Project

Expansion phase 2035 of the strategic railway infrastructure development program

Working together with cantonal officials and representatives of railway and freight-transport companies, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) developed what it refers to as Expansion Phase 2035. EBP was commissioned to provide critical support to the FOT’s project-management team.

In accordance with the Swiss Federal Resolution on Railway Infrastructure Expansion by the Reference Year 2025, the relevant parties were obligated to submit a proposal for a subsequent railway expansion phase to the Swiss United Federal Assembly by 2018.

In order to arrive at a sound basis for an expansion proposal, planning principles were established and a forecast of the future demand for railway services was made. The forecast of demand was compared to current service capacities to derive an estimate of the future need for additional capacity. The relevant cantonal officials and stakeholders in the railway network and goods transportation sectors then formulated the capacity goals they intended to reach by the year 2035 at the latest.

This information was used to create various modules, with each containing one or more service improvements and the infrastructure changes that would be necessary for their realization. The modules were evaluated in terms of their costs and benefits before being optimized in an iterative process together with the relevant railway companies. With this part of the evaluation process complete, modules were compiled in a national Expansion Phase 2035 portfolio where they were again evaluated as an overall package. In 2019, the Swiss parliament then ratified the Expansion Phase 2035.

Our services

With EBP assuming the lead role, the planning consortium consisting of EBP, Infras and sma supported the FOT throughout the period 2013-2020 when it came to working out the details of the Expansion Phase 2035 in the areas of service development, infrastructure expansion and evaluation. In addition to this, the planning consortium provided technical analyses and other support services to the project-management team.

Contact persons