The future rests on the rail

Switzerland is shifting freight traffic across the Alps from road to rail and has anchored this in its constitution. The goal is to reduce transalpine freight traffic to 650,000 trucks a year. To achieve this, it has drawn up a package of measures grouped around a central element; the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA).

The year 2000 marked a major turning point when 1.4 million heavy goods vehicles crossed the Swiss Alps. Studies predict that this figure will go up by 32 per cent in 20 to 25 years time. That could mean the first gridlocks in the Alps by 2020.

The Swiss electorate has refused to accept this prospect. In three votes – approval of the NRLA concept in 1992, the Alpine initiative in 1994 and the incentive tax on HGVs in 1998 – the people of Switzerland laid the foundation for the policy of shifting freight traffic from road to rail. A package of co-ordinated measures has been put together to achieve this ambitious goal. At the heart of the package is the New Rail Link through the Alps ( NRLA). It is supplemented by an incentive tax and other supporting measures to strengthen the competitive position of the railway.

Crossing under the Alps

The objective is to build a transalpine rail link at an altitude of 550 metres above sea level; similar to Munich. The idea behind this is both practical and sensible; a freight train should be able to travel from Rotterdam to Brindisi without requiring a second locomotive and without having to uncouple its carriages.

Pulling a freight train 1.5 kilometres in length, that weighs 4,000 tonnes, through helical tunnels at 1,150 metres above sea level, is impossible. The solution is to build two new tunnels. Upon completion, the 57 kilometre-long Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest railway tunnel in the world, and is expected to be ready for operation in 2017.

The 34.6 kilometre-long Lötschberg Base Tunnel will be open in December 2007 and 110 trains will travel through it every day. These new tunnels will make the route through Switzerland not only flat, but 40 kilometres shorter.

Intelligent financing via an incentive tax

Switzerland is investing around 12 billion Euros in the NRLA, and 20 billion Euros in modernising the overall railway infrastructure. These major projects are being financed by a new fund for the public transport sector (FPT). A mileage-related heavy vehicles tax (MRHVT) will supply two-thirds of the fund and the other third comes from a mineral oil tax plus one tenth of a per cent of VAT revenues.

The MRHVT fulfils two objectives of the Swiss traffic transfer policy; it makes the transport of heavy goods in Switzerland more expensive with the intention of making the polluters pay for external costs. As well as this, it also helps to finance the new railway infrastructure. The MRHVT is calculated according to the number of kilometres covered, the permissible overall weight of the vehicle and the vehicle’s emissions. It currently costs around 200 Euros for a truck to cross the Alps on the North-South transit route.

The impact of the MRHVT is constantly monitored and has already shown initial success. Most importantly, it has resulted in a distinct turnaround in the transport of heavy goods by road. After a steady increase in the years before the MRHVT was implemented, the volume of transalpine traffic has dropped sharply with almost 15 per cent less trucks. Furthermore, the tax has resulted in a significant modernisation of the fleet and a degree of concentration in the road haulier business.