The new hourly CFF, which will come into force on Sunday December 15, will offer 15% more trains in French-speaking Switzerland. Among the improvements announced: new direct connections with the west of Lausanne, reinforced services on the Riveria and in Lower Valais.
L’hourly CFF has undergone a complete overhaul: its basic structure, which dates from the 2000s, has been adapted to absorb the constraints linked to the numerous modernization and development projects of the railway infrastructure, the CFF indicated on Friday. THE new hourly modifies the departure times of almost all trains in French-speaking Switzerland. Customers will therefore have to change their habits.
Renens will be served by mainline convoys: the InterCity IC1 and IC5, RegioExpress RE33 and InterRegio IR90 trains will stop there. The offer between the foot of the Jura, via Bienne, Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains and the Lausanne/Renens railway junction is reinforced. IC5 trains will run every half hour on this axis.
“Inconvenience”
The connection hourly direct between Geneva and the towns at the foot of the Jura disappears during off-peak hours, whereas currently there is one direct train per hour. “This is the disadvantage of this change ofhourlycompensated by a rate of half an hour for Lausanne”, notes Frédéric Revaz, spokesperson for the CFF.
However, the connection is maintained during morning and evening rush hours. Six direct InterRegio IR57 trains are planned per day and per direction during the week between Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains, Morges, Gland, Nyon, Geneva and Geneva Airport. For the rest, customers will have to change in Renens.
On the Lake Geneva region, the RegioExpress RE33 trains, which currently run once per hour from Annemasse (F) to Vevey and once per hour from Annemasse to St-Maurice, are extended once per hour to St- Maurice and once an hour to Martigny. The CFF also offers a quarter-hour rate between Aigle and Morges as well as between Nyon and Geneva by adapting the service of the InterRegio IR90 and IR95 trains as well as the RegioExpress RE33.
Night offer
Also note improvements in regional traffic in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Friborg and Vaud. Between Geneva and Annemasse, where six trains run per hour per direction, capacity is increased thanks to the stopping of RegioExpress RE33 trains in all stations on the line.
On the shores of Lakes Bienne and Neuchâtel, the regional train Bienne-Neuchâtel is extended to create a new R13 line without change Bienne-Neuchâtel-Yverdon-les-Bains. The new offer no longer serves Gléresse station, now accessible by bus from Douanne. The half-hour rate is introduced between Neuchâtel and Fribourg.
Nighttime offers in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva have also been improved. Trains running early in the morning and late in the evening to and from Geneva Airport are also rescheduled at the start of school holidays and public holiday weekends.
More races in Valais
The change ofhourly to December 15 also concerns the offer from CarPostal, which announces that it has increased its services. The most significant changes affect the Lausanne-Geneva axis.
In Neuchâtel, in particular the lines at the bottom of the canton, and in Fribourg, users will benefit from a strengthening of the offer and connections. In Valais, an extension of PostBus lines is planned in the St-Maurice region. In Anniviarde territory, ten additional races will complement each of the lines in the valley.
In Haut-Valais, several new morning connections will appear to ensure connection with the first train towards Bern. Finally, the Jura residents will not see any major changes, because the company announces “simply small adjustments to schedules”.
