Will train passengers heading south have to wait longer for the faster connection?

One thing is certain: on Maundy Thursday at 7.35 p.m., the last City train (Staddbahn) for some time will run from Zug railway station to Oberwil. It’s still unclear what will happen next, however. On request, SBB spokesman Oli Dischoe refers to a communication from his employer, which states that the SBB has temporarily shut down the approximately 270 major construction sites for "the expansion and renewal of the railway infrastructure".

The construction work on the east bank of Lake Zug is also affected. Depending on how long the corona virus-related lockdown lasts, the reopening of the railway line from Zug via Walchwil to Arth-Goldau would probably have to be postponed until the timetable change on 13 December 2020. This means that the reversing train area via Ennetsee will have to be maintained for longer than planned.

For the time being, city train services to Oberwil will only run until the evening of Maundy Thursday.
 

"Around 200 workers" are on duty on the Lake Zug East railway line, wrote Dischoe at the beginning of March. At the time, the SBB spokesman described the construction progress as being "on track". The decision taken by SBB on 20 March to discontinue all non-systemically important work is likely to cause delays in the area of Lake Zug East. Construction work on the Zug-Oberwil line would actually begin on 14 April, and this work has interfaces with construction projects of the city of Zug in many areas. For example, in the area of the Mänibach Bridge. These, in turn, affect another bridge. The city of Zug also wants to build a passenger underpass in the Gotthardstrasse. This work again requires action from the SBB, which will have to set up points in this area. According to a construction schedule available to our newspaper, however, the time windows for certain processes and work cannot be extended endlessly.

The city and the SBB will have to talk
It therefore seems clear that, once the ban on work has been lifted, the SBB managers and the city of Zug will have to sit down at a table in order to re-plan the tight schedule for the work on the last section of the railway line from Zug to Arth-Goldau. The line is not expected to be reopened the day after the last construction worker leaves - the SBB expects about one month for the necessary tests and test-drives.

As a result of the measures against the corona virus, rail traffic across Switzerland has fallen sharply. This is, of course, also noticeable in Zug. For example, there is now only one train per hour between Lucerne and Zurich. This SBB route is the third busiest connection in Switzerland, and more trains are expected to be cancelled. In the previous year, there were 9,223 trains on a working day. SBB spokesman Oli Dischoe cannot say how many there are.