«So where do butterflies live?»

Lara, 8, Anouk, 9, and Sophie, 8, Winterthur

SBB doesn’t just own its tracks. It also owns forests, meadows and embankments – a total of 97,000 hectares of land in fact. It looks after these green spaces carefully and with due consideration to biodiversity. Railway land is home to countless plant and animal species. Even a number of reptiles can be found sunning themselves along SBB walls.

If you go by train, you go easy on the environment. Rail travel consumes only a quarter as much energy as road or air, and it causes only one-twentieth of the CO₂ emissions. SBB is working on increasing this lead even further. The climate protection programme, for example, is targeting a further
30 % cut in CO₂ emissions by 2020.

«Will the Gotthard traffic jams ever go away?»

Giulia, 12, and Matteo, 13, Airolo

No one can tell if there will ever be a time when Easter traffic no longer backs up at the Gotthard. One thing is sure, though: it will soon be even more comfortable to take the train south. With the new Gotthard base tunnel, SBB customers will in the future be able to reach Milan an hour faster.

SBB has a global reputation for its efficient service. No other railway makes such intensive use of its network as we do, and nowhere else do people use the railways as much as they do in Switzerland. The whole of Europe – and, above all, our environment – will benefit from the upgrading of the north-south rail corridor that passes through the Swiss Alps.

«When will we meet again?»

Céline, 20, Nyon and Lucas, 22, Berne

Distances in Switzerland have been shrinking steadily in recent years: SBB’s regular-interval timetable, and its increasingly frequent and more comfortable trains, mean greater mobility for the whole population. SBB is bringing people in Switzerland together.

Every day, 951,000 passengers use our services – whether for commuting, for leisure, to go to events or to visit friends. And thanks to the Track7/Half-Fare travelcard combination, people under 25 can even travel right across Switzerland free of charge from 19:00 onwards.

«Will my kids go to school
at the station one day?»

Manon, 23, Geneva

Today’s railway stations are complete service centres – thanks to their good public transport connections, they are highly popular amenity centres in the hearts of our cities. Locations in and near stations are thus highly sought-after – as places in which to live, shop, work and go to school.

Across Switzerland, SBB manages some 3500 sites close to the major stations and is investing a great deal in their further development. Rail passengers benefit from this as much as the population as a whole and local businesses.

«Would I still have time for football if I were a train driver?»

Nicolas, 14, Crans-Montana

Train drivers have a huge amount of responsibility. They do their job dependably, around the clock and in all seasons. So it’s all the more important that they have a chance to enjoy their leisure time with their family and friends, and take part in sporting activities.

SBB is Switzerland’s fourth biggest employer. Every year it trains over 1,200 people in 18 different professions, from track-layer to IT specialist, and from automation engineer to travel agent. Part of SBB’s forward-looking personnel policy is that it offers part-time working packages for management.

«Do I really need to move for my job?»

Tim, 21, Schaffhausen

Here today, there tomorrow. In the last few years, employment has become highly mobile. Numerous types of work are no longer tied to fixed locations. Equipped with smartphones, laptop or iPads, today’s nomads have their workplace with them wherever they may go. And watching the world pass by the carriage window can be highly conducive to good ideas.