Samouver vision: mobility laboratory Davos

How can supply and capacity in public transport be increased without costly infrastructure expansion? With this question, Swissrail, RAILplus and the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) launched a Modalsplit Challenge in the summer of 2024 as part of the New Mobility Lab.

The New Mobility Lab is part of Switzerland Innovation Park Central and provides seed funding for innovation projects in the field of mobility. The winning project emerged from the idea of a rail shuttle developed by Swissrail members PROSE and Milani: a rail shuttle that can be deployed in addition to the regular service, operating flexibly, demand-oriented and on existing infrastructure. Currently, the foundations for a possible implementation in Davos are being developed together with relevant partners. As part of this process, the question of connection solutions was also discussed, since only a coordinated intermodal mobility chain can sustainably improve the overall offering. In particular, the issue of the last mile is not yet optimally addressed by today’s public transport services. Around the rail shuttle, further innovative mobility solutions are therefore to be developed, with the aim of creating a seamless and reliable door-to-door mobility chain. The ambition is clear: future mobility should be convenient, accessible and intuitive – for residents, businesses and tourism alike. This is how the vision « samouver » was created: a mobility laboratory in Davos where Swiss innovation in the mobility sector can be introduced, tested, scaled and disseminated internationally. The samouver vision addresses challenges faced by many regions: growing mobility demand, tourism-related traffic peaks, limited human, financial and natural resources, as well as rising costs for infrastructure expansion and maintenance. Especially in times of increasing budget pressure, intelligent and innovative solutions are essential for a future-proof public transport system. A mobility laboratory in Davos would bundle, connect and align insights from various innovation projects in one location, creating a unique place for testing and introducing new mobility solutions and making sustainable mobility of tomorrow tangible. At the same time, samouver addresses an important societal aspect: familiarising people with automation and on-demand solutions in public transport. Only if safety and quality requirements are met and reliability is proven in everyday operation can scepticism towards new technologies be reduced – and enthusiasm for innovation encouraged.

Davos combines ideal conditions to realistically test innovative mobility solutions.

Davos brings together ideal conditions to realistically test innovative mobility solutions. As an internationally renowned tourism and event destination, highly fluctuating mobility demand meets a large and partly dispersed catchment area. At the same time, Davos offers an environment that highlights the strengths of the Swiss rail and mobility industry particularly well: a focus on regional and agglomeration transport, high quality and comfort standards, and existing infrastructure that can be used more intelligently and efficiently through automation. As a mobility laboratory, Davos thus becomes a springboard: insights and solutions can be transferred to other regions in Switzerland and, thanks to its international visibility, also scaled internationally. An important milestone was the joint workshop held on 20 October 2025, organised by Swissrail and the Rhaetian Railway. All relevant stakeholders were brought together to sharpen a shared vision for a mobility laboratory in Davos and to further develop the implementation of the rail shuttle in a coordinated manner. The samouver vision represents a paradigm shift: increasing capacity through innovation rather than primarily through infrastructure, and taking a holistic view of intermodal mobility chains. What is already clear today is that the samouver vision creates an ecosystem in which stakeholders jointly shape the future – practical, collaborative and with the ambition of making public transport more attractive and even more sustainable for everyone.

Read the complete edition of the express here.

Note on the translation: this text was translated using AI and checked by us. If you find any mistakes or something that is not clear, please let us know.