by pas­sen­ger trans­port. Despite high­er trans­port vol­umes, freight trans­port is using few­er train paths than in the same quar­ter of the pre­vi­ous year. This trend under­lines the cen­tral impor­tance of pas­sen­ger trans­port for the util­i­sa­tion of Switzerland’s rail infra­struc­ture.

The data set

The quar­ter­ly rail report is based on data from LITRA and the Swiss Pub­lic Trans­port Asso­ci­a­tion (VöV). It is pro­duced in col­lab­o­ra­tion with SBB and, by sec­tor, includes the fol­low­ing oper­a­tors:

  • Pas­sen­ger trans­port: BLS, MGB, MOB, Region­Alps, RhB, SBB, SBB GmbH, SOB, Thur­bo, Tilo, TPF, TransN, Zen­tral­bahn.
  • Freight trans­port: BLS Car­go, DB Car­go, LTE, Med­way, Rail­Care, SBB Car­go, SBB Car­go Inter­na­tion­al, TR, TX Logis­tik, WRS.
  • Infra­struc­ture: BLS Netz, HBS, SBB, SOB, SZU, TPF (stan­dard gauge), TRAVYS (stan­dard gauge).

this page has been automatically translated.

Picture of Erwin Kartnaller

Erwin Kartnaller

Erwin Kartnaller has been a fixture in Swiss trade journalism covering commercial vehicles and mobility for over four decades. After 16 years working for daily newspapers and family magazines, he moved into trade media and wrote for virtually every commercial vehicle magazine published in Switzerland, with very few exceptions. For nine and a half years, he was editor-in-chief of the Swiss Commercial Vehicle Association ASTAG's magazine, where his precise language and clear stance had a lasting impact on industry communication. This was followed by positions in the automotive industry, including at Eurotax autoinformation and aboutFLEET. He also wrote specialist articles for Auto&Wirtschaft and Auto Bild Schweiz. With his platform www.ekacom.com (http://www.ekacom.com/), he continued to wield his “sharp pen” – an independent voice for clear words and pointed commentary. In his last professional role as editor-in-chief of Polyscope, he immersed himself in the world of electronics – a field that is increasingly shaping mobility. Today, after his active professional life, Erwin Kartnaller is once again devoting himself entirely to his passion on the mobility-360.ch platform: mobility in all its facets.
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