The postponement of the introduction of the cadence 15 minutes to Échallens also had a financial impact.
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Announced for August 11, 2019, the introduction of the 15-minute rate for LEB trains between Lausanne and Échallens is still not in service ten months later.
Sylvain Muller – archives
3.3 million francs. This is the total of the additional costs generated last year by the postponement of the introduction of the 15-minute rate for LEB trains between Cheseaux and Échallens. An amount necessarily unbudgeted and the main part of which was used to pay for the bus service set up between these same two localities to partially compensate for this last minute cancellation. A bus service which, by the way, was not restarted after the confinement a few days ago, since it never really appealed to travelers.
Olivier Bronner, head of LEB within TL, confirmed Wednesday at the annual general meeting of shareholders – exceptionally organized in a select committee due to the pandemic – that 2019 had been “difficult”. He also explained that in order to balance the accounts, most of this amount was taken over by the Canton “at a loss”, and thanked him very much. An operation which will not be submitted to the Grand Council, since it took place within the framework of the current management of the budget of the DGMR (General Directorate of Mobility and Roads), which constantly adapts to fluctuations in frequentation of various railway companies in the Canton.
Falling satisfaction
The squeak last August, of course, also had an impact on the mood of the passengers; repercussions now quantified. The company’s 2019 annual report indeed reveals that between 2018 and 2019, the overall satisfaction of line users went from 89 to 69% and that satisfaction with punctuality decreased in the same proportion. A significant drop compared to the real deterioration of the service: between these same two years, the number of convoys arriving late only increased by 2.3 to 3.6%.
“2019 was a difficult year for LEB”
All this explains why, for the fifth consecutive year, the number of LEB travelers remained stable at around 3.7 million. “Making the LEB more reliable, modernizing and transforming it into a real RER will take several more years,” co-wrote the chairman of the board of directors, Jacques Milloud, and Olivier Bronner in the annual report. But to get assured results […]it is important to allow time for time. ” Both of them finally ensure that the introduction of this famous 15-minute cadence between Cheseaux and Échallens remains a priority objective, even if no new date for commissioning has been announced.
Posted today at 5:15 p.m.-
