However, the development is clear: 2025 brought no relief to the Swiss rail freight performance. Like in 2024, the industry declined both in terms of tonnage transported and performance in tonne-kilometres.

Some of the quarterly changes seem alarming. Between Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, transport performance decreased by over 18%, according to the preliminary numbers. During that same period, the total weight transported shrank by 13.5%. In the last quarter of 2025, transported performance also declined by over 12% compared to Q4 2024.

Infrastructure works are a major hindrance

The Swiss statistics agency did not provide an explanation for the decline. Switzerland plays a key role in transalpine traffic however, and that is exactly where performance has been slowing since 2021. A reverse modal shift is taking place, and that was no different in 2025.

The modal share of transalpine rail freight in Switzerland fell below 70% for the first time since the mid-2010s, reaching 68.6% in 2025. “The ongoing decline in transalpine rail freight traffic is due to poor quality and reliability along Europe’s north-south routes”, the Swiss government said earlier.

This is confirmed by Simon Wey, who heads the Swiss shippers’ association VAP. Especially, the many infrastructure works in Germany hinder rail freight operations along the Rhine corridor. Switzerland has also pointed to the challenging economic climate as a culprit.

Simultaneously, however, rail freight traffic has been hindered by renovation works on the Simplon tunnel, which crosses into Italy. For six months each year until 2029, there will be work ongoing. This impacts the capacity for rail freight. On the Italian side of the border, similar works are ongoing. The Domodossola – Milan route was closed entirely between 8 June and 27 July, as well as from 31 August to 12 September.

Wagon wheel safety rules

VAP’s Simon Wey also tells RailFreight.com that the infamous wagon wheel safety rules had an impact on 2025’s figures. The rules were introduced in the autumn of 2025 and are currently being fought over in court, but the rules had an immediate impact on the success of rail freight. Shippers said that they “took the first possible opportunity” to switch to the road due to the ongoing uncertainty created by Switzerland’s regulation ideas.

The outlook for 2026 is not much better. Wey expects a further reverse modal shift to the road in light of the transalpine rolling highway cancellation at the end of 2025.

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.

Simplon and Gotthard struggling

In terms of net tonnes, there was a 7.5% decrease in goods moved by freight trains, from 25,6 million to 23,7 million tonnes. Road transport showed stability even in these figures, with 10,8 million tonnes both in 2024 and 2025. The two main transalpine axes, the Gotthard and Simplon, both performed somewhat negatively in terms of net tonnes. The former had a market share of 78.1%, up 8.4% from 2025, while the latter “suffered further losses in market share”, standing at 21.3%.

Volumes along the Simplon fell in all categories: rail (-33%), road (-65.9%), combined transport (-29.8%) and rolling highways (-23.5%). This is because the Simplon Tunnel was closed for six months for renovation. This trend is likely to remain as there are three more six-month planned closures to renew the infrastructure until 2028.

The Gotthard, on the other hand, posted slightly better numbers in rail (+3.3%) and combined transport (+6.5%) in 2025 compared to the previous year. However, this ‘growth’ is likely linked to the much lower starting base, following a derailment in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the summer of 2023, which kept the infrastructure only partially available for most of 2024. In fact, rolling highways (-32.8%) and road transport (-3.3%) along the Gotthard both decreased, similarly to what happened with the Simplon.

If Switzerland can’t, then who will?

The negative figures posted for transalpine rail freight echoes the ones published last week by SBB Cargo, Switzerland’s state owned operator. The company continues to increase its losses, with a -60.4% between 2024 and 2025. Volumes are dropping both domestically and internationally, with single wagonload remaining a significant challenge.

Amid struggling European countries, Switzerland has traditionally been (and for now still is) the queen of rail freight, with numbers much above the EU average. Over the past few years, however, the struggle seems to have become contagious, and Switzerland can only do so much to contain the damage. For example, the country is investing heavily in infrastructure and terminals both on its soil and in its neighbours’ territories, especially Italy and France. But will this be enough to invert this downward trend?

There is also a staggering difference between SBB Cargo’s domestic and international services. In Switzerland, the operator’s volumes have been declining since 2019 and are now below five billion net tonnes/kilometre for the third year in a row, with a 2.9% decrease between 2024 and 2025. SBB Cargo International has also seen its volumes decline since 2021, with a 4.6% drop between 2024 and 2025, but it is steadily above 10 billion net tonnes/kilometre.

‘Only block trains cover their own costs’

Out of the three offer types in SBB Cargo’s portfolio – combined transport, single wagonload and block trains, “only the latter can cover its own costs”, SBB underlined. The combined transport (CT) segment begun its transformation in May, while SWL will be re-organised this year. The transformation of CT has not been the smoothest, as it brought the closure of eight terminals across Switzerland with the consequent loss of dozens of jobs.

While waiting for the renovation of the SWL business, 2025 brought some positive news. The Swiss government approved a four-year scheme for financial support to operators offering SWL services in Switzerland both with compensation and investments. In total, 260 million CHF (287 million euros) will be deployed until 2029 for this initiative and, since SBB Cargo is the sole provider of this services, it will get all of them.

“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.

Both the FOT and the JNS want to introduce new requirements for the diameter of wheels and new parameters for inspections and the scheduling of maintenance checks. Moreover, the JNS rules also state that the type of wheels mentioned above “shall be treated as non-thermostable wheels and their white stripe markings shall be removed”. ECM will be in charge of removing the white stripe markings. They will have to present their plans by 1 February 2026 and all markings need to be removed by 1 July 2027.

The diameter parameters

The new JSN regulations on the diameter of wheels are also addressed to ECM, with a differentiation between wheels mounted on wagons with a nominal axle load higher or lower than 20 tonnes. If the axle load is lower than 20 tonnes, the only change is that they cannot be used in ss-brake applications starting from 1 July 2027. Until then, they can be used in this type of traffic as long as they undergo a visual inspection every 50,000 kilometres.

