Switzerland has about 20,300 km (12,600 miles) of public transport network, of which the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) owns a total of 3,000 km (1,860 miles). This is complemented by another 2,000 (1240 miles) run by private railways. There are also 150 km (93 miles) of mountain railway lines (cogwheel and funiculars). The trains are carefully integrated with other forms of transport - buses and boats.

Switzerland has the densest rail network in Europe - 121.9 km of rail per 1000 km2 (196 miles per 1000 square miles) in 1999, according to Eurostat, the EU statistics office. That is more than 2.5 times the European average. And the Swiss continue to build, while the trend overall has been to abandon lines.

The SBB alone carried more than 285 million passengers in 2006. The Swiss rival the Japanese as the keenest rail users in the world: in 2005 each person in Swizerland covered 1929 km (1199 miles) and took an average of 42 rail trips.

Travelling by train is statistically many times safer than travelling by road. In 2004 there were 149 rail accidents and 67,680 accidents on the roads in Switzerland. In the rail accidents 41 people died (none of them passengers) and 40 were injured (five of them passengers), whereas 510 died on the roads and 28,746 were injured.

The Swiss are known for their cleanliness and the trains - inside and outside - are no exception. Graffiti is removed as soon as possible, and an army of cleaners 1,500 strong, is employed to tidy up inside the carriages.

The passengers leave visible rubbish, but the trains produce their own invisible pollution. Friction of brakes, wheels and rails leave an estimated 800 - 1200 tonnes of fine dust in the air every year. The only consolation is that they travel less far than particles from diesel cars and lorries, and do not penetrate the lungs as deeply.

Dirt and dust is not the only problem: at least 265,000 people in Switzerland have to put up with excessive noise from trains. The fact that that is only about half the number suffering from road noise is probably no comfort to them. It is expected to cost 2 billion francs to make the situation bearable: half to go to building noise barriers, and the other half for more modern, quieter, freight trucks.

Those rattling freight trucks are a reminder that the SBB transports not only people, but also goods - some 60 million tonnes a year.