GenevaLunch - Travel & Tourism

Verbier chairlift, accident site

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:31:51 +0100

Verbier chairlift, where child fell Friday 13 April 2007 (photo, Valais police 2007)

Child falls off ski-lift in Verbier

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:00:04 +0100

Verbier chairlift, where child fell Friday 13 April 2007 (photo, Valais police 2007)

Cantonal police, Valais, Switzerland, Fre - A seven-year-old child from Britain fell off a four-seat chairlift in Verbier Friday, suffering head injuries and stomach pains. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Sion. The boy was with three children and first reports were that they were unable to close the bar properly, but this version of the story is contested by Televerbier, which operates the lifts. The child fell from a height of about eight metres, according to the police report, after riding the lift for 100 metres. A ski teacher and three other children were in the seat ahead of the foursome.

Nyon starts to count cars

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:28:53 +0100

La Cote, Fre - The number of cars in Nyon has risen 40% in 15 years and the town, with its narrow winding city-centre streets has struggled to cope. Beginning Friday and until 8 May Nyon is counting cars and interviewing drivers to obtain a precise traffic picture. Tuesday 17 April drivers going uphill on three routes (Clémenty, Morâche, route de l’Etraz) will be stopped to answer questionnaires, and on Thursday coming down the same three routes. Surveys will be done on other roads in following weeks.

Nyon voters in September 2006 voted against municipal plans for an inner ring road to relieve congestion.

Federer's watch gives Rolex an extra smile as watch fair opens in Basel

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 07:32:03 +0100

Le Matin, Fre - First it was Breitling whose hot air balloon world tour was celebrated on a stamp in 1999 and now it's Rolex's turn to smile at the additional free publicity from having its watch appear on Swiss postage stamps. Roger Federer's new stamp shows the tennis champion holding his Wimbledon trophy - with his Rolex in plain view. Le Matin talked to watchmakers as the [annual watch fair](http://www.baselworld.com/go/id/ss/lan

Rega air rescues near 10,000 mark

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:29:20 +0100

12 April 2007, Alpine peaks: with 1,514 mountain rescues a year, chances are someone on these peaks will be calling Rega today.

TSR, Fre - Rega, the Swiss air ambulance service, was called on 9,578 times in 2006, an increase of 6.4% over the previous year. The number of trips due to mountain sports accidents was up 9%, with July and September the busiest months of the year. Winter sports accidents alone increased by more than 11%.

Geneva tram inspectors to have "further training" after visiting teenager's home

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:06:38 +0100

WRG-FM - Ticket inspectors on the Geneva tram lines will be given further training, says the TPG (public transport company), which has apologized for an incident where inspectors visited a teenager's home. They kept a friend of his on the tram, insisting that he give them the home address of his friend, then visited the home and handed the tram-rider's mother a fine for SFr100.

Easter weekend thick with travellers, skiers

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:47:52 +0100

RSR, Fre - The four-day Easter weekend had people on the go, with record numbers of skiers in many resorts and 100,000 people going through the Gothard tunnel, a main European north-south route. Zermatt's overnight stays were up 3% over 2006 and Grindelwald registered 25,300 skiers, more than double the number this time last year.

The busiest travel time, reports RSR, was Thursday evening when the northern entrance to the Gothard had a 7 kilometre tailback. The busiest road in the Lake

Third rail line: Lake Geneva region politicians join forces to fight Bern

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:53:18 +0100

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.

CFF Swiss rail in the black again

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:40:15 +0100

swissinfo/Swiss Politics - The CFF national rail company posted 2006 results showing a net profit of nearly SFr260 million, a sharp change from the 2005 loss of SFr116m. The good results are due in part to improved operations. Reserves worth SFr130m were liquidated.

Swissinfo talked to some of the CFF staff, who came close to going on strike in November 2006 - it would have been the first strike in 90 years. The company's health might be better, but employees expressed unhappines

Government presents new rail plan, opens it to public comment

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:47:23 +0100

GenevaLunch - The federal government Wednesday morning presented the overall rail development plan up to 2030, known as ZEB, to the public. Key features for travellers are better east-west connections and shortened travel time, with 15 minutes cut off the trip from Lausanne to Bern and 15 minutes cut between Zurich and St Gallen. Geneva to St Gallen will therefore take 30 minutes less. The dates for the changes are not yet known.

Two injured, Zurich autroute closed for three hours

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:17:38 +0100

Le Matin, Fre - The autoroute heading into Zurich from Bern was closed for three hours Tuesday following an accident that sent two people, including a police officer, to the hospital and totalled three cars. The accident occurred near Dietikon when a man driving on the shoulder of the road for reasons that are not clear plowed into the back of a car stopped by police. The impact was so great that the police car, stationed in front of the stopped car, was "catapulted" 10 metres.

Airport exit closed Tuesday night

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:59:14 +0100

Cointrin Airport, Fre - The autoroute exit to the airport in Geneva, coming from France (direction: Lausanne) will be closed Tuesday from 21:00 to shortly after midnight, for construction work.

TGV attempts to beat world rail speed record Tuesday

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:17:45 +0100

TSR, Fre - The French TGV high-speed train will try to break the world record for the fastest train time early Tuesday afternoon in eastern France. The train, which traveled at 559km/hour last week, may attempt to reach 581kph, the record held by the Japanese Maglev train.

TGV in France map

Weekend Swiss winter sports and weather 30 March: decent spring skiing

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:21:54 +0100

GenevaLunch and sources - Weather for the weekend is mild, around zero in the mountains at night and up to 12-14 degrees in the Alps during the day. Scattered showers Saturday, with sunny weather returning Sunday during the day.

Spring snow varies from soft to hard mainly depending on altitude but the snow base in many stations is now decent. Some resorts close after this weekend but the large ones remain open until after Easter.

Meteoswiss, French forecast

Euro 2008 security details unveiled

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:57:52 +0100

TSR and other sources, Fre - Samuel Schmid, minister for sports and the military, Friday morning unveiled some details of the Euro 2008 football matches. The country expects 1-3.2 million visitors. Concerns about possible hooliganism and terrorism lie behind a programme that aims to balance strong security and hospitality.

Police checks will be stepped up, as will patrols, not just around stadiums but also in areas where crowds gather, such as shopping centres and train stations. The massive security job will be shared by the government, organizations such as the Swiss Football Association which will have responsibility for players, and the army, which could contribute as many as 15,000 soldiers. Schmid noted that the soldiers will not have any direct contact with supporters.