Switzerland: goods rail transport, more than double the share of the EU 25/05/24
< Back to listAuthor: Jan Sůra
In Switzerland, railways account for 37% of goods transport, more than double the share of the EU. We investigated why.
While the entire European Union, including the Czech Republic, has been planning for a long time to move more freight traffic from roads to rails, and in fact the opposite is happening, Switzerland has long been showing the way to get more transport on the railways. The share of railways in transit transport reaches over 72%, in the total volume of freight transport 37%. Switzerland is not satisfied with such results, which are several times better than in other EU countries, and they are preparing further steps to move more goods to the railway. For comparison: the EU average is 17%.
Zdopravy.cz newspaper therefore investigated the experience of how to achieve such results at the Swiss Ministry of Transport (Bundesamt für Verkehr - BAV). The text was created thanks to an interview with Matthias Wagner, who is in charge of freight transport across the Alps at the ministry, and René Sigrist, who deals with other freight transport. "The goal is to make the railway so attractive that carriers use it rather than the road," say representatives of the ministry.
Here is a list of the 7 main measures that have contributed to Switzerland being the rail freight champion today. The text was authorized by BAV to verify factual accuracy.
1. Tolls throughout the country
Just as trains pay a road tax for each kilometer traveled, trucks in Switzerland pay for each kilometer traveled on the road. No matter if it is along the highway or a small mountain road between villages.
The fixed rate per kilometer is also advantageous from the point of view of maintaining the operation of the toll system: no toll gates or satellite system are involved, the car owner only regularly submits data on the kilometers traveled. There is thus no bypassing of tolled sections. For transit traffic, mileage data is calculated upon entry and exit from the country. The toll varies only according to vehicle weight and emission class. The table of toll rates is here . Revenue from road tolls goes mainly to railways for capacity development. The government recently decided to further increase toll rates and transfer part of the money from toll revenue to support freight rail transport. Last year alone, Switzerland collected 37.5 billion crowns in tolls. For comparison: the Czech Republic less than fifteen billion crowns.
2. Restriction of night traffic on the road
In addition to the normal driving ban on Sundays, there is one major restriction for trucks in Switzerland: no driving between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM every day. This significantly complicates, especially in transit transport, the planning of transport across the entire country and favors the railway. And of course it brings more peace of mind for residents near the roads.
3. Capacity
It can be extremely difficult to get freight trains onto the tracks with heavy passenger traffic in Switzerland. However, unlike other countries, rail freight carriers are guaranteed by law that there must be capacity for at least one freight train per hour on each line, and six per hour on backbone lines. This also provides carriers with greater certainty when planning transports. In many countries, the capacity situation is such that freight trains can practically only pass at night.
4. Long-term strategy
One of the main reasons for the success of Swiss transport. Long-term strategic planning that is followed. In other words, in Switzerland they already know what construction will take place in five or ten years. Most of the Ministry's materials now work with the dates 2035-2050 and describe individual steps to achieve further improvements in rail freight transport. The result of the strategy is, for example, the construction of the Gotthard foot tunnel or the Lötschberg tunnel, a large investment in expanding railway capacity and interoperability.
5. Support of individual car shipments
Their operation is financially unprofitable, therefore the state plans to partially subsidize transport for a limited period. It is used for domestic rail transport. That is also why in Switzerland you will normally see trains with containers for transporting goods for local supermarket chains. It is not only about the delivery of durable goods, but also fresh food. While this may be partly chain marketing, the overnight road ban means the train is often the only option to get goods to stores on time. This is also why the country wants to invest significantly in digital automatic coupler technology for easier connection of trucks.
6. Strengthening of capacity abroad
At first glance, this may seem like nonsense. Investments in terminals in neighboring countries, especially in Italy, are part of the strategy of moving goods to rail. But the explanation is simple: one of the biggest obstacles to the further movement of goods by rail is insufficient capacity on the access lines to Switzerland and the accuracy of intermodal transport. That is why Switzerland has long supported the construction of terminals in neighboring countries, where trains with containers or semi-trailers will start their journey for transit through the Alps. Only if train transport is accurate and reliable, freight forwarders may prefer to use rails.
7. Support of the railway in the constitution
In no other country can you find a clause in the constitution regarding rail freight transport. In Switzerland, since 1994, following a referendum, support for the transfer of road freight transport to railways has been enshrined. The aim is to limit the number of truck transit trips to 650,000 per year, this limit has not yet been reached.