Wagon owners association UIP shared their analysis of the Swiss and European (JNS) approaches with RailFreight.com, so let’s take a closer look at their findings.

It immediately becomes clear that Switzerland has opted for a less nuanced direction. Bern has chosen to reclassify all tread-braked wheelsets as non-thermostable, regardless of design or performance. By contrast, the JNS only targets specific wheelset types that carry proven risks.

This, according to UIP, allows maintenance resources to be concentrated at the vulnerable wheelsets. The Swiss approach, the association says, disregards established technical standards and creates an additional operational burden and maintenance requirements. The safety benefit of this is questionable.

Wheel diameter

A second important regulatory change concerns the minimum required wheel diameter. A larger diameter should lead to more robust wheels. Here too, Switzerland takes a different approach than the JNS.

Switzerland requires many types of wheelsets to have an increased diameter of 864 millimetres, even if they have no history of failure. It also only looks at the nominal axle load at moments of failure, without considering the prior operational life of a wheelset.. The JNS, by contrast, only requires this when there is a documented history of failure that indicates a risk based on a scientific assessment.

The FOT approach “results in the premature withdrawal of functional wheels and reduces wagon availability”, says UIP. Perfectly safe and functional wheels would have to be replaced.

Inspections and monitoring

UIP also compared the approaches to inspections and monitoring. Switzerland opts for distance-based inspection requirements. This, however, “does not take into account that wagons already undergo maintenance interventions at predictable as well as unscheduled intervals, during which wheelsets are inspected”, says UIP.

The system would lead to thousands of additional dedicated workshop visits. Yet, they would not specifically target the highest-risk wheelsets. This threatens overwhelming workshop capacity in Europe, according to UIP.

“Given Switzerland’s central role in Europe’s north–south freight corridors, this additional workshop demand could affect the availability of wagons used in international traffic. This may have implications for cross-border freight flows such as intermodal traffic between North Sea ports and Italy, chemicals transport and other bulk commodities transiting the Swiss network.”

UIP evidently prefers the JNS approach. It is said to achieve comparable safety outcomes by integrating inspections into existing maintenance workflows. It strengthens safety while maintaining operational feasibility.

Deadlines and timeline

The FOT and JNS also diverge when it comes to implementation deadlines. Initially, the Swiss FOT demanded full implementation by 31 December 2025. This was met by much dismay on the part of the rail freight industry. Switzerland later extended some deadlines to late 2026.

UIP looks much more favourably upon the JNS framework, which establishes differentiated timelines matched to the complexity of each measure. “Immediate action is required where urgently needed (e.g. thermo-stability reclassification) while structural changes affecting large parts of the fleet are phased in until 2027 and 2029. The JNS framework also strengthens the crucial role of ECM certification bodies to assess the implementation of the measures in their ECM audits”, explains UIP.

“The agreed risk control measures do not justify the introduction of additional national requirements outside the common [JNS] framework”, says the International Union of Wagon Keepers, UIP, in response to the FOT’s decision.

Both the new JNS safety rules and Switzerland’s own rules are a response to the Gotthard Base Tunnel derailment of 2023. A broken wheel caused the accident that led to considerable infrastructural damage and severe disruptions for rail freight for a whole year. An investigation found that new composite break blocks presented a systematic risk of wagon wheel breakage.

The court says “no”

Previously in December, a Swiss court had annulled the unilateral FOT measures relating to rail freight wagon wheel safety. That decision followed a lawsuit that was filed by wagon owners Ermewa, GATX and VTG. The FOT was given an extended deadline to appeal the decision by 24 January, but the Swiss approval of the common European rules made an appeal seem unlikely. However, the Alpine country went ahead with an appeal on 23 January regardless. The FOT will await a new court ruling, expected at the earliest by June 2026, says UIP.

“This sequence of events highlights the difficulty of maintaining consistency when collective efforts are later overridden by unilateral national measures which creates legal and operational uncertainty across the rail system”, comments UIP.

When Switzerland first introduced its rules in September 2025, some stakeholders expressed fear that the extra costs associated with the rule would hinder rail freight’s competitiveness and lead to a reverse modal shift from rail to road.

