Infrastructure and the policy framework

AlpTransit and the shrinking distance to Zurich and Milan

The new railway line through the Alps (Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale, NEAT, known in Ticino as AlpTransit) has changed the geography of the financial centre more than any other infrastructure since the Gotthard railway of 1882 described in Chapter C.III. The Gotthard base tunnel, 57 kilometres long, was officially inaugurated on 1 June 2016 and entered regular service on 11 December 2016. The Ceneri base tunnel of 15.4 kilometres was inaugurated on 4 September 2020 and entered commercial service on 13 December 2020.¹ Together they reduced the travel time between Lugano and Zurich to under two hours and connected Bellinzona, Lugano and Locarno by fast regional trains.² The regional rail network TILO, owned in equal shares by the Swiss Federal Railways and the Lombard operator Trenord, links Ticino with Como, Varese, Milan and Malpensa airport and carried about 25 million passengers in 2025.³

The effect on the financial centre is ambivalent. Shorter travel times make it easier for a Zurich bank to serve Ticino clients from Zurich and to close a Lugano office. They also make it easier for a Lugano firm to recruit staff who live elsewhere and to serve clients in German-speaking Switzerland. Chapter C.III has called AlpTransit the bridge between the history of the Gotthard and the scenarios of Part K. The southern section between Lugano and Chiasso has not been built as a base line, and the connection to Milan still runs on the historic line through Como, so that the full potential of the corridor will only be realized when Italy and Switzerland improve the southern access.⁴ For the scenarios the key point is that Lugano is now part of an integrated Swiss labour market. A financial firm can locate its front office in Lugano and its operations in Zurich, or the reverse, and the choice depends on costs, staff and clients, since distance has lost much of its weight.

Lugano's urban projects

The City of Lugano has invested in projects intended to improve its attractiveness as a place to live and work. The largest is the sports and events complex (Polo sportivo e degli eventi, PSE) in the Cornaredo district. It comprises a football stadium with about 10,000 seats, a sports hall, two office towers, a service building for the municipal police and sports activities, residential and commercial buildings and a park, with a total floor area of 76,243 square metres and an investment of about CHF 350 million, of which about CHF 160 million for the sports facilities. The complex was built between 2023 and 2026 by HRS as total contractor for a consortium of investors and the city.⁵ The new stadium, named AIL Arena, replaced the Cornaredo stadium of 1951 and opened to the public on 30 and 31 May 2026. Voters had approved the project in 2021.⁶

The second set of projects concerns education and research. USI and SUPSI opened the Campus Est in Viganello in 2021. The city also hosts the CSCS and the institutes described in the previous section. These projects give Lugano a university district that did not exist a generation ago. Their significance for the financial centre lies in the supply of graduates in informatics, data science and finance, and in the possibility of research partnerships with banks and asset managers in fields such as artificial intelligence, risk management and digital finance.

Notes

Federal Office of Transport, Neue Wege durch Europa. Die Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale (NEAT) (2019), https://www.bav.admin.ch/dam/bav/de/dokumente/themen/neat/die_neue_eisenbahn-alpentransversaleneat.pdf.download.pdf/die_neue_eisenbahn-alpentransversaleneat.pdf (Gotthard base tunnel "57 km", opened in 2016; Ceneri base tunnel "15,4 km lang"); FOT, SBB and AlpTransit Gotthard AG, press release of 29 August 2019, https://www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/58206.pdf (official opening of the Ceneri base tunnel on 4 September 2020, entry into service with the timetable change of 12/13 December 2020); Ticino Turismo, "AlpTransit", https://www.ticino.ch/it/campaigns/alptransit.html (Gotthard base tunnel officially inaugurated on 1 June 2016 and in service from 11 December 2016). ↩
Ticino Turismo, "AlpTransit" (above) ("Zurigo–Lugano in meno di due ore"; Locarno–Lugano about 30 minutes, previously 50; Bellinzona–Lugano about 15 minutes, previously 30). ↩
TILO, "Dati e fatti", https://www.tilo.ch/chi-siamo/dati-e-fatti-tilo-new.html ("50% Ferrovie federali svizzere FFS, 50% Trenord"; 25 million passengers in 2025; seven lines, including the S50 to Malpensa and the RE80 to Milan). ↩
On the southern extension of AlpTransit between Lugano and Chiasso see Chapter C.III. ↩
HRS Real Estate, "Polo Sportivo e degli eventi (PSE)", https://www.hrs.ch/en/projects/pse-polo-sportivo-ed-economico. ↩
"Porte aperte alla AIL Arena di Lugano", RSI, May 2026, https://www.rsi.ch/info/ticino-grigioni-e-insubria/Porte-aperte-alla-AIL-Arena-di-Lugano--3781834.html. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

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Infrastructure and the policy framework

AlpTransit and the shrinking distance to Zurich and Milan

Lugano's urban projects

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?