SWITZERLAND: National railway safety authority BAV announced on December 10 that it had extended its transitional working arrangements with the EU Agency for Railways by a further two years.
BAV agreed the extension of its 2019 working agreement at a meeting of the Switzerland-EU Joint Land Transport Committee held in Brussels on December 9. The Swiss delegation used the event to ‘explain the measures taken to ensure safety in rail freight transport in the wake of the accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel’ , the regulator said in a statement issued on the same day. ’Switzerland continues to advocate a solution at the pan-European level that is as broadly supported as possible in the industry’.
Court injunction
The meeting comes against the backdrop of a decision by the federal administrative court in St Gallen to issue a temporary injunction preventing implementation of BAV’s planned wagon maintenance reforms. Trade bodies representing shippers and rolling stock asset owners reacted angrily in September to a series of changes to railway wagon maintenance and inspection processes announced by BAV. The changes were criticised as a unilateral decision that threatens the viability of cross-border rail freight flows on those pan-European north-south corridors passing through Switzerland.
While the measures were partially watered down by BAV in October, legal action launched by rail sector stakeholders led to the court ruling on November 24 that there were ‘considerable doubts as to the factual and temporal urgency of the measures’ and over ‘the extent to which the measures taken are actually suitable or necessary for reducing the risk of wheel breakages’.
‘Shared responsibility’
The injunction was welcomed by the International Union of Wagon Keepers. Its Secretary General Gilles Peterhans said on December 9 that safety was ‘a shared responsibility. The court ruling underscores the need for a collaborative, fact-based approach to improving rail safety. We remain committed to working with BAV, all European national safety authorities, and sector representatives through the [ERA-led] Joint Network Secretariat. As the pan-European platform bringing together all key rail stakeholders, the JNS enables the approval of proportionate and harmonised measures that make rail freight ever safer across Europe — benefiting Switzerland as well.’
The court order, which gives BAV until December 16 to respond, comes ahead of the publication of JNS’s updated safety recommendations. This is expected by the end of December 2025.
