Swiss rail passengers stranded overnight
About 200 people woke up in a Swiss school on Monday morning after their train got stuck in the snow and slush the previous day.
The disruption happened on Sunday afternoon, when a Swiss Federal Railways train got stuck on the tracks between Bex and Aigle in French-speaking canton Vaud.
Initially, 400 passengers were stuck on board for five hours before they could be evacuated. As Swiss Federal Railways told Swiss public radio SRF 4, the train carriages had heating and electricity, and the passengers received food and beverages.
Of those, 200 had to spend the night in a school cafeteria in Bex because the roads were impassable. Train service resumed at about 7:30am on Monday morning.
Weather-related delays have been seen all across the country. On Monday, heavy snowfall caused technical problems at the train station in Bellinzona in southern Switzerland – disrupting service for several hours.
Sunday was the day of the annual timetable change, the focus of which was on French-speaking Switzerland, more direct connections and more seating, the federal railways said in a statementExternal link.
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