An incident involving a person on October 23rd disrupted the railway between Aarau and Rupperswil, a key route linking Zurich with Bern and western Switzerland.
Police arrived at 8.18pm and a Swiss Rail incident manager at 8.29pm, according to Aarau24. Yet at Zurich main station, the operator’s app and platform displays were still directing westbound passengers to the 9.08pm train to Bern via Lenzburg.
Other Swiss Rail staff, meanwhile, were advising passengers to travel north via Basel or south via Luzern. Those who followed the app and displays were already heading to Lenzburg, where no onward train was available to take them farther west.
Earlier in the evening, severe weather disrupted rail services between Bussigny and Renens, in the canton of Vaud, on the Lausanne–Geneva line, causing delays and cancellations. Only regional trains could run, using a single track, because of a power failure, Swiss Federal Railways said. According to RTS, panels from a construction site beside Renens station reportedly fell during heavy rain and may have caused the outage.
Some weary passengers will reach home in the early hours. Switzerland’s mythical reputation for punctual, well-organised railways may offer them little comfort.
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