It once revolutionised the Swiss railway system, today it’s almost impossible to imagine life without it. The regular-interval timetable is celebrating its 35th birthday.
Dear regular-interval timetable,
Happy birthday!
Trust no one over 30, what a load of rubbish! While other people of your age are already battling with midlife crises, you’re at your peak. You control our track Network.
Travelling without you now is almost unimaginable. Since the services in the stations are the same every hour, passengers can easily remember the departure and arrival times and enjoy great connections and convenient changes. You have been making our journeys simpler for 35 years.
For this birthday, we hope you keep your rhythm – for groovy travelling.
We hope you continue to be just as unwavering, because that’s how you were born to be. In the 1950s, people were imagining what you would be like. They said it would never happen. But your parents Samuel Stähli, Hans Meiner and Jean-Pierre Berthouzoz did not give up. The SBB engineers and members of the “Spinnerclub“ sketched, pondered and debated in their free time. In June 1972, they presented a design of how you might look.
But the signs weren’t promising. Declining passenger numbers and the oil price shock made your parents’ employer uneasy. Nine months in the making became ten years.
And then on this day, 35 years ago, the big day arrived when you came into the world along with the slogan “A train every hour”. Switzerland celebrated your birth.
We wish you good luck for the rest of your life. And you’ll need it because, since the successful introduction of the timetable and the rail expansion in 2000, SBB now operates the network with the highest frequency of departures. Today, 1.25 million people travel on SBB trains each day, meaning that Switzerland has one of the most heavily used track networks in the world.
This is a reason to celebrate! Enjoy yourself today. But please, don’t overdo it. After all, you mustn’t fall out of sync on your big day…
Where your journey leads, we don’t know yet. Forecasts are always tricky – especially when they concern the future. But for the time being, we’ll keep in step with you when we’re out and about.
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