Aline Trede, who heads the Greens in the Swiss Parliament, had to spend the night on the platform in Basel earlier this week as the Nightjet to Amsterdam failed to show up. Local media were quick to highlight the incident, as Trede is a champion of green travelling and refuses to fly.
According to Trede, passengers for the Nightjet service to Amsterdam had been waiting at Basel SBB station when the announcement came that travellers had to make their way to the city’s Baden station. However, by that time, the lightrail service was coming to an end and at least half of the passengers were unable to make it to Baden station. This meant that some 200 people were left stranded, some of whom – including families with children and senior citizens – had been on the platform for 4 hours, the politician wrote.
In her post on Instagram, Trede lamented the lack of information throughout the wait, as well as the apparent lack of communication between Austria’s ÖBB and SBB. “Sustainable travel is the future. Do your job, optimise your service offering and customer experience”, Trede said in comments directed at the operators.
The apparent cause of the delay was a failed Deutsche Bahn-owned locomotive and miscommunication between SBB and its German counterpart, Swiss magazine Blick reported.
Sleeper train services have made something of a comeback following the lifting of corona measures. However, operators continue to experience difficulties due to track maintenance and construction in many places. Startups have faced obstacles in acquiring appropriate rolling stock, often having to run its services with outdated train cars of having to postpone their trains.
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Chief Editor, RailTech.com
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