In this article, media professionals can find background information on punctuality.
Every day, well over a million passengers and more than two hundred thousand tonnes of freight travel on board of more than ten thousand trains along the SBB rail network. The Swiss railway network is one of the busiest in the world. Even small, everyday disruptions can have far-reaching effects for our complex railway system.
To ensure that punctuality remains high in the future, SBB is currently reviewing its service offer planning, railway production and construction projects. This work is undertaken in close coordination with the Cantons, the Conférence des transports de la Suisse occidentale (CTSO) and the Federal Office of Transport (FOT).
Ensuring that each and every one of our customers arrives at their destination safely, reliably and on time is our top priority. That is why SBB devotes so much hard work to this matter. But we want to improve even further in terms of punctuality. Every day, thousands of employees do their utmost to ensure that trains arrive as punctually as possible and to minimise the impact of external influences or disruptions.
The railway system is very complex. Delays are often the result of a combination of different causes and their knock-on effects. The main reasons include extensive construction and maintenance projects, delayed track clearances, high volumes of traffic on the network (few reserves in the timetable) and rolling stock (breakdowns, planning, maintenance). It’s a challenge ensuring everything runs on time. Even small divergences can lead to delays and chain reactions across the entire network.
In October and November, we have more punctuality issues than during other times of the year. The main reason for this is the shift to wet, stormy, and cold weather conditions. When the tracks are wet, trains need longer to accelerate and brake. There are also generally more people using public transport in autumn. Unsurprisingly, when it rains, passengers often congregate under the platform roof and board the train through the same door. This leads to longer stops. There are also other factors that we can do little about, for example, delays of trains coming from other countries, accidents, or shorter days with less daylight.
Reasons for this include challenges with the rolling stock for regional and long-distance services, as well as too few time reserves in the timetable. The timetable has not yet been stabilised and this region has a high volume of construction sites. These combined factors have a negative impact on punctuality.
Reliability has been continuously improved in recent years. Optimisation measures taken in partnership with Alstom are showing results – the MDBI trend is positive.
International trains are more susceptible to delays due to the long journey times and long distances they cover before crossing the border into Switzerland. International train delays are considered on a case-by-case basis and the optimal solution is sought for each situation. For example, as ICE trains from Germany take over timetable services in Switzerland, SBB usually provides a replacement train in good time if an ICE service is delayed.
Over the past two years, it has become apparent that resolving individual causes of poor punctuality, such as door or catenary line malfunctions, is not sufficient.
The current timetable is also a problem. It is not always robust enough for every situation as it no longer reflects the needs of the current reality – the number of passengers has risen considerably in the past 20 years. This means it takes more time for passengers to board, alight and change trains. What’s more, construction for maintenance and expansion will continue to increase in the coming years.
Considering the complex and interdependent nature of these challenges, improvements are only possible on a gradual and selective basis.
By 2025, the timetable in the French-speaking region will be adapted. This is currently being discussed intensively with the Cantons and the FOT.
Punctuality during the first half of 2022.
For the first half of 2022, the punctuality figures are better than in the first half of 2021, despite there being more passengers (+50% during peak hours for long-distance services and +29% for regional service), numerous special event trains and extensive maintenance and construction work. Train punctuality is 93.1%, which is above our target (90.5%), though there is a downward trend.
Connection punctuality was exactly on target (98.8%) for the first half of the year. This is an indication of increased tension in the railway system.
Here’s how SBB measures punctuality.
For SBB, train punctuality and connection punctuality are of utmost importance. Train punctuality measures the percentage of all trains which are on time. A train is considered on time if it reaches its destination with less than three minutes’ delay. Connection punctuality measures the percentage of connections reached. SBB therefore considers the fact that some passengers miss connections when a train has less than three minutes’ delay and is still counted as on time.
As part of the ‘open data’ strategy, the industry publishes a large amount of data, including data on the punctuality of trains. Examples can be found on the Open data platform for mobility in Switzerland.
