Transport and infrastructure in Switzerland

Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Switzerland with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the traffic routes are above average and in good condition.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Switzerland ranks 43rd in the world with 0.37 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 3,236 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 11.67 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 20.86 billion passenger-kilometers in 2017.

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Back to overview: Switzerland

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 71,557 km. For each of the country's 8.70 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 8.22 meters. This puts Switzerland in 66th place in the global ranking. However, the country's size and population density of around 211 inhabitants per km² must also be taken into account. Countries with fewer inhabitants in the same or even larger area naturally achieve quite different values here and have to connect remote areas to the transport network despite a smaller population.

With an average of 242 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Switzerland is considered very safe. This corresponds to 2.9 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.

In Switzerland, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Switzerland
Roadways	71,600 km	8,221.72 km	1,733.02 m
Railroads	3,200 km	371.81 km	78.37 m
Waterways	1,292 km	148.45 km	31.29 m
Commercial harbors	20	2.30	0.000
Airports	5	0.57	0.121

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Europe
Roadways	6,708,900 km	11,154.38 km	1,111.71 m
Railroads	258,600 km	429.97 km	42.85 m
Waterways	54,800 km	91.17 km	9.09 m
Commercial harbors	15,273	25.39	0.003
Airports	573	0.95	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

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