Pro Alps awards SBB Cargo an invective prize 

SBB Cargo is making losses and has therefore been seen as a drag on the SBB Group for years. With his current reduction program, Alexander Muhm, Head of Freight Transport at SBB since 2023, underlines SBB's view of the future role of rail in Swiss freight transport: profitability is the only thing that counts, with more trucks on Swiss roads being deliberately accepted. However, this calculation contradicts the interests of the population and the goals of Swiss transport policy. This is why the management of SBB Cargo was awarded the «Devil's Stone» in front of its headquarters in Olten on Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of millions in subsidies and yet cutbacks

As part of the revision of the Freight Transport Act (GüTG) in spring 2025, politicians granted hundreds of millions of francs in subsidies to SBB Cargo to promote and strengthen rail freight transport in Switzerland over the next eight years. This is actually a clear mandate. Nevertheless, Muhm is still trying to reconcile two opposing positions: He is taking hundreds of millions of francs of taxpayers' money - intended to strengthen the railways - and at the same time declaring that this does not involve a mandate to shift national freight traffic and is cutting back. A nonsensical balancing act that Pro Alps sharply criticizes.

Motion calls for SBB Cargo services to be maintained

Voices are also becoming louder in politics that do not approve of the course taken by Muhm and Co. In the fall session, Eva Herzog, a member of the Council of States from Basel, submitted a motion 25.4147 aimed at securing SBB Cargo's performance level and maintaining the core network in combined freight transport. The motion was co-signed by important representatives of all parties in the Federal Council. Pro Alps will continue to campaign for the adoption of this motion.

Abusive prize awarded for 20 years

Pro Alps has been awarding the «Devil's Stone» for transportation nonsense for over 20 years. The parent company - SBB - already received it in 2018 for a façade made of German stone, which was processed in China and installed on an SBB building in Europaallee in Zurich. Today's presentation of the award by the President of Pro Alps, Nara Valsangiacomo, to the Head of Freight Transport at SBB Cargo, Alexander Muhm, therefore had a special flavor.

Nara Valsangiacomo, President of Pro Alps, says: «The fact that there is no transfer mandate for SBB Cargo is only half the truth. Why else would Parliament subsidize SBB Cargo if not to keep traffic on the rails and relieve the roads?» David Roth, board member of Pro Alps and member of the National Council's Transport Committee, adds: «At the beginning of this year, Parliament allocated hundreds of millions of francs in subsidies to strengthen Swiss rail freight transport. Instead, SBB Cargo is using the money to finance a downsizing program. That is highly problematic.»