Safety is paramount, but so is regulatory unity

However, UIP now tells RailFreight.com that this is not the core objection to the Swiss course of action. “The issue is not about whether the Swiss measures are stricter or would lead to higher maintenance costs. Safety in rail freight is non-negotiable and remains the overriding priority for all actors involved.”

Rather, it is the effective introduction of a second set of requirements alongside the existing European framework that “risks fragmenting the coordinated approach that underpins the Single European Railway Area.” With Switzerland being a key transit country, especially on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, its unilateral rules could harm key European rail freight flows by introducing additional regulatory complexity.

Almost 50,000 wagons might be sidelined

The new rules set out by the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) change the minimum diameter required for wheels from 860 to 864 millimetres and would introduce more frequent maintenance checks. In reality, this new threshold would make many of the wagons currently in operation unfit, leading companies and associations to sound the alarm. “The rules create a range of serious challenges, including to the integrity of the European Single Market”, UIP pointed out.

The Union said it “represents a fleet of a quarter of a million, which is around half of Europe’s wagons. Wagon keepers have strived to adapt so that only 20% of this fleet would be affected by the Swiss FOT ruling.” This means that at least 46,000 wagons are still in danger of not being able to run in Switzerland, a key transit country for European rail freight, UIP stressed.

European recommendations expected for year’s end

Switzerland’s decision comes in the aftermath of the accident inside the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which occurred in the summer of 2023 and disrupted traffic for almost a year. The main issue at hand is that the Joint Network Secretariat is already working on developing updated recommendations on a European level in response to the accident, which are expected for the end of this year.

On the other hand, the Helvetic Federation decided to take matters into their own hands, without considering the impact for other European countries. “By keeping its unilateral national measures on the table, Switzerland is jumping to conclusions without respecting the pan-European processes already in place and, without the necessary multilateral technical debate”, UIP reiterated.

The wagon keepers union is thus asking to use the extended timeframe to find a common and harmonised framework for implementation by the end of 2026. However, Switzerland seems pretty firm on its decision, as it claims it would significantly improve safety. How the story will unfold remains to be seen, but worries remain at a high level, especially for Italy, which heavily relies on Switzerland to move its goods towards northern Europe.

Industry parties had identified a number of issues resulting from the measures: the rules would burden wagon owners and maintenance providers disproportionately, reduce maintenance intervals and thereby threaten wagon and maintenance supply security in Switzerland, and reduce international interoperability. Moreover, they pointed to a lack of resources at maintenance companies that makes the tight implementation deadline of 1 January 2026 unrealistic.

Industry consultations

Recent consultations with the industry have “yielded new insights into the potential implementation of the measures”, FOT told DVZ. The outcome is that FOT is now partially conceding on that last point – the timeframe for implementation. It has postponed the deadline for one measure by a year to 31 December 2026.

This concerns the requirement for all freight wagons to undergo a technical inspection, for which there simply is not enough capacity. According to the FOT, the bodies responsible for the maintenance of freight wagons had estimated that only 20% of the fleet could be inspected by the end of this year. Upscaling and growing maintenance capacity before that time is not an option due to staff shortages, training requirements and equipment procurement.

Deadlines for other measures remain unchanged, including those that seem to fall under the same chapter in the new FOT order: thermal overload checks on tread-braked wheelsets, requirements for the average wheel diameter on particular wheelsets and sound tests for tread-brakes wheelsets with composite brake blocks.

The safety measures come in five parts. For one, the FOT wants wheelsets to have a diameter of at least 864 millimetres. The current European standard is 860 millimetres. Moreover, the Swiss government agency wants more regular maintenance.

Maintenance intervals

“Depending on the type of brake shoes and wheel diameter, the technical inspection must be carried out after 50,000 kilometers or 200,000 kilometers. Currently, in some cases, these inspections are systematically carried out at a later date.”

As part of maintenance checks, wheels should be visually inspected and the minimum diameter checked. Checks should also determine whether the wheels have suffered heat or other damage, and a sound test should be carried out to identify defective wheels.

In the future, every freight wagon must have a valid certificate of its last technical inspection. This allows railway companies to check whether a wagon has been properly maintained before it is included in a train traveling through Switzerland.