For wheels mounted on wagons with a nominal axle load higher than 20 tonnes, things get a little more complicated. The JNS is introducing a new minimum in-service diameter of 864 millimetres, which is what Switzerland had in mind as well. Moreover, the new minimum diameter for wheels being re-profiled will be 880 millimetres. Finally, “it is not allowed to re-install wheels with a wheel diameter of 864mm or less”, the JNS rules specify.

The deadline for ECM to implement these measures and meet the new requirements is 1 January 2029, while Switzerland planned to enforce them by the end of 2026. In other words, the JSN requirements allow ECM to take two years longer to comply with the new rules. However, the deadline is shortened to 31 December 2026 for wheels used on wagons running on mountainous sections or in areas with “more severe winter conditions”. Between now and 2029, wheels with a diameter lower than 864 millimetres can run as long as they are inspected every 50,000 kilometres.

Visual inspections and hammer tests

Another important aspect of the JNS new regulations regards visual inspection and hammer tests, and concerns ECM, IM and RU. Starting on 1 February 2026, ECM will have to carry out these safety checks during changes of brake blocks, axle inspections, off-vehicle maintenance and wagon technical inspections. IM and RU will have to do the same before train departures, during changes of brake blocks and after detection of thermal overload. ECM will also have to adjust the reduced limit for residual stress measurements from 400 to 300 megapascals.

Guidelines for IM and RU

The JNS’ new report outlines instructions for IM and RU on how to deal with wheels with or without white stripe markings. In all cases, a wagon will have to be detached in case of detections of issues. For unmarked wheels where an issue is detected, it will be necessary to check the widening of the inner faces. If it is widened, the wagons will be detached; if it is not, the wagon can complete its journey and then be sent to ECM for maintenance.

The same approach will be adopted for marked wheels until 30 June 2027, one day before the deadline to remove the markings from the seven wheel types. This is because IM and RU will have to send wagons with wheels that are still marked but no longer considered thermostable to ECM, which will unmark them. After 1 July 2027, marked wagons with no issue detected will be able to continue to run.

The feud with Switzerland

The introduction of new safety regulations for rail freight wheels has been in the spotlight due to the Swiss decision of implementing its own rules without waiting for a European solution. This led to a still ongoing lawsuit between the FOT and various European rail freight wagon companies. The court has already decided against the FOT, which should be forced to drop the new regulations and, consequently, adopt the ones written by the JNS. However, the Swiss Office obtained an extended deadline to appeal the court’s decision until 24 January.

Modifications to the infrastructure are needed between the Basel St. Johann and Basel SBB stations. Those include lowering the tracks in two tunnels and two road overpasses. Infrastructure manager SBB will also carry out some routine work in the process, which will start in April 2026 and last until late 2029. As a result of the improvements, more transalpine freight traffic should shift from road to rail, according to FOT.

In order to facilitate rail freight across the entire left bank of the Rhine to the NRLA, France also needs to make some investments. FOT explains that both parties have signed declarations of intent to that end, and the expansion projects are currently in development.

Financial allocation

The agreement also highlights how funds will be deployed to support SWL over the next four years. The 260 million francs will be spread roughly equally throughout the period, with a little over 64 million francs (68,5 million euros) each. The main difference is that five million francs of the funds for 2026 will be used for investments, while all the rest will be allocated for compensation.

What changes?

The new agreement brings in a few requirements for the state-owned operator. “For example, with the new funds, cross-subsidies will no longer be possible”, the FOT specified. In other words, the company will have to reinvest its (possible) profits in the development and modernisation of the SWL segment.

Moreover, SBB Cargo will have to be more transparent. They will have to report quarterly to the FOT, making key parameters on transport performance public on the Office’s website. A semi-annual report will be also published on the development of the SWL offering portfolio. Finally, SBB Cargo will have to keep a detailed financial account on the segment which will be presented yearly to the FOT.

SWL in Switzerland

Despite winning this concession, the situation regarding SWL at SBB Cargo seems to be a rollercoaster ride. On the positive side, the company said it renewed various contracts with shippers (including Migros, Vigier, and Stahl Gerlafingen), some up to ten years. “This means that over 95% of customers will continue to rely on SWL in the long term”, it said. On the other hand, however, the company is planning to close three terminals in Chiasso, Brig and Buchs and firing 40 people. Five more might follow the same fate, costing the job to at least 25 more workers.

Among other things, the FOT wanted to raise the minimum diameter for wheels from 860 to 864 millimetres and to increase the frequency of technical inspections. The former could see many wagons no longer be fit to run in and through Switzerland, while the latter would have an impact on costs, as inspections are not free. Initially, the Swiss office wanted to have these new rules implemented by the beginning of 2026, then moved the deadline to the end of it. With the court’s decision, however, everything remains on hold.

Waiting for new EU rules

The main criticism against the Swiss decision was its unilateralism, since it was not made in consultation with any European institution. Moreover, the Joint Network Secretariat (JNS) was also working on new measures on wheels that would be adopted continent-wide. Their recommendations are expected before the end of the year. “The court order is now an opportunity for all parties to come together, including Switzerland, and focus on finding a common European solution”, UIP underlined. The FOT has until 16 December to react to the decision.

Worst performance in 15 years

The staggering conclusion drawn is that “the last time rail transport services were lower than in 2024 was in 2009”, which was the same in terms of billion net tonnes/kilometre. The decrease in rail freight in Switzerland is tied to a decrease in transalpine traffic. Rail freight continues to be the main mode of transport along this axis, but its market share fell from 72% to 70.3%, moving around 44,000 trucks from the rail to the road.