The new train tunnel through the Gotthard is an engineering success, but now train users are being frustrated as high speed train routinely forget to stop at the scheduled Flüellen stop. There are now meant to be 6 stops a day in Flüellen (3 in each direction) but one user says that since the beginning of the year he has stood on a platform and watched his scheduled train just whizz through the stop. The SBB apologise for the inconvenience and own up to the fact that this actually happens roughly 170 000 times per year on their whole network. They believe that the drivers just haven’t gotten into the habit of stopping at Flüellen and when the lights are green at the entrance of the station (meaning that the tracks beyond the station are clear) some drivers just assume they are being told to keep going.
The volume of mobile data being used in Switzerland continues to grow, within a year the volume went up by 55% at Swisscom alone. The telecom giant was hoping to upgrade their network to 5G standard. However Switzerland has very strict radiation protection regulations and they argue that the maximum level of radiation is reached, therefore upgrading would mean that people’s health would be jeopardized. In order to fulfill our need for more efficient communication, the telecom industry would need to either have more transmitting towers or transmit using more frequencies. Switzerland has one of the strictest radiation protection law in place, significantly lower than EU standards. The telecom companies would like the government to relax their standard and meet EU standards. A motion was put to parliament on the subject and was turned down by 22 to 21 voices. So, for now, we will continue to use the 4G network.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Saying of the day: “Hopp de Bäse!” get on with it![/perfectpullquote]
