47 million in subsidies for a Basel-Malmö night train

Attention night train enthusiasts: they should soon be able to travel from Basel to Malmö, Sweden, via Copenhagen. Indeed, starting next April, three night trains per week are expected to run on this line in each direction, or six per week, according to German-language television SRF on Sunday.

The night line can only be put on track thanks to financial aid granted by Parliament under the CO2 Act. It should be remembered that originally, it was supposed to release 30 million francs per year for international rail links, particularly night rail. However , due to austerity measures, this amount was reduced to 10 million francs per year from 2025 to 2030, for a total of 60 million. Of this sum, 47 million will be invested in the Malmö line alone until 2030, the Federal Office of Transport announced on Friday .

Each trip will therefore be subsidized to the tune of 30,000 francs to cover operating costs, including rail tolls, energy, personnel, and rolling stock. The latter comes from the existing Zurich-Amsterdam route, which will be equipped with new carriages starting in December.

Criticism is already being voiced. The SVP (Swiss People's Party) considers this line "without a future" and calls it a "waste of public money." On the left, the Socialist Party and the Greens denounce the drastic reduction in aid initially planned by Bern, which they say jeopardizes the development of the night train network. The Greens also filed a petition in December asking the Federal Council to reverse this decision .

It remains to be seen whether the grant will actually be paid. Parliament will have to vote on it as part of the budget in December. Therefore, nothing has been decided yet.