Switzerland's railways hit record passenger mileage, face capacity squeeze

Switzerland’s railway network recorded a new passenger‑travel milestone in the second quarter of 2026, with passengers covering 6.3 billion kilometres – a 5.2 % rise over the same period a year earlier and roughly 200 million kilometres above the previous record set in the last quarter of 2025.

Train‑path kilometres, the measure of train movements, increased only 0.9 % to 53.24 million, indicating that the surge in passenger travel was achieved with almost the same amount of train capacity. Operators are running longer, more densely occupied trains, which improves efficiency but also risks crowding as the network approaches its physical limits.

Freight volumes grew modestly, up 2.2 % to 2.82 billion net tonne‑kilometres, but freight operators are constrained by the same tracks that are now dominated by passenger services. The situation creates a policy challenge: encouraging commuter rail use and shifting freight from road are both environmental priorities, yet both depend on a finite rail infrastructure that may soon require significant upgrades such as longer platforms and rebuilt junctions.