Federal Office of Transport

The office employs 350 people (as of 2023) in five divisions: Business Administration and Organisation, Infrastructure, Finance, Safety and Policy.

Supervision is therefore not general, but concerns those aspects that are explicitly provided for by laws, ordinances or international treaties.

In addition, this supervisory role also comes into play when dealing with planning approvals, concessions and the granting of operating licences, as well as when issuing or updating regulations, for example in the area of cyber security.

The FOT allocates around CHF 1 billion per year from the federal budget for non-profitable regional passenger transport services (suburban railways, intercity buses, etc.)

The Office also implements and continuously develops the modal shift policy, i.e. the transfer of freight transport through the Alps from road to rail.

It is also responsible for creating the legal and planning framework for an underground freight transport system and for numerous other tasks.