The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) looks back on a remarkable year: With 93.2 percent punctual trains, it achieved the highest value in its history in 2024. The Western Switzerland and the Ticino region in particular managed to significantly improve their punctuality rates and made a significant contribution to this success.
The customer satisfaction also climbed to new heights – a sign that the SBB’s efforts on a broad front are bearing fruit.
Not only did the punctuality rate rise in numbers, but also in the perception of the customers. With 87.6 points – 1.5 points more than the previous year – the satisfaction with punctuality reached a new high. In particular, the long-distance traffic showed a significant increase in all regions, which can be attributed to the improved cooperation between the SBB divisions and the deployment of employees.
Another success factor was the high reliability of the rolling stock and the infrastructure. The relatively mild weather also contributed to the trains reaching their destinations reliably.
Despite the record year, it became clear that the Swiss rail system remains vulnerable to extreme weather events. On November 22, 2024, a strong snowfall led to a punctuality record low. Local weather events and incidents like the landslide in the St. Gallen city district of St. Fiden also put the robustness of the system to the test.
While the German-speaking region continued to impress with top values (Region Mid: 93.71 percent, Region East: 93.65 percent), the consequences of long-lasting construction work and problems in international traffic were evident in the Western Switzerland.
The freight traffic, on the other hand, could not benefit from the upward trend. Customer punctuality fell by 1.8 percentage points to 88.0 percent. The main reasons for this were IT problems after a system update, bottlenecks on the Gotthard axis and the decreasing reliability of old locomotives.
The SBB emphasizes in its statement that the record value of 93.2 percent punctual trains is the result of hard work and consistent optimization. However, the challenges of the future – from extreme weather events to technical bottlenecks – show that there is no reason for self-satisfaction.
The German Railways can only dream of such values, but for the SBB, one thing is clear: the way to a more robust and customer-friendly railway is still not over.