Swiss rail passenger traffic reaches a record high

Swiss railways carried 23.7 billion passenger-kilometres in 2025, setting a new record as demand continued to recover from the pandemic and extend a longer upward trend. The figure means that passengers travelled the equivalent of 23.7 billion kilometres in total, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office on September 16, 2026.

The increase reached 3.2% compared with 2024, when rail transport recorded 22.9 billion passenger-kilometres. That represents an additional 737 million passenger-kilometres in a single year. The 2024 figure had already risen by 3.1% from 2023.

The latest result puts Swiss rail travel well above its pre-pandemic position. Passenger-kilometres collapsed to 13.3 billion in 2020, when health restrictions disrupted commuting, tourism and cross-border travel. Rail surpassed its pre-crisis level in 2023 and has continued to grow since then.

For passengers, the record is visible in the sustained use of the national network, from commuter corridors around Zurich, Basel and Geneva to long-distance journeys linking the country’s main cities. For operators and policymakers, the figures add pressure to keep trains, stations and tracks aligned with demand.

Rail travel grew 16.3% between 2015 and 2025, rising from 20.4 billion to 23.7 billion passenger-kilometres over the decade. The trend includes the sharp pandemic interruption, but the broader direction remains clear: more people are using trains for journeys across Switzerland.

The recovery has not simply restored the old baseline. After the 2020 low point, passenger traffic rebounded quickly enough to pass its pre-pandemic level in 2023. Growth then continued in both 2024 and 2025, with annual increases of 3.1% and 3.2% respectively.

Passenger-kilometres measure distance travelled as well as the number of passengers. A rise can therefore reflect more journeys, longer journeys, or both. The measure does not provide a route-by-route breakdown, so the national figures do not identify which individual corridors drove the increase.

The data does show that rail has retained a central place in Swiss mobility after the disruption to commuting and travel patterns. Regular services remain essential for workers, students and visitors moving between urban centres and smaller communities. The continued rise also gives transport authorities a firm statistical basis for assessing future timetable, rolling stock and infrastructure needs.

Private motorised transport still dominates Swiss passenger travel, despite the rail record. In 2024, cars and other private motorised modes generated 94.6 billion passenger-kilometres, accounting for 70.6% of the overall transport market.

Rail recorded 17.2% of total travel volume, placing it well behind road transport in absolute terms. Yet its role within collective transport is much larger. Conventional rail accounts for more than 81% of passenger-kilometres in that category, making it the backbone of public transport in Switzerland.

The comparison helps define what the 2025 record means. Rail is expanding from a smaller base than private cars, and its growth has not displaced road travel in the national figures available here. Switzerland continues to rely on both systems, with rail carrying concentrated flows between major population centres and roads providing extensive door-to-door access.

Public transport as a whole, including rail, buses, trams, cable cars and waterways, represented 21.1% of passenger travel. The figures underline the scale of the task facing transport planners: expanding rail use requires investment while maintaining the road network that still carries the majority of passenger movement.

Every additional 737 million passenger-kilometres adds to the demands on a network that already carries heavy traffic. The 2025 increase does not identify specific bottlenecks, but it gives a clear national signal that rail capacity must keep pace with use.

Capacity depends on more than the number of trains. Tracks, signalling systems, junctions, platforms, maintenance windows and station access all shape how many services an operator can run reliably. Busy corridors have to accommodate long-distance trains, regional services and freight, often within the same timetable. Rising passenger volumes can reduce the margin available for disruption and planned engineering work.

The Swiss figures also point to the importance of the entire passenger journey. More rail users mean sustained pressure on station entrances, interchange points, ticketing systems, bicycle facilities and local connections. Investment in trains alone would leave parts of the network out of step with demand.

The Federal Statistical Office data does not attach the record to a particular infrastructure project or operator decision. It does establish the scale of the market that planners must serve. A network carrying 23.7 billion passenger-kilometres requires long-term decisions on maintenance and expansion, alongside reliable day-to-day operations.

The 2025 record gives Switzerland a durable planning benchmark. Rail passenger traffic has now recovered from its pandemic collapse and continued to rise for two consecutive years. The key question for transport authorities is how to accommodate that demand while preserving the punctual, connected service on which the Swiss system depends.

The country’s transport mix will remain broad. Private motorised transport held 70.6% of the market in 2024, while rail held 17.2%. Those figures describe different functions as well as different volumes. Cars serve dispersed journeys and destinations, while rail is particularly important for high-volume links between towns, cities and major employment centres.

The record also strengthens rail’s position in debates over mobility and infrastructure. Conventional rail already accounts for more than 81% of collective transport passenger-kilometres. Further growth would affect national and regional planning, station development, rolling stock procurement and the coordination of trains with buses, trams and other services.

The Federal Statistical Office will provide the next markers for whether the expansion continues. For now, the 2025 data shows a Swiss rail system carrying more passengers over greater distances than ever before, with capacity decisions becoming increasingly central to the country’s mobility policy.