Rollende Landstrassen not rolling anymore

[Jamesrob637]

Happy Friday

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It has been announced that the operation of the RoLa (Rollende Landstraßen) will cease at the end of 2025. This is as much a climate political as a social political decision. The impact on the staff is as yet unclear. The move has been criticised by parties on all sides.

What a shame. This was such a good way of getting lorries over the Alps.

 

[nwales58]

I think the Swiss subsidy for this services was only supposed to be temporary until new tunnels were open but the subsidy had been extended to 2028.

What's bad is that the subsidy has been terminated early because of poor rail reliability partly due to construction work.

 

[MarkyT]

While early termination will undoubtedly drive some additional trucks onto Alpine road networks, a shift to unaccompanied trailers and containers is making this concept of shipping the tractor units as well just over the hilly bits largely obsolete. The idea was that dramatic reductions in transit time enabled by the new base tunnels would quickly drive the transition to unaccompanied. The Gotthard tunnel derailment and trouble in Germany have hampered this. Some hauliers may be avoiding RoLa already due to the current service quality issues.

 

[edwin_m]

While early termination will undoubtedly drive some additional trucks onto Alpine road networks, a shift to unaccompanied trailers and containers is making this concept of shipping the tractor units as well just over the hilly bits largely obsolete. The idea was that dramatic reductions in transit time enabled by the new base tunnels would quickly drive the transition to unaccompanied. The Gotthard tunnel derailment and trouble in Germany have hampered this. Some hauliers may be avoiding RoLa already due to the current service quality issues.

It also has the benefit of removing the transit traffic from the roads at either end of the rail leg. Are there measures to penalise or otherwise discourage transit lorry moves, and will these continue when the RoLa is no longer available as a partial alternative?

 

[MarkyT]

It also has the benefit of removing the transit traffic from the roads at either end of the rail leg. Are there measures to penalise or otherwise discourage transit lorry moves, and will these continue when the RoLa is no longer available as a partial alternative?

Tolls and other controls disincentivize long-distance lorry transits across Alpine countries. Switzerland has been particularly successful, increasing its rail share by 30% to 72% of total transit tonnage over ~25 years.
From the Swiss Federal Statistical Office: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/mobility-transport/goods-transport/transalpine.html

Transalpine goods transport
Data on the quantities transported and the number of journeys in transalpine goods transport by road and rail