Geneva-Lausanne train link remains suspended

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The holes were caused by tunneling work under the tracks carried out by a private company, which was working on a thermal energy project using water from Lake Geneva to heat an industrial zone not far from the train line. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The main rail link between Geneva and Lausanne in southwestern Switzerland will not re-open until Friday morning, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB/CFF) has confirmed. The line has been suspended since Tuesday after land collapsed near the tracks.

Holes that appeared between tracks at Tolochenaz, near Morges in canton Vaud, on Tuesday still require major work, which is proving more complicated than expected, the Federal Railways said.

Two holes were caused by tunneling work under the tracks carried out by a private company, which was working on a thermal energy project using water from Lake Geneva to heat an industrial zone not far from the train line.

Customers have been advisedExternal link to avoid non-essential journeys on the line. Replacement buses have been provided between Morges and Allaman. Regional trains are operating between Geneva and Allaman and between Lausanne and Morges; there are no Intercity trains.

Busy link

The Geneva-Lausanne rail link is a busy connection, transporting up to 20,000 passengers per hour and rail freight between France and the rest of Switzerland.

Following the incident, local politicians again called for greater rail investment in French-speaking Switzerland. A second track is needed on this line to avoid such incidents in the future, they said.

“The Lake Geneva region, the country’s second biggest economic hub, is unique,” Nuria GorriteExternal link, the Vaud minister in charge of infrastructure, told Swiss public television RTS on Wednesday.

“We have a single line to link the two major poles [Geneva and Lausanne]. Elsewhere, especially in Swiss German regions, there is always extra capacity and a second line.”

She said French-speaking Switzerland has always been the “poor cousin” when it comes to federal rail investments. The situation in the Lake Geneva region is the result of money being invested in the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA) – the Lötschberg Base Tunnel and the Gotthard Base Tunnel – and around the Zurich region, she added.

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