Urban sprawl and population growth in Switzerland continue to increase. As a result, the need for additional mobility services is growing. Rail is continuing to gain in importance compared to road transport. This applies to both passenger and freight transport, which must be shifted from road to rail. This is the only way to achieve the internationally agreed climate targets. By 2035, they will have to significantly increase the capacity of the rail infrastructure over several expansion stages. This will entail massive investment in expansion projects.

There is a huge backlog in the maintenance of the Swiss railway network. A steady expansion of the railway infrastructure combined with ever longer and heavier trains has led to an increasing load on the system components in recent years and therefore also to an increasing need for maintenance. The necessary projects and measures often have to be carried out during ongoing railway operations and in coordination with major projects. The complexity of maintenance is constantly increasing under these circumstances.

Operators have to modernize structures and plant in order to safeguard operations and improve quality. They need to improve the perception of train stations, as many customers do not feel at home in them. There are no shops selling everyday items and many existing facilities no longer meet today’s standards. New vehicle concepts only partially fit the existing infrastructure and workshops.

Strict environmental and climate protection targets apply in the mobility sector. Operators must adapt their systems to meet the legal requirements, for which they have access to an ever-increasing range of options: More sophisticated alternative drive technologies are now available on the market. This is true for both local and long-distance rail and road transport. But many rail lines are still not electrified. Trains with diesel locomotives operate on these routes, and along with diesel buses, they are major drivers of carbon emissions. Operators will likely be required to replace all diesel engines with hydrogen technology or electric drive systems.

Due to numerous expansion projects and more frequent services in recent years, the Swiss timetable has become increasingly dense in both local and long-distance transport. Added to this is the increase in freight traffic in response to the policy of shifting freight from road to rail. At the same time, new construction projects are putting pressure on the timetable situation and interfering with customers' journey times. Comprehensive planning of construction projects at the interface between construction and operation is therefore becoming increasingly important.