My train to and from work has been late almost every day since last year. I feel like I don't live in Switzerland. So where are the punctual trains that this article is talking about and I am paying so much for?
This is what you get with averages: you may have lots of problems on one particular line, but compared to the sheer numbers of daily trains in Switzerland that are on time, it doesn't change the average so much.
The same train almost everyday for over a year? I'm sorry but the CFF loves smelling their own farts talking about how great they are but let's be honest here the Romandie part gets treated like a second class citizen. The trains are dirty, I remember seeing the same goop and grime on an inside train wall for over a month (I'm very consistent with my train timing so I ended up mostly taking the same train). The trains are late all the time, even yesterday for a simple trip from Vevey to Lausanne the train was late and I saw a lot of +5 min and more delays for other trains at the stations.
I know things are better in Swiss German parts but my experience has been so I have considered maybe getting a car or anything to avoid the trains.
As far as I know, investments in particular in local and regional trains is heavily driven by cantonal investments. For example ZVV (Zürcher Verkehrsverbund) contracts the S-Bahn network from SBB and finances a good part of its operations. While Zurich's network is therefore quite excelent, I am not sure other cantons invest at similar levels and therefore enjoy a worse experience.
No Zurich doesn't invest more they just prepay and ask the SBB for the money back, which is a way to force investment there.
Both base tunnels were paid by whole CH but don't really benefit western Switzerland which has to use the most underfunded line between Geneva and Lausanne (2nd and 4th cities by size). If there any kind of issue on the 2 tracks the traffic between the cities is blocked. About half of the train are late, as there is way too much traffic and a single glitch everything crumble.
Some works created a big hole andthe line was cut for 3 weeks. nobody in the Swiss German part gave a heck about it. If the line between Bern and Zurich (with no backup) was cut for 3 weeks it would be a national drama…
If you don't believe me, just look at the stats regarding late train between Western Switzerland and the rest of the country. It's very telling.
I am sorry that you have this kind of experience. Vevey - Morges is really a weak point of the network, and I do agree that the Romandie gets treated like a second class citizen.
I also use the train daily to get to Romandie (to Lausanne), and I almost never have problems: maybe the train is late every two weeks by 5 minutes.
Maybe you're lucky or my route is cursed, either way I hope you don't have to go through my awful experience. I've had hours of delays over the past year (and it is making me angry). It's sad but when I would see the delay was on 5mins I would do sigh of relief because 15-20min delays were becoming common and a 5min delay at this point becomes tolerable. Also to add extra salt to the wound, the train would leave 10mins and then wait an extra 10mins in front of the Lausanne station because reasons. In the end a 10min trip became 30mins.
I don't think this is true. There were massive investments into the Ticino regional rail network over the last 10-20 years, partially driven by the NEAT extension, which shortened travel times between regional centers (Lugano - Locarno - Bellinzona) dramatically.
What doesn't seem to work well are interconnections with neighboring Italy, but that is likely not due to underinvestment on the Swiss side. Road traffic is therefore still a huge issue in Ticino, as many Italian workers cross the border twice per day by car due to the lack of adequate public transport options.
Which train are you taking? There may be construction and it is planned. Or it might be the train from Milan which no mater what the SBB tries to do is always late! Then again if you have ever been to Milano Centrale you kind of understand...