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.