Last year, significantly less cargo was transported in Switzerland, both via rail and road and both on a domestic and international level. When it comes to rail freight, international services (import, export and transit) dropped by 8 per cent, while domestic services decreased by 5.7 per cent compared to 2022.
The stats come from the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, with the data expressed in tonne-kilometre. Domestic rail freight only reached 9.9 billion tonnes-kilometre, the lowest in the previous 11 years, excluding 2020 and the COVID-19-related issues. The road transport, moreover, recorded its lowest numbers since 2007, with 15.5 billion tonnes-kilometre.
“The drop in transport performance in 2023 is mainly attributable to the weak economic development, which affected both Switzerland and the rest of Europe”, the Office of Statistics added. Despite lower figures across the board, the domestic modal split in Switzerland remained the same, with rail at 38 per cent and road at 62 per cent.