Switzerland is testing solar train tracks that generate clean electricity from railway lines.
Next time you’re waiting for a train, take a look at the tracks beneath your feet. Those same tracks could collect solar energy to power homes, cities, and maybe even the train itself. In Switzerland, this idea is no longer just a dream, it’s happening.
A Swiss start-up has launched a first-of-its-kind project that turns active rail lines into solar power plants. The pilot site, in the small village of Buttes, features removable solar panels fitted directly between the rails. The technology could lead to a smarter way to generate clean energy without building massive solar farms or using extra land.
The concept was born in 2020 when Joseph Scuderi, founder of the start-up Sun-Ways, noticed the empty space between train tracks while waiting for a ride in Renens, west of Lausanne. Why not use that space to make electricity?
Five years later, his idea came to life. In April 2025, Sun-Ways unveiled 100 meters of solar panels installed on a railway track in Buttes, in western Switzerland. The panels rest on railroad sleepers; the sturdy beams that support train rails.
The installation, built with support from a dozen partner companies and the Swiss Agency for Innovation Promotion (Innosuisse), cost about CHF 585,000 ($704,600). That may sound steep, but it’s actually quite competitive.
Compared to traditional solar farms, which can cost between $1 million and $1.5 million per megawatt to install depending on location, this new system makes use of land and infrastructure that already exists. There’s no need to clear trees or buy new property. And because the panels are removable, maintenance crews can work on the rails without hassle.
The 48 solar panels at Buttes generate electricity and feed it into the local power grid. They can produce up to 16,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year which is enough to power four to six Swiss homes annually.
Now let’s break that down.
One kWh equals the amount of energy you’d use to run a dishwasher for an hour. So 16,000 kWh could run:
- A refrigerator for over 16 years.
- A flat-screen TV for more than 50,000 hours.
- Or charge a smartphone more than 1.3 million times.
Sun-Ways estimates that if solar train tracks were rolled out across Switzerland’s 5,320 kilometers of railways (excluding shaded or tunnel sections) they could generate one billion kWh every year. That’s enough to power 300,000 homes, or about 2% of the country’s total electricity use.
And that’s just in Switzerland.
The Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) supports solar development on public transport buildings, like station rooftops and platform shelters. They say these buildings could provide up to 30% of a transit company’s electricity needs.
But the solar train track system takes it a step further by using space that’s typically ignored.
The beauty of this setup is in its design. The panels are removable, installed by a machine developed by Swiss rail maintenance company Scheuchzer. The machine can lay or remove about 1,000 square meters of panels in just a few hours. That flexibility allows regular track maintenance without disrupting train schedules.
A brush attached to the end of a train can even clean the panels as the train moves, making upkeep efficient.
Switzerland is cautiously optimistic. The FOT approved the Buttes pilot because trains on that route run slowly, maxing out at 70 kilometers per hour (43 mph). The agency insisted on a three-year testing period, not the six months Sun-Ways originally proposed.
They want to monitor the system in real-world conditions across all seasons. Engineers will study how the solar panels affect the tracks, particularly in terms of wear and tear, safety, and maintenance challenges.
The Swiss government wants proof before rolling this out at scale. And rightly so.
There’s more than clean energy at stake. This innovation could boost local economies and create new jobs. If solar train tracks expand across Switzerland, and eventually the world, they’ll require trained workers to install, clean, maintain, and monitor the systems.
Experts also see potential in manufacturing the panels locally, building machines like Scheuchzer’s installer, and training specialists in solar-rail integration. These ripple effects could lead to hundreds or even thousands of green tech jobs.
This is good news for the planet, and people’s wallets too.
Sun-Ways is already in talks with several countries. South Korea, Spain, and Romania are developing similar projects. The Korean Rail Solar Power Generation Project Company, which oversees a 6,600-kilometer network, wants to launch a pilot this year using Sun-Ways’ technology.
Indonesia is also exploring the idea, with plans to start in Bogor and expand solar train tracks across West Java. Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Landscape, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is keeping a close eye on the Buttes project. Japan hopes to reduce its carbon emissions by 2050 and sees solar rail as one path to that goal.
While many countries are intrigued, some like Japan still have safety questions. Officials want to ensure that trains can operate safely and that crews can work on the tracks without risk. These are fair concerns, and the three-year trial in Switzerland aims to answer them.
Not everyone is convinced. Martin Heinrich, a researcher at Europe’s largest solar research center, the Fraunhofer Institute, supports the idea of using built-up areas like train tracks for solar energy. But he questions the benefit of removable panels. In his view, solar modules should stay put for 20–30 years to keep costs low and avoid damage.
Still, the system’s flexibility could be key for countries with aging rail infrastructure. And even if some places prefer permanent panels, the concept of solar train tracks proves we don’t always need more land to produce more power.
Joseph Scuderi and the Sun-Ways team now have three years to find out if the world’s railways can double as solar plants. If it works, we might soon see solar train tracks lighting up homes and cities—not just in Switzerland, but everywhere trains run.
