The new Rail Cities
Zurich main train station
Major railway stations throughout switzerland are being upgraded and evolving into small cities with a variety of services and shops with success.
In the cities of Zurich and Bern, a 2005 voting authorized shops to open on sundays in large train stations. These two stations were among the firsts in switzerland to integrate shops and services, attracting customers who were no only coming to take the train. The best example is Zurich's so-called ShopVille, open all week long till 22 p.m. . More than one hundred shops are spread on 17 000 square meters, ranging from food to clothing and gardening material. The station houses a fitness center, a medical center and a dental clinic, without mentioning several restaurants. In 2008, 20% of the station's turnover was done on sundays. The success of this model directly benefits the swiss national railways (SBB): in 2009, shops and services generated a turnover of 1.46 billion swiss francs, allowing the company to ask comfortable rents for shopping surfaces.
This example is emblematic of the development of stations throughout the country, ideally situated at the heart of cities and on the way of commuters and travelers.
To renovate other stations in switzerland, the SBB plans to invest at least 500 million swiss francs between 2011 and 2016. The aim is pretty much the same in each city, with the intention to develop shopping areas generating lucrative benefits for the SBB, and to improve accessibility for the ever higher number of travelers. According to predictions, the number of passengers–currently around 900 000 per day–is going to grow 50% at the national level, and jump to 200% locally in cities like Lausanne and Zurich.