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SBB managed to make a profit this week for the first time since the pandemic. CEO Vincent Ducrot (61) explains in an interview with SonntagsBlick why he is still so worried about his group’s financial situation. It also outlines what public transport in Switzerland will look like in a few years.
Mr Ducrot, journalists rarely pay compliments. Time for an exception: I have to wait for my train much less often than I did a few years ago. How did you do this?
Vincent Ducrot: We invested heavily in planning and internal communications. The fields of passenger transport, infrastructure, security, IT and real estate now work much more closely together than before. We now go one step further with the new Swiss rail traffic control center at Bollwerk in Bern: This is where all the strands of integrated railway come together. This means that if problems arise anywhere, we can respond immediately.
Can you give an example?
Consider a construction site where trains must move slower for safety reasons. According to the plan, the delay is 10 seconds, but in reality it is 20 seconds. This may be enough to throw our tweaked system out of sync. Having a direct line of passenger transportation to the infrastructure helps solve the problem quickly.
Punctuality is good, but comfort often leaves much to be desired: at peak times I have to sit on the stairs between Winterthur and Zurich. This morning, from Zurich to Bern, everyone had nowhere to sit. Do we have to get used to this?
During rush hour, on routes shorter than 15 minutes, there are usually no empty seats, as in the subway. On longer journeys, of course, our goal is to ensure that no one is left standing. However, due to our open system that does not require reservations, it is not always possible to guarantee this. We want to start by allowing more trains to run more flexibly where there is demand.
Vincent Ducrot (61) has been CEO of SBB for nearly four years. The Freiburg native previously worked in project management at the Federal Railways from 1993 to 2011; until he was appointed General Manager of the Freiburg Transport Authority (TPF) in 2011. In his personal life, Ducrot received a serious blow of fate in 2017: his wife, with whom he had six children, died after a long and serious illness.
Vincent Ducrot (61) has been CEO of SBB for nearly four years. The Freiburg native previously worked in project management at the Federal Railways from 1993 to 2011; until he was appointed General Manager of the Freiburg Transport Authority (TPF) in 2011. In his personal life, Ducrot received a serious blow of fate in 2017: his wife, with whom he had six children, died after a long and serious illness.
SBB has become more reliable again under your patronage. However, your predecessor, Andreas Meyer, had better control of the finances. Acceptance?
The comparison is not very fair: We have been fighting Corona for almost three years. This cost us travelers and around three billion francs. Almost all of the rising debt is due to the pandemic. This year we were able to make a profit again. We are happy with this, but it is not enough.
Yet you are left with the impression that you have invested too much money in infrastructure, personnel, and operations, and you anticipate that the federal government will foot the bill.
This is not true, quite the opposite. Under my leadership, we have taken cost and efficiency measures: we want to spend six billion francs less by 2030. The public sector finances infrastructure and operations. SBB needs to invest in railway vehicles and stations alone. But we are committed to public service. Therefore, our goal is not to make the highest possible profit, but to provide good service to our customers.
Peter Füglistaler, head of the Federal Transport Agency (BAV), is of the opinion that SBB places too little value on its own economic sustainability.
Mr. Füglistaler’s point of view differs from ours: the impression is that the railways are limited to demanding money from the public. We want to fulfill our transport contract in the best possible way and at the same time prevent SBB from incurring a large amount of debt, as the owner has requested from us.
After the annual results were announced, Füglistaler opposed Parliament giving you a one-off capital grant of 1.15 billion francs to reduce your debt. What would be the consequences?
We will have to renegotiate our fiscal goals with our owner, the federal government. During the pandemic, our debts increased to over 11 billion francs. This is much more than the technical specifications allow us. It will not be possible for us to reduce this debt to the desired level on our own. Large investments need to be made to provide this service in the coming years. That’s why we need the support of the federal government; We are happy with every franc. We want to prevent at all costs SBB from being completely renovated at some point.
Is this a realistic danger?
Not today, not tomorrow. But if we continue as in previous years, things will not go well. We have to bear huge costs with the profits and real estate we earn from long-distance transportation. Even a surplus of 267 million francs like this year’s is not enough to reduce the debt and finance investments in new trains, for example. To be economically sustainable we need annual profits of 500 million francs.
They therefore urge politicians to exercise restraint in further expanding infrastructure.
While the trains are running, we are building. Our system is reaching its limits. Every franc we invest in expansion incurs follow-up costs of three percent every year. An infrastructure project worth one billion francs costs us 30 million francs a year to maintain the structure of new railway facilities. Therefore we must consider very carefully where the cost-benefit calculation is correct. Moreover, when planning infrastructure, we must increasingly keep the big picture in mind and not just meet local needs.
They demand that public transport services in Switzerland be “more flexible, more frequent and faster” in the future. You also resist further expansion projects. How does this come together?
We want to make 15-minute intervals as common as possible in Switzerland. This is made possible thanks to the digitalization of the existing railway network. No need for expensive infrastructure, saving just a few seconds of travel time. However, over the years, we need to give up the things we have become accustomed to: We must approach the centers more flexibly and move away from the rigid node structure of 0/15/30/45. At smaller stations we have to consider where it makes sense for the train to stop.
So how will commuters get to their front doors?
For thin distribution in the last 15 minutes, we should expand local public transport and rely more on trams, on-call buses or light rail. The Limmattalbahn between Zurich-Altstetten and Spreitenbach AG shows that this can work. This new tram is used very well. The railway network, which we need to provide service in 15 minutes, is now relaxed. Our aim is to enable passengers to reach door to door faster. The track is strong over medium and long distances.
Such a paradigm shift requires holistic planning. Who should put the public transport of the future on track?
BAV is responsible. But it requires close cooperation with cantons, cities and small and large transport companies. We want to use our ideas to start a broad debate about railways from the middle of the century.
That’s the problem: too many players have a say in transport planning in Switzerland. There is not only the federal government, cantons, cities and SBB, but also 250 transport companies and 18 tariff unions.
Swiss railway is a model of success, that’s why we envy other countries. Our federalism and direct democratic processes are a challenge. But I believe it is possible to reform public transport in Switzerland together. We must have the courage to think about taboos such as the node principle and holding policy.
What is the role of Transport Minister Albert Rösti in this? The energy transition has generated excitement so far, especially in relation to SRG and Wolf.
Mr. Rösti knows both the railway and our ideas for the future very well. He worked on it intensively. Therefore, I think he will become more involved in this discussion over time.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
