Onset of winter – snow causes problems on the roads and at Zurich Airport – News

  • The heavy snowfall on Friday and Saturday night caused traffic problems.
  • Flights were also canceled. Passengers must expect delays and cancellations at Zurich Airport.
  • In Graubünden, rail traffic had to be interrupted.

The heavy snowfall has thrown the Räthische Bahn (RhB) out of sync: several routes on the railway in the canton of Graubünden were interrupted on Saturday morning or were only accessible to a limited extent. According to RhB, replacement transport was only possible to a very limited extent. The Arosa line from Chur to Arosa was interrupted, as the RhB announced on Saturday morning. The line is without power. On the Albula line, the section between Bergün and Samedan was interrupted. The RhB states that the reason is that a tree fell on the overhead line. The trains ran from Chur to Filisur (and vice versa).

Legend:

White awakening, here in Zurich.

KEYSTONE/Michael Buholzer

In the Lower Engadine, too, a tree fell on the contact line between S-chanf and Zernez. Replacement transport is currently not possible because the road is also closed. There were further restrictions and interruptions in the Upper Engadine. According to RhB, the only trains running there were between St. Moritz and Samedan. The route from Davos to Filisur is also interrupted. It was initially not known how long the interruptions lasted.

Over 120 accidents in Bern and Zurich alone

A total of more than 120 accidents have occurred on snow-covered roads in the cantons of Bern and Zurich in the past 24 hours. In most accidents there was only sheet metal damage. In the canton of Bern, the cantonal police have registered 60 traffic accidents since Friday morning, and there were injuries in eight accidents, as the Berne cantonal police said on request on Saturday morning. There were another 60 reports of trees falling on the road.

The Bernese Oberland, the Emmental and the Oberaargau were particularly affected. The road between Frutigen and Adelboden is still closed. In the same period, the Zurich canton police and the municipal police registered 71 traffic accidents in the canton (excluding the cities of Zurich and Winterthur). People were only injured in one accident, it was said upon request. The reason for the accidents is that the drivers did not adapt their driving style to the road conditions.

There were also several bangs on Chur’s streets on Friday evening: two pedestrians were hit by vehicles in different places. One car crashed into a house wall and another into a fallen tree – there were nine accidents in total.

Power outage in four Aargau communities


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In the Aargau communities of Schmiedrued, Schlossrued, Kirchleerau and Gontenschwil, the power supply has been interrupted since Saturday morning. AEW Energie AG assumes that the interruption will last around an hour. According to the energy supplier, the power went out shortly after 9 a.m. The population does not have to take any special measures, Alertswiss said.

The pedestrians were all injured while crossing a pedestrian crossing, as the Chur city police announced during the night. They were taken to the Graubünden Cantonal Hospital. A driver was also slightly injured. In the other accidents there was only material damage.

In Fulenbach SO, a 26-year-old driver drove off the snow-covered road at night and crashed his vehicle head-on into a tree. According to police, the passenger suffered minor injuries. The emergency services took her to a hospital. The car is ready for scrap.

Flight cancellations and delays in Zurich

The snow is also causing problems at Zurich Airport. Delays and cancellations must be expected, as the airport announced on Twitter. Passengers should reconfirm their flights with the airlines.

Since operations began, 22 departures and 21 arrivals had to be canceled. Swiss flights to Berlin and Munich, which was particularly affected by the snow, were canceled. But flights to Brussels and London, for example, could not be carried out either, as the airport website showed.

When asked, airport media spokeswoman Elena Stern said that the winter service had been busy clearing snow all night long. There were also delays. Because the planes had to be de-iced. This takes 20 to 40 minutes each time. “The snowfall leads to additional effort,” says Stern. On Saturday night there was 15 centimeters of fresh snow in Zurich-Kloten.

Snowfall causes Bundesliga game to be canceled


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Winter has the south of Germany firmly in its grip. In football, the Bundesliga game between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin had to be canceled. Because of the turf heating in the stadium, the main issue was not about the usability of the pitch, but rather about the safety and, above all, the travel of the spectators, some of whom come to Munich from further away.

Almost normal operations in Basel and Geneva

Euroairport Basel-Mühlhausen, on the other hand, only reported the cancellation of departures and arrivals to and from Munich on its website on Saturday morning. According to the website of the airport there, operations in Geneva-Cointrin were also largely normal on Saturday. A flight to Munich was also canceled in Geneva.

Rail traffic abroad disrupted


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Train services abroad were also partially disrupted on Saturday morning. This is how rail traffic between Switzerland and Germany came to a standstill: the route to Munich was interrupted and traffic to Stuttgart was restricted, according to the SBB. On the line from Zurich via St. Margrethen SG to Munich, there were no more trains running from St. Margrethen on Saturday morning, as the SBB announced.

Rail traffic from Zurich via Schaffhausen to Stuttgart was therefore restricted from Schaffhausen. Deutsche Bahn assumed that the disruptions would last until at least 12 noon. According to SBB, the Konstanz-Kreuzlingen TG route was also interrupted on Saturday morning. There were no trains running.

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