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Goulet CFF in Renens: the struggle to reach Geneva airport

As soon as the train passed Cossonay (VD), for fear of missing the connection to Geneva Airport, Eva* stood in front of the door. In Renens (VD), the thirty-year-old from Bienne has only five minutes to go from track 4 to track 2 with her 4-year-old daughter, asleep in the stroller, and a suitcase to carry.

A good soul offers her help to the Spanish woman leaving for Madrid. It's 6:18 a.m. on this Saturday when Renens station, the new railway capital of French-speaking Switzerland, comes to life.

Three hours later, travelers from Bienne (BE), Neuchâtel or Yverdon are less lucky than Eva. The Lausanne-Geneva connection is disrupted. Several trains are canceled. The CFF employees responsible for information are overwhelmed.

A train from Lausanne stops. It's crowded. You must travel standing up. After consultation, a family tries to rush in. The grandparents manage to enter, but not their children or their grandchildren. The doors close, leaving part of the family on the platform, including the son, who has the plane tickets. Finally, the grandparents will wait for the rest of the family at Geneva station. Like them, around fifty customers are left behind, disillusioned.

It's almost 11am. The inconveniences do not diminish. “There is another change in Morges, because the direct connection has been eliminated,” annoys a Yverdon resident who has to fly to Marrakech.

Half an hour later, an empty train stops. It is announced for “Geneva, Geneva-Airport”. Travelers rush there, happy. Their joy will be fleeting: in reality, he goes in the opposite direction, direction… Brig (VS). We have to get out quickly.

“I wanted to be at the airport four hours early. But it's already noon and my plane leaves at 3 p.m. I didn’t know it was such a hassle to go to Cointrin by train,” laments a Bernese resident.

Good deals for taxi drivers

Since the timetable change on December 15, Renens has become a rail hub where some 35,000 travelers pass through per day. For taxis, this is a new potential market. “Our profession is almost dead. Today, we only work well in the event of major CFF problems,” analyzes a driver. “Since the timetable change, I have already had three customers for Geneva airport departing from Renens station. Before, I had on average one case every three to four months,” notes Idriss*.

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