Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) plans a fundamental restructuring of its freight operations. Meanwhile, the transport workers' union SEV is demanding that SBB Cargo abandon its announced staff reductions. A further 72 positions are slated for elimination by the end of the year. Overall, the company aims to cut one-fifth of its workforce from 2,120 positions by 2030.
SBB itself employs a total of 35,500 people, according to company figures almost 3,000 more than in 2019. SBB announced yesterday that it intends to fundamentally restructure its rail freight operations and reduce its costs by 60 million Swiss francs per year by 2033.
SBB Cargo Switzerland supplies the whole of Switzerland with goods by rail in a climate-friendly manner, using single wagonload traffic, block trains, and combined transport (CT). In CT, loading units such as containers are transported by rail for longer distances and by road for shorter distances. SBB will establish the first connection based on its "Suisse Cargo Logistics" concept by 2026. This shuttle service on the high-demand north-south axis between Dietikon (ZH) and Stabio (TI) across the Alps will strengthen this connection and test the new service.
A string of cuts at the terminals
Currently, express freight routes and suitable terminal infrastructure for such a pilot project are lacking on the east-west axis. Eight SBB intermodal terminals that cannot be operated profitably will no longer be served: Oensingen, Basel, Gossau, Widnau, Renens, St. Triphon, Cadenazzo, and Lugano. Freight transshipment from road to rail remains possible at third-party terminals. This financially stabilizes the SBB's costly intermodal service, which, according to federal regulations, must be operated profitably. Currently, this service, like the loss-making single wagonload traffic, incurs an annual deficit in the tens of millions.
If the test operation between Dietikon (ZH) and Stabio (TI) proves successful, the combined transport service is to be expanded in the long term on the east-west axis in accordance with the "Suisse Cargo Logistics" , and the necessary infrastructure, such as the trimodal terminal Gateway Basel Nord, is to be advanced.
Photos: SBB
The focus on the north-south connection in the collective bargaining agreement and the discontinuation of unprofitable transit trains by DB Cargo (so-called partner trains) are impacting employees. Following previously announced reductions in administrative staff, SBB Cargo Switzerland will further reduce its operational positions by approximately 65 full-time equivalent jobs across Switzerland by the end of 2025. The majority of those affected by the job cuts are locomotive drivers, shunting personnel, and technical control staff for freight trains.
The SEV union fears that the job cuts will leave SBB Cargo without numerous specialists with valuable expertise. This, they argue, will soon render production at SBB Cargo unable to function properly. Alternatives to the cuts are possible: staff with insufficient deployment opportunities could, for example, be temporarily seconded to other companies, primarily within the SBB Group. Otherwise, SBB Cargo faces a long-term shortage of skilled workers.
"The planned reduction and simplification of services will hardly lead to economic success in the medium term. The urgently needed shift of freight traffic from road to rail will never succeed this way," warns Philipp Hadorn, the SEV union secretary responsible for SBB Cargo.
Strengths instead of weaknesses:
In March, Parliament passed a freight transport law intended to strengthen rail freight in the long term. To achieve Switzerland's climate policy goals, it is essential to shift more goods from road to rail. The currently unprofitable single wagonload traffic will continue to receive federal funding. The SEV (Swiss Railway and Transport Union) also finds it illogical that RALpin, a shareholder in SBB Cargo, recently announced plans to discontinue the RoLa (Rolling Highway) service by the end of 2025. The SEV fears that a large proportion of the up to 100,000 trucks currently transported annually will cross Switzerland by road in the future.
