Have you heard about the Geneva-London train petition?

So near, and yet so far – Nadine McCormick’s petition to bring London closer by train Nadine McCormick, a British and (since last year) Swiss citizen living in the Gland area, was understandably excited to learn recently that a direct train connection to London could be on the cards. With family in London and a job that involves travelling there several times a year, usually by train, the prospect of avoiding the need to change stations in Paris was highly appealing. Imagine her frustration, then, when the article she was reading in 24 heures went on to say that the plan seemed to involve Basel, rather than Geneva, as the terminus for the line. She felt it was time to take action! Feeling she had a personal stake in the matter, she took the step of emailing a David Vogel, a Vaud councillor living in the Nyon area, who was quoted in the article as being in favour of bringing the train to Geneva first. He replied in less than an hour and was positive about her idea of starting a petition. The councillor connected Nadine with another local citizen, Hadrien Jotti from La Rippe, who was interested in promoting train travel and together they drafted the petition that was launched on the evening of Tuesday 12 March. With just a few social media posts, it started to spread quickly through both the Geneva/Vaud area and around relevant networks in London, achieving almost 2,000 signatures by the end of that week. While the decision ultimately rests with SBB, the national train company, and the federal government, a petition like this can have an influence on such matters. However, she has been advised that 3,000 signatures will be more impactful. Nadine has continued putting her spare time into pushing the message out to as many people as possible, hoping to generate the all-important ‘network effect’ as signers, in turn, share the link with their interested family, friends and colleagues.

“For many people, travelling by train is the preferred option when available, avoiding the stress and hassle of modern airports, not to mention the fact that air travel produces 15 times more carbon dioxide per passenger,” she says. “I fully understand that the current need to change in Paris makes it much less attractive right now. But imagine being able to board a train in Geneva and step off in central London just over 5 hours later – amazing!” The many supportive comments on the petition page show that she’s not alone. And with 14,000 British citizens combined across Vaud, Geneva and neighbouring France, getting to a number that will give the authorities pause for thought should be within sight. Sign the petition here To help Nadine and her fellow organisers get there, please do sign the petition by clicking on the petition link and clicking on the link in the follow-up verification email. In addition, to help with the network effect, please also share with your networks both here in Switzerland and in the UK! See: https://www.change.org/train-lon-gva