Source: https://www.railfreight.com/policy/2025/09/09/switzerland-shifts-subsidies-to-keep-freight-on-rail/
Switzerland shifts subsidies to keep freight on rail
Author: Marco Raimondi
09.09.2025 | Switzerland is transferring 59 million CHF (63,2 million euros) in subsidies from accompanied combined transport (ACT) to unaccompanied combined transport (UCT). “Part of the funds originally earmarked for the operation of the rolling highway (RoLa) can be used to promote UCT”, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) said.
The initiative aims at keeping on the rail the volumes of the soon-to-be-discontinued RoLa, an ACT service, between Italy and Germany through the Helvetic Federation. “Subsidies are paid only where the combined transport service crosses the Alps in Switzerland by rail (Simplon or Gotthard) and reduces the number of road journeys made by heavy goods vehicles via a Swiss Alpine road crossing”.
The scheme will be active in 2026 and 2027 and entails 25 CHF in additional subsidies per UCT consignment that is proven to come from the rolling highway service. This will be a significant increase as the current rate is set at 50 CHF per consignment. Interested parties can submit their proposal by Friday, 12 September 2025. Between then and the end of 2025, the FOT will cooperate with operators “to determine how the evidence that consignments have been transferred from Rola to UCT should be provided”.
Conditions apply
There are other conditions to be eligible for these subsidies. “If an operator’s actual train and/or consignment numbers fall more than 15% short of the figures projected, the subsidy will be reduced by 3%”, the FOT said. Moreover, subsidy requests can be rejected if the average number of trains per quarter is lower than 24.
ACT and UCT
With accompanied combined transport services (ACT) such as the rolling highway services between Italy and Germany via Switzerland, a truck is driven onto rail wagons as a whole, including the tractor unit. During the train ride, truck drivers stay in a passenger wagon attached to the freight convoy.
In unaccompanied combined transport (UCT), on the other hand, only the semi-trailers are transported, without the tractor unit. For this modality, special wagons or platforms are necessary to place the non-cranable semi-trailers onto the rails.