Swiss Post has long relied on rail transport for the delivery of letters and parcels. Switzerland has become a virtual exception, while in other European countries, “small parcels” and mail no longer travel by train for years.
Swiss Post is a public company owned by the Swiss Confederation and is the country’s second largest employer with about 54,000 employees…
SBB Cargo runs 45 parcel trains and 15 letter trains across Switzerland on behalf of Swiss Post
The main mail and parcel sorting centers in Daillens, Éclépens, Härkingen, Zurich-Mülligen, and Frauenfeld are located on the east-west axis of the railway lines. At these centers, containers loaded with parcels are hoisted onto wagons using cranes at the loading terminals. Trains carrying letters only run right into the heart of the letter centers, where they can be loaded and unloaded directly by Post Office staff. Yellow mail trains then transport parcels, newspapers and letters to distribution centers such as Landquart, Chur, and Geneva. On the north-south axis, the trains serve the distribution centers of Basel, Cadenazzo, and Visp.