Council of States increases loans by 350 million: almost 3 billion francs for railway expansion

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 fmXrkB”>

The Council of States wants to spend more money on rail expansion than the Federal Council requests. Discussing the changes to the expansion steps in 2025 and 2035 on Tuesday, he increased the corresponding loans by 350 million francs.

In the general vote, the small chamber adopted all four federal resolutions without any dissenting vote. The company now goes to the National Council.

Almost 3 billion francs

In mid-August, the Federal Council decided to ask Parliament to request an additional 2.6 billion francs from the railway infrastructure fund.

This includes the construction of a nine-kilometre-long rail tunnel between Morges VD and Perroy VD on the Lausanne-Geneva route. It is also planned to expand the Lötschberg Base Tunnel continuously to two lanes instead of only partially.

At the request of its Commission for Transport and Telecommunications, the Council of States has decided on additional credit increases amounting to 250 million francs. This includes the demerger in Pratteln BL, the expansion of the Ebikon LU train station, the realization of the Morgartenring in Basel and additional projects in Western Switzerland.

At the request of a minority of the Commission, the Council of States also approved an additional 100 million francs for pre-investments in the Meilibach tunnel. This will one day connect the Zimmerberg base tunnel underground with the Thalwil-Pfäffikon route. (SDA)

Source:Blick