The safety of wagon wheels has become a top issue since the 2023 derailment in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which caused severe infrastructure damage and kept the tunnel closed for a year. The incident posed a major challenge for rail freight on this crucial route. A derailment on Sweden’s Malmbanan line was also the result of a broken wheel.

Wagon owners are furious

Many voices in the rail freight industry are now protesting the FOT’s new rules. The International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) calls it “a rogue move”. UIP points out that Switzerland primarily targets wagon owners and those in charge of maintenance.

“We deplore a one-sided view that basically relieves the other rail system actors of their duties and does not consider safety investments on the side of operations and infrastructure”, the association adds. It also points out that in the case of the Gotthard accident, the investigation found that wagon owners complied with maintenance obligations.

The Swiss rail freight association VAP concurs. “With these new measures, the Federal Office of Transport is placing disproportionately high obligations on wagon owners compared to other stakeholders.” VAP highlights the reduced maintenance intervals as particularly disruptive, because it will “massively impact the availability of freight wagons and the profitability of operations.”

The maintenance interval measure, according to VAP, will lead to short-term bottlenecks in the freight industry and harm Switzerland’s supply security. “This topic was frequently discussed in advance and at the roundtables, but surprisingly little was considered in the FOT’s decision-making process.”

The Swiss association also foresees a reverse modal shift, rail freight’s nightmare scenario, because of the additional costs.

Absurdity

Across the border, Germany’s wagon owner association VPI also sharply criticised the FOT’s new rules. It highlights similar issues as VAP and UIP, and says that the new rules ignore the results of the so-called Joint Network Secretariat (JNS), an initiative by the European Agency for Railways (ERA) that aims at EU-wide harmonisations actions following rail accidents or incidents.

“It reduces to absurdity the relevance of the work of the JNS task force, which is expected to publish its European measures by the end of the year”, UIP also says about the step taken by FOT.

Switzerland wants the measures to be fully implemented by the end of the year. VAP, UIP and VPI all question the viability of that plan. Maintenance companies already lack resources, points out VAP, and the new rules will make that situation worse. More freight wagons will be unavailable more often and for longer periods of time.

“This, too, will initially be felt primarily by the freight forwarding companies, as they will need to purchase more wagons to transport the same volume of goods. As a consequence, more and more shippers are likely to turn away from rail freight transport and transport their goods by road in the medium term”, VAP states.

An obstacle to Rhine-Alpine rail freight

Importantly, the new Swiss rules also endanger cross-European interoperability. With its unilaterally introduced measures, Switzerland deviates from common European standards. Wagon owners may have to establish wagon fleets specifically adapted to Swiss rules, adding another cost factor to the mix. With Switzerland centrally located along one of Europe’s most important rail freight corridors (Rhine-Alpine), the rules impact a key artery for international traffic.

Wagon owners’ union UIP hopes that the focus will shift onto railway undertakings (RU) and the infrastructure manager: “It is unacceptable that RUs keep scaling back their technical on-site inspections and cutting investment in staff education, especially in a system that crucially depends on rigorous controls before, during, and after train operations.”

“We would do well to remember that […] the investigation identified areas for action not only for wagon keepers but also railway undertakings and the infrastructure manager”, UIP notes.

The scheme will be active in 2026 and 2027 and entails 25 CHF in additional subsidies per UCT consignment that is proven to come from the rolling highway service. This will be a significant increase as the current rate is set at 50 CHF per consignment. Interested parties can submit their proposal by Friday, 12 September 2025. Between then and the end of 2025, the FOT will cooperate with operators “to determine how the evidence that consignments have been transferred from Rola to UCT should be provided”.

Conditions apply

There are other conditions to be eligible for these subsidies. “If an operator’s actual train and/or consignment numbers fall more than 15% short of the figures projected, the subsidy will be reduced by 3%”, the FOT said. Moreover, subsidy requests can be rejected if the average number of trains per quarter is lower than 24.

Another reason for this minor setback was the large amount of infrastructure works carried out in Switzerland’s neighbouring countries throughout the first half of this year. “The major construction work on the access routes in Italy and Germany will lead to a significant decline in rail transport from summer 2024”, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) stated.

