GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Gotthard tunnel will have an additional train track if the government has its way, and Geneva’s trams and buses will see some routing changes for 2014 as construction starts on the Ceva project.
These plus a bid by private investors to back an oft-suggested Lake Geneva crossing project are part of plans to change the travel landscape in Switzerland in coming months.
Gotthard
The Gotthard road tunnel, open since 1980, needs to be renovated, and the options for doing it have caused considerable debate, with some political circles pushing to open more lanes, and others insisting that to protect the Alps, traffic should not be increased.
The Federal Council 13 September sent a message to parliament noting its intention to have a second “tube” built to accommodate traffic while one is closed for repairs and maintenance work. But the additional tunnel tube will be reserved after repairs for emergency use only: the council wants to see it written into law that the tunnel will not handle more traffic than it does today, to preserve the Alps.
The additional emergency tunnel channel will allow repairs in the future, without completely closing part of the tunne used for traffic.
The Federal Council also motted the idea of charging a toll to use the tunnel, saying it wants to keep Swiss non-autoroute roads free of charge for the public.
Lake Geneva tunnel gets backing
View of Lake Geneva from Celigny – one day a tunnel under that water?A project that is more than a century old, to build a traversée de la rade de Genève, a road across the lake just above where it goes into the Rhone in Geneva, has been revived yet again with a proposal by Geneva’s business community to set up a public-private partnership to fund a tunnel under the lake.
The history of proposed projects is only slightly longer than the history of opposition, with the most recent refusal linked to the WWF success at stopping a new Eaux-Vives beach project in July 2013.
TPG’s 2014 schedule: expect new routes
Geneva’s public transport company, the TPG, at the end of last week unveiled some of the changes to the schedule for 2014, which go into effect in December 2013. Some of the changes are linked to the ongoing construction work on the new Ceva regional transport system, scheduled to go into operation in 2017. Others, such as the extension of the number 18 tram line (Cern-Carouge), are thanks to the completion of works now underway. Other key changes (see Tribune de Genève for details) will affect the K and L lines, the number 71 bus to Evian (double the frequency) and line 57. Geneva-Coppet train runs will improve.
A significant change for many: a pilot project will begin next year to allow 1 hour tickets to be purchased quickly via SMS.