Le Matin, Fre - Regional politicians met Wednesday to begin mobilizing people in the Lake Geneva region to convince the Swiss Federal Council that a third rail line between Geneva and Lausanne is essential. Councillors Robert Cramer from Geneva and Francois Marthaler from Vaud made it clear that they will push for the additional track, not included in the government's ZEB programme of rail development to 2030, which was made public yesterday.
Le Matin in an editorial argues that a terrific political battle is about to begin and it's not necessarily a bad thing. French-speaking cantons will need to find allies elsewhere in Switzerland - a strategy that has worked in the past, notably for increasing the budget to improve links to the TGV fast train system. They will need to base their arguments on a tightly-managed finanancial programme. The cabinet's refusal to increase for ZEB is in part the result of overspending on the extension of the autoroute system and the new Gotthard tunnel.