Transalpine rail volumes showed minor growth

Some of the cross-alpine rail traffic was diverted via the Lötschberg-Simplon axis, which registered a growth of 23 per cent, as the FOT mentioned. “Overall, the volume of goods transported by rail through the Alps was slightly higher in the first half of 2024 than in the same period last year”, the FOT explained, claiming that these figures increased by 1.3 per cent.

Road transport across the Alps also posted positive numbers. “The additional traffic on the road flowed primarily via the Gotthard (+5.2 percent) and the Great St. Bernard (+18.7 percent)”, the FOT added. Road traffic across the San Berdardino and Simplon axis, however, decreased, although the FOT did not specify by how much.

What are the disagreement points?

The EU wants Switzerland to adopt the technical pillar of the 4th railway package, which recognises ERA as Europe’s single certification body for rail vehicles and railway traffic operators. “However, the adaptation of the land transport agreement would be a prerequisite for Switzerland to be able to adopt the technical pillar of the 4th railway package”, the FOT spokesperson explained.

“Because Switzerland has not yet adopted this technical pillar of the 4th railway package, it is considered a third country by the EU. This means that EU member states may no longer apply the existing agreements on border routes with Switzerland”, the FOT spokesperson stated. In other words, Swiss rail operators have to find agreements with each bordering country rather than having simplified procedures. Other than rolling stock homologation, these agreements lay the basis for interoperability across borders when it comes to power supply, train protection systems safety-related regulations and certificates.

What is Switzerland asking?

One of the problems with the CGU is that some provisions regarding the division of safety responsibilities between railway companies, wagon keepers and maintenance workers create confusion. In other words, the FOT stated that some of the CGU provisions are outdated and “much less stringent” than the ones in the ECM Regulation. The FOT spokesperson highlighted four GCU points that need to be addressed to make it more compliant with the ECM Regulation.

The first one is Article 7: Technical admission and maintenance of wagons. The other one is Article 19 in conjunction with Appendixes 9 and 10. Article 19 concerns the handling of damage, while the two appendixes specify the conditions for the technical transfer inspection of wagons and the minimum conditions and measures to restore the running order of freight wagons. “Swiss railway legislation, however, does not require any adjustments when it comes to the maintenance of vehicles in cross-border traffic”, the spokesperson added.

Also read:

• Rail freight across the Alps dropped, but not because of the Gotthard
• SBB’s black results cannot hide single wagonload financial bleed-out
• Bottlenecks on Rhine-Alpine Corridor to remain at least until 2030

The current Land Transport Agreement was signed by Switzerland and the EU in 1999 and entered into force in 2002. Designed to harmonise legal regulations, the agreement was a key measure that helped integrate Swiss rail into the European transport market. Since the launch of the ERA in 2019, Switzerland has adopted much of the legislation of the European rail market on a case-by-case basis.

Advocate of interconnectivity

Switzerland has been a vocal advocate for improved interconnectivity, announcing plans to invest in electrification of the Wörth-Strasbourg line crossing through France earlier this year and proposing new infrastructure investments in France and Italy, to strengthen rail lines and terminals.

“The cross-border movement of goods and persons will be facilitated, security will be maintained, and the social protection of workers will be ensured”, Peter Füglistaler, director of land transport at the Swiss FOT, commented. “It is in both sides’ interests to secure these advantages in the future and to settle the overarching differences in cooperation between Switzerland and the EU.”

Long-term strategy

In June, the Swiss Federal Council announced the latest steps in the revision of its long-term strategy for railways, outlining plans to strengthen the rail links as part of a multi-billion euro investment.

“So far, [strategy] has primarily been geared towards bottleneck removal and cycle compression. With the future expansion steps within the framework of the BAHN 2050 perspective, the rail services are primarily to be improved over short and medium distances,” a spokesperson for the FOT commented.

BAHN 2050 roadmap

The BAHN 2050 roadmap is a comprehensive plan for the sector, based on a series of studies commissioned by the FOT from research companies and universities. The FOT has opened consultation on the roadmap and will publish a background report on the Perspektive BAHN 2050 on 15 July.

The new roadmap is expected to drive rail freight transport opportunities, both in Switzerland and neighbouring EU countries, thanks to new intermodal transhipment platforms and city logistics facilities. The FOT awaits the Parliament’s decision on the next expansion step, scheduled for 2026.