Can a cross-border rail link end Geneva’s gridlock?

Geneva’s roads are regularly snarled up in rush hour by hundreds of thousands of cars and other vehicles from neighbouring France and canton Vaud. But the end of the tunnel may be in sight as a major new cross-border rail system, known as CEVA/Leman Express, nears completion. “It’s a nightmare,” declares Vincent Le Breton. Every day the French waiter drives to work in central Geneva from the French town of Thonon, 35 kilometres away. But some days it can take 1.5 hours on the clogged roads south of the lake. “I’ve been working here a year now. Before I lived in Brittany. But I’ve never seen anything like it before. There are jams everywhere.” Switzerland’s second biggest city is at a busy crossroads with France and the Alps. Just under one million people live in the city and extended region known as Greater Geneva. With its high salaries and standard of living, Geneva is a victim of its own success and continues to attract a constant flow of people to live and work.