When Theresa May went off to Switzerland on a walking holiday last August, she said it was the ‘peace and quiet’ that drew her there — but I can’t help thinking there’s more to it than that. The Swiss are famous for their efficiency — and if there was ever a Brit who would appreciate things happening on time, it’s Theresa May.
Yes, it is something of a cliché to say that no one does timekeeping like the Swiss. And in fact in 2014 a scandal erupted when statistics showed that only 87.5 per cent of trains arrived within three minutes of their scheduled time. Fortunately, Swiss Federal Railways managed to up its game the next year, and the crisis was over. This year, the focus is on getting trains to stop at the exact same spot on the platform. The drivers are rewarded with chocolate.
It’s not just the ability to run on time that makes the country’s railways so fantastic.
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