A depressing week in Switzerland

[whole diary]

[John R]

I've just returned home from holiday in Switzerland, and the first week was spent with rail passes that meant we utilised all the different types of railway in the area to the fullest extent. 

The on train experience
All were immaculately clean whether brand new or decades old
There wasn't an airline seat to be seen, but lots of leg room, so no need to play footsie.
The windows always lined up with the seats
Panoramic windows were the norm (not just on scenic services), much deeper, and often with additional windows at the transition to the roof.
Windows could be opened wide - on some trains you could throw a child out if so inclined, with the only warning a pictorial "no selfie sticks".
Perfectly clear TV displays (consistent across operators) giving next stop and destination information, accompanied by clear bilingual announcements.
Same screens give connection times and platforms on approach to any station. 
Ticket checks were regularly carried out.


Operating Practices
One service we caught regularly split en route at a station call. On splitting, from stopping to the first train pulling away took 50 secs on average.  On joining, from the first train arriving to the combined train pulling away took 2 mins 15 secs.  No messing about with pulling the train up once, letting pax off, closing the doors, joining, reopening the doors, as is sometimes seen in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

The mountain railways would typically run two or three trains in the same direction by sight, so you could see a train no more than 200m in front of you and another behind you moving in the same direction. Maybe not relevant for the National Rail network, but symptomatic of a pragmatic view to safe operating practices.

Infrastructure

Every line was electrified, even the 100 year old mountain railway that only runs for 6 months of the year. And on the mainlines the steel masts and supports were proportionate, rather than the over-engineered constructions currently being erected on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

Elf'n Safety
Crossing from one platform to another was across the rails in the middle of the platform, even with 4 trains per hour. The station was staffed and staff made sure that it was clear as the train approached, but no need for very expensive footbridges, that then need to be made even more expensive by being accessible.  Mobility impaired customers used a flat level crossing at the end of the platform.

A crossover from one track to another split the island platform, so to get to the end of the platform needed to catch the front portion of the train, you have to cross the split.  Again a pragmatic approach that I can't imagine would get approved in the UK.

So why depressing?  Because I then thought of the comparison with our own railway, the cramped rolling stock, the poor and inconsistent information, the cost of any improvement when gold plated H&S^▸ (Health and Safety) is included. And so on...

P.S. Yes, every train was bang on time, but I expect you guessed that already.

 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Everything in Switzerland goes like clockwork. 

[TaplowGreen]

......and if everyone in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) was willing and able to pay Swiss rates of taxation, I'm sure we could have similar here! 😀

[JayMac]

Grass is always greener... 

However, the Swiss Railways are State owned. Maybe we could try their model in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). 

[John R]

......and if everyone in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) was willing and able to pay Swiss rates of taxation, I'm sure we could have similar here! 😀

That's a fair comment, although some of the observations made are likely to result in a lower cost of running and improving a service.

[Rhydgaled]

Haverfordwest station has a steps-only footbridge at one end and a barrow crossing at the other with (I think) a white light showing when it is clear to cross. Admittedly platform 2 is hardly (if ever) used by passenger trains so nobody needs to use either means of crossing, but it doesn't look like the safety police have made sure nobody tries to use the barrow crossing so even if all down trains used platform 2 I can't see a problem; so why can't that system be adopted elsewhere at stations where all trains call rather than building expensive accessible footbridges? Obviously on busy lines the crossing would not be open long enough to ensure pepole have time to use it but in those cases there should be a stronger case for investment in accessible footbridges anyway.

......and if everyone in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) was willing and able to pay Swiss rates of taxation, I'm sure we could have similar here! 😀

Is Swiss taxation significantly different to UK taxation and what is the Swiss road system like (eg. do they waste billions on counterproductive bypasses like the UK Government does, or do they support public transport properly by not feeding the competion)?

[trainer]

Taplow Green is exactly right.  Switzerland is generally a far more prosperous country, but like many other countries seems happy to pay for the railways out of the public purse (and therefore taxation) to a much greater extent.  Public transport is just that...paid for by everyone and used by a majority but because it is so extensive there is a virtuous circle of availability, high standards and desirability.  It is also a much more compact country with few long distances between settlements that can provide custom.  The lumpy bit in the middle offers such a tourist opportunity that even that part can sustain some railways and/or Post Buses.

I'm not sure that culturally the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) can ever emulate the transport standards of Switzerland only envy it.  I also believe there are some downsides to Swiss culture which I would not want to live with - and I'm not talking cuckoo clocks - but would be inappropriate to go into that in a transport forum.

[broadgage]

In some respects, the superiority of Swiss railways is due to high taxation and greater public spending on railways.
Not however in all respects.

Allowing passengers to cross the track merely requires keeping the elfansafety under control, money would be saved if compared to building elaborate footbridges everywhere.
Windows that line up with seats need cost no more than widows that don't, if planned properly at the design and build stage.
Windows that open wide enough to throw a child out should be cheaper than non functioning air conditioning.

More leg room costs money, but need not be hugely costly. 10% more space per passenger should only increase cost per seat by about 10%. Maybe a bit less than 10%

[Red Squirrel]

...Swiss Railways are State owned. Maybe we could try their model in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). 

Joking aside, I can never let that one pass without pointing out that there is very little of the British railway system that isn't either state-owned or state-controlled. Our privatised railway is as deep as a coat of paint.

[Bmblbzzz]

Perfectly clear TV displays (consistent across operators) giving next stop and destination information, accompanied by clear bilingual announcements.

Shouldn't it be trilingual in Switzerland? (Or even quadrilingual if you include Romansch.)

[John R]

No bilingual (i.e. French/German) signage anywhere in the German speaking part we were in.  We didn't venture across the rostigraben to see what the norm is in the French speaking parts.

[ChrisB]

In some respects, the superiority of Swiss railways is due to high taxation and greater public spending on railways.
Not however in all respects.

Indeed - you forgot to mention the timetable has nowhere near the number of services per hour on most routes that the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) generally does (in the south east, at least), so far easier to keep to time

[stuving]

Perfectly clear TV displays (consistent across operators) giving next stop and destination information, accompanied by clear bilingual announcements.

Shouldn't it be trilingual in Switzerland? (Or even quadrilingual if you include Romansch.)

If only it were that simple!

When I was in Biel/Bienne a few years ago (on business), I was told it was the only bilingual town in Switzerland. However, that uniqueness might be apply only to its name - which is officially Biel/Bienne. The town is also officially bilingual, though I heard little French when I was there. It is in the canton of Bern, though administratively semi-separate; Bern the canton is bilingual though the city is Germanophone.

Federal institutions are in principle tri-(or more) lingual, but in practice they seem not to try very hard to achieve that. If you remember the last major train accident we saw there, the report on that was in german only (it happened in a German-speaking area). Italian is often used only in names and letterheads, and Romansch/Ladin hardly at all.

[IndustryInsider]

I remember the wide opening windows when I was there back in the early 90s and thinking then that you would not get away with it in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), and of course since then we've got even stricter with H&S^▸ (Health and Safety)!

[SandTEngineer]

Well, on Saturday evening last (02/09/2017) I travelled on a UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train where the windows were big and dropped wide open and the seats lined up with them.  It was on the Welshpool and Llanfair narrow gauge railway