Swiss Review 5/2019

Swiss Review / September 2019 / No.5 14 Society A Léman Express train arriving at the new Lancy Pont- Rouge station. This is one of the three new stops in Geneva for this RER. Photo: Keystone STÉPHANE HERZOG Geneva is an international city, which generates a large number of jobs but remains intrinsically closed off, pay- ing little attention to its surrounding French and Vaudois hinterland. This inward-looking attitude peaked in 2014 when, encouraged by the populist MCG (Geneva citizens’movement), the people of Geneva refused to par- ticipate in financing carparks located in the French out- skirts. This, despite the new areas being intended to relieve the city of some of its motorised traffic. Records currently indicate that 630,000 vehicles cross the bor- der each day. tral stations, Lancy Pont Rouge and Eaux-Vives, each ac- companied by a new neighbourhood complete with com- panies and public infrastructure. Three new stops will be introduced to the service. The space saved must be protected The aim of this huge operation, the cost of which amounts to 1.6 billion Swiss francs, is to reduce motorised traffic in the centre of a citywhere 42% of inhabitants already do not own a car. The entry into service of the Léman Express should lead to a substantial 12% reduction in traffic. Indeed, The Léman Express will open Geneva up to its surroundings From 15 December, the Geneva region will be home to a high-speed rail network. Linking Geneva to Swiss and French towns and looking to generate a 12 % reduction in motorised traffic, the Léman Express will be nothing short of a revolution. The entry into service of the Léman Express, planned for 15 December, will put an end to the city’s split personality. With its Regional Express Network (Réseau Express Re- gional or RER in French), Geneva will be connected to the rest of the one-million-person agglomeration. The city’s in- habitants will be able to go shopping in neighbouring France in just 15 minutes. Frontier workers living in Haute-Savoie in France will be granted direct access to the city centre by taking the train from Annecy, Thonon or Saint-Gervais. The city will see the arrival of two new cen- the 7%decrease in traffic recorded each summer inGeneva already noticeably frees up the public space. But Geneva will have to accompany this movement with traffic restric- tion measures to prevent the newfound “emptiness” and improved traffic flow from being refilled by new vehicles, “as occurred following the launch of the RER in Zurich”, re- calls Vincent Kaufmann, professor in mobility analysis at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The cantonwill also have tomeet inhabitants’ requests regard- ing pedestrian zones and “gentle mobility”.