In Geneva, the platforms of Cornavin station were deserted on Sunday morning. No passenger train runs for twenty hours. Rail traffic is completely interrupted from Saturday at 7:00 p.m. until Sunday 3:00 p.m. This decision was taken due to the commissioning of the new computerized command center at Geneva station. Replacement buses are being put in place, but it will be necessary to take into account extended travel times. For people going to the airport, trains will stop at Nyon. The connection will be made with a direct bus. More than 70 customer assistants will be present in stations to help travelers.
The old system dated from 1986. The new engagement is equipped with more advanced technologies. It will ensure the smooth circulation of trains around the station in the context of the expected increase in the number of travelers on the route linking Lausanne to Geneva in the coming decades.
The transition from one system to another required a total interruption of rail traffic on the Coppet – Geneva – Geneva Airport – Bellgarde (F) – Annemasse (F) sector for twenty hours. A major substitution system has been put in place, with the entry into service of 135 buses and coaches.
The construction work on the new command center took place between 2019 and 2024. During these years, the two systems, the old and the new, coexisted in parallel, explained Jérôme Gonzalez, project manager at SBB, during a tour of the station for the media.
New signals
On Sunday morning, CFF employees were busy replacing the old lights with recent equipment. The command center is considered the “brains” of the station. He pilots and controls all railway signals and switches. It is located in a building which houses 88 electrical cabinets.
With 1,500 elements (signals, beacons, points, etc.), linked by 230 kilometers of cable, the Geneva interlocking station has become the largest computerized command center of the SBB. Zurich station, for example, is equipped with several smaller interlocks, explains SBB spokesperson Frédéric Revaz.
The new Cornavin interlocking will guarantee the movement of trains during the construction of the station extension. There are plans to dig two underground railway lines. The building authorization procedure must be launched from 2027. The work is expected to last approximately 9 years.
