The Swiss Referendum in December 1987 approved the financing from public funds, and the implementation, of the Rail 2000 project, to cost SFr 5.4 billion (2,200 million) over 12 years. The background to the Rail 2000 Project is examined, including the funding of the principal Swiss rail infrastructure as a state responsibility; the taktfahrplan principle of hourly interval services with connections between levels and modes of public transport service; and the marketing with reduced-fare Railcards of integrated public transport on a rail and bus network owned and operated by a variety of undertakings. Past plans for TGV-type rail development in Switzerland were opposed and replaced by a plan to enhance the whole existing public transport network. New sections of high- speed railway were included only where necessary to complete an integrated network with hourly meets of interconnecting trains at centres to be brought within 1 hour's journey of each other. The whole project was presented as a way of making public transport attractive enough to be an attractive competitor to the car. The national desire to reduce pollution and environmental damage caused by motor traffic, and to absorb the increase in demand for travel on the rail system instead of new roads, was a prime justification for the large public funding proposed.
Abstract