Swiss Court Confirms SBB Driver Book-Reading Dismissal

BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Administrative Court has confirmed the immediate dismissal of a Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) locomotive driver who was photographed holding an open book in the driver’s cab while a train was moving on the evening of 15 May 2025. The driver, who had 15 years of service, was suspended on the night of the incident and formally dismissed with immediate effect on 16 June 2025 — 32 days later. The court rejected his appeal, ruling that the trust relationship with SBB had been irreparably damaged.

What Is the Full Scope of This Case?

The case turned on a single disputed fact: whether the driver read the book only during station stops or also while the train was in motion. Three SBB employees, all part of the company’s management, noticed the train approaching the station with the cab light illuminated — a detail they flagged because interior lighting reduces night visibility — and then photographed the driver holding an open book while stationary. According to evidence examined by the court, the driver set the train in motion again while continuing to read. The driver admitted driving at night with the cab light on, explaining it was to stay alert, but denied reading while moving, claiming the book merely served as a surface for a handwritten “memory exercise” note. The court found the open-book photograph decisive: a closed book would have been the more practical prop. Judges added that even the alleged memorisation exercise would itself have constituted a serious breach, since any activity unrelated to driving can compromise passenger safety.

Key Case Data

How Does This Compare to Similar Cases?

No publicly comparable Swiss ruling on distraction-based dismissal of a train driver was identified at the time of publication, and the judgment expressly omitted the station, line and book title, leaving the precedent geographically unanchored. The nearest contrast is labour-relations rather than legal: in the United States, BNSF’s 2024 reduction of time-off allocations contributed to a reported exodus of experienced railroaders, with unions criticised for aligning with carrier positions rather than resisting them (Source: World Socialist Web Site, 2025). The Swiss case runs in the opposite direction — an individual conduct dismissal upheld on safety grounds, rather than a structural dispute over rostering and fatigue. On the regulatory timeline, the UK brought South Western Railway into public ownership on 25 May 2025, ten days after the SBB incident, making it the first operator nationalised under the current programme (Source: House of Commons Library, 2025). That shift puts more European drivers under direct state-employer oversight, where conduct discipline is handled internally rather than through franchised operators.

Note: Independent verification of whether SBB pursued parallel criminal or regulatory proceedings against the driver was not available at time of publication.

Editor’s Analysis

This ruling is less about one driver’s reading habit than about how European operators now calibrate “trust-destroying” conduct: SBB moved from observation to dismissal in 32 days, and a federal court accepted that even a non-reading cognitive exercise in the cab is grounds for termination. The wider pressure point is crew attention management, as in-cab monitoring and driver-assistance systems spread alongside heavier investment — global high-speed rail investment rose 24% in 2025, with Europe holding 22% of worldwide rail modernisation projects (Source: Market Research Future, 2025). Operators that cannot demonstrate cab-attention controls may find insurers and regulators asking harder questions than any single dismissal answers.

FAQ

Q: Can an SBB train driver be fired immediately for reading while driving?
A: Yes. The Swiss Federal Administrative Court upheld summary dismissal without notice, ruling that the driver’s conduct broke the trust relationship required for safety-critical work. The dismissal followed 32 days after the 15 May 2025 incident.

Q: When exactly did the incident and dismissal occur?
A: Witnesses observed the driver on the evening of 15 May 2025 with the cab light on and a book open; SBB suspended him that night and ordered dismissal with immediate effect on 16 June 2025. The date of the Federal Administrative Court ruling was not disclosed.

Q: Was the driver fined, prosecuted or identified?
A: No financial penalty, criminal charge or public identification has been disclosed — the case was an employment-law appeal, not a prosecution. The station, line and the title of the book were also withheld from the judgment.