Concrete decisions

Kilometre-based tax on heavy goods vehicles

The Swiss people adopted the constitutional article on the kilometre-based tax on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on the same day as the Alpine Initiative. Because there was a referendum against the law adopted by Swiss parliament on the basis of this article, the people had to vote once again in 1998, when it adopted the law with a clear majority. The kilometre-based tax on HGVs is levied on all roads and varies according to the gross vehicle weight rating and the emission category of the vehicles. With a few exceptions, it has to be paid by all Swiss and foreign freight vehicles above 3.5 t gross vehicle weight rating. The tariff amounts to 3 Swiss centimes (approx. €0.02) per ton-kilometre, i.e. a maximum of 1.2 Swiss francs (approx. €0.80) per kilometre for a 40-ton lorry. This is to pay for uncovered infrastructure costs and external costs (noise, health, accidents, and damage to buildings). The kilometre-based tax on HGVs came into force on 1 January 2001. The tariff is being increased gradually. The details are regulated in a decree.

New rail link through the Alps (NRLA or Alptransit)

The Swiss people adopted the NRLA in 1992, independently of the article on the protection of the Alps. It consists of the St. Gotthard (57 km, completion ca. 2014), and the Lötschberg base tunnels (Simplon axis, 34 km, completion 2007), the Ceneri base tunnel and the Zimmerberg tunnel. Shortly after the adoption of the NRLA by the people it became clear that the financing of these could not simply be left to their ultimate users. The decision on the building and financing of infrastructure projects in public transport, or FPT (3rd interim regulation), regulates the financing of the NRLA, Rail 2000, the connection to the high-speed network of neighbouring countries and noise protection along railway lines. The fund is to be fed by two thirds of the revenues of the kilometre-based HGV tax, the tax on petrol, VAT and credits from the capital market. The NRLA is to make rail transport more efficient and attractive (shorter distances, fewer gradients and thus no change of engines mid-way, longer trains, etc.).

The land transport agreement with the European Union

After the Swiss people rejected accession to the EEA, Switzerland and the EU negotiated seven bilateral agreements which were adopted by the Swiss people in 2000. In the land transport agreement, l'Unione europea ha riconosciuto i principi della politica svizzera dei tras, the EU in principle accepts Swiss transport policy (kilometre-based HGV tax, night and Sunday ban on road freight transport, etc.) and declares its support for a progressive introduction of true costs in transport and the promotion of freight transport by rail. The EU has negotiated the replacement of the 28 ton weight limit for lorries by a 40 ton limit in exchange for its acceptance of the kilometre-based HGV tax. The amount of the HGV tax was limited. This means that it cannot be increased to 3 centimes/ton-kilometre, as allowed by Swiss legislation, but only to 2.7 centimes. The idea of an additional Alpine transit tax, as planned in the implementation strategy of the Federal Council can no longer be implemented. This is why the Swiss parliament adopted supporting measures in the form of a Traffic Transfer Act and a block credit for the promotion of rail freight transport.

Traffic Transfer Act

The law adopted in 1999 defines, for the first time, the number of lorries allowed to cross Switzerland: In the first two years after the enforcement of the land transport agreement, the number of transalpine lorries is to be stabilised at the level of 2000. It is then to be reduced to 650,000 lorries a year by two years after the opening of the Lötschberg rail base tunnel, i.e. by 2009. In 2000, 1.4 million trips were registered. An additional means for the transfer from road to rail is to be a stricter control of freight traffic. The night ban is now laid down in a law instead of a decree.

Resources for the promotion of rail freight transport

The decree provides 2.85 billion Swiss francs for the promotion of rail freight transport within a period of 11 years. These funds are used to subsidise user tariffs for railway lines and non-economically viable offers of combined transport. Contributions to the construction of terminals in Switzerland and abroad are financed from other sources. The framework credit will be discontinued when the kilometre-based HGV tax can be levied at its maximum level and the Lötschberg base tunnel is completed.

Freight traffic controls

Controls on heavy goods vehicle traffic (dimensions and weight, driving and rest periods, state of the vehicle, etc.) are to be intensified as part of the Traffic Transfer Act. To achieve this goal, a whole network of competence centres is to be created along national roads. The first centre was opened in Stans in March 2002.

Monitoring of supporting measures - MSM

The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) is tasked with controlling the implementation of the Traffic Transfer Act and the efficiency of the supporting measures on road and rail. The monitoring project continually analyses and supplements the available databases under the overall control of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT). The coordination and processing of the data has been entrusted to the Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE). Detailed monitoring of road and rail transport - in particular as regards transalpine freight transport - provides indications on the effectiveness of the measures taken. Every month, the current trends are published in the "Monatsinfo", a briefing in German. Every two years a "report on the transfer of traffic" is drawn up for the two chambers of Swiss parliament. It will assess the middle- and long-term trends with regard to the transfer objective. In parallel, the effects of the transfer policy on the environment are to be recorded by means of the environmental monitoring of supporting measures programme (MFM-U).

Railways reform

The operation of railways is to be reformed in line with EU directives. The first step came into force in 1999. The objective is to strengthen railways by means of separating economic and political responsibility, free network access, transparent financing (including separating the infrastructure and operation of their accounts and their organisation), a commissioning principle for railway lines and the liberalisation of transport.

Regulating freight transport

Since the reopening of the St. Gotthard road tunnel after the catastrophic fire on 24 October 2001, freight transport has been regulated at both the St. Gotthard and San Bernardino road tunnels. At first, lorries at the St. Gotthard were only admitted into the tunnel one side at a time (alternating one-way traffic). Since autumn 2002 they have again been allowed to drive both ways at once (two-way traffic). The number of vehicles, however, is limited. Per hour and direction, no more than 1000 units are allowed to travel through the tunnel. Lorries count as three units and private cars as one unit, with private cars having priority. Per minute and direction, a maximum of two lorries are to drive through the tunnel.

Alpine Crossing Exchange

 It is obvious that the adopted measures are not enough to achieve a transfer from road to rail within the mandatory deadline. Moreover, the current system of regulation necessarily leads to undesirable tailbacks of lorries, which then have to be parked somewhere. This problem is to be solved with a reservation system. The reservation system can be seen as a preliminary step towards an Alpine Crossing Exchange. This tool, which was proposed by the Alpine Initiative, is intended to reduce road freight transport to a level which is acceptable for humans and nature. Politicians only have to define the desired amount of traffic for the individual mountain passes. The rest should be taken care of by the market. The permitted trips are to be sold to the highest bidders on an internet-based stock market on a daily basis. Only those who can provide a transit permit are allowed to use the corresponding Alpine routes with their lorries. The price for a permit will not grow infinitely, but will settle at a level which is close to that of rail transport. As soon as the price gets higher it is cheaper to use rail. The Alpine Crossing Exchange can be used as fine control instrument in addition to the kilometre tax for heavy goods vehicles, a toll or a tunnel charge, and it can be implemented in all the countries affected. Because bidding is carried out via the Internet, everybody can take part and there is no discrimination.