The Swiss capacity allocation body TVS is a federal not-for-profit entity under public law with a sepa-rate legal personality.
We are independent and customer-driven. Our guiding principles are neutrality, quality and efficiency.
Here you'll find details of our Board of Directors and Executive Board and an organisation chart of the TVS.
The Board of Directors sets the strategic goals of the TVS every four years.
Here you can find out more about the work the TVS undertakes for the various parts of the rail network.
In addition to other tasks delegated to us, the TVS carries out the infrastructure management work needed to ensure that trains can access the rail network. This is explained in more detail here.
The timetable is generated by the train path design. The TVS is responsible for timetabling and participates in every phase of the timetabling process.
Use of the track network is based on a request or an order and the allocation of rights of use. The TVS accepts orders and allocates train paths and ancillary services.
Rail freight corridors are an important part of Switzerland’s policy of transferring freight from road to rail. The main role of the TVS here is in helping to coordinate available capacity and providing the framework conditions.
In accordance with Article 15f of the Railways Ordinance (EBV), the TVS keeps a register of the information required to operate on the rail infrastructure.
A charge is levied for use of the railway infrastructure. The TVS is responsible for ensuring that the services consumed by train path users are recorded and invoiced in a non-discriminatory manner.
The investment plans of the infrastructure managers state how they intend to undertake and fund the maintenance and expansion of their infrastructure in the future.
TVS collaborates with various European infrastructure-manager institutions and bodies to the extent that this is of benefit to the various duties it carries out and services it provides.
As a company in the rail infrastructure sector, the TVS plays an active role in Swiss rail industry bodies.
The glossary explains some of the specialist terminology the TVS uses in its work.
Here you'll find general information about the TVS as well as an introduction to the topic of railway network access.
The tasks of an independent capacity allocation body are defined by the bilateral Overland Transport Agreement with the EU. By signing this agreement, Switzerland undertook to adopt the first EU railway package and to develop equivalent legislation in this area in the future.
The first EU railway package is based on the principle that for competition under open network access conditions to function correctly, all market operators must enjoy the same conditions of access.
For this reason and because of the model that predominates in Switzerland, which is one of an integrated rail network with its own railway undertakings (RUs), all the essential functions required for network access should be provided by an independent capacity allocation body. These essential functions are train path planning (timetabling) and train path allocation.
According to the first EU railway package, the setting and collecting of the track access charges (train path price) are also functions essential to network access. Because the train path price system in Switzerland is set by the federal government, the Federal Council has elected to delegate to TVS only the collecting of the track access charges.
In addition to these activities, the federal government has delegated other tasks to the TVS: keeping the railway infrastructure register and publishing investment plans. The FOT’s delegation of the keeping of the railway infrastructure register to the TVS improves governance because it keeps the role of issuing the guidelines for keeping the register (FOT) separate from the operational management of the register (TVS).
Documentation TVS briefly explained
