RAIL freight travelling through the Swiss Alps suffered a 5.9% reduction in 2023 compared with 2022, says Switzerland’s Federal Transport Office (BAV).
Overall, 37 million tonnes of freight were transported on Swiss Alpine road and rail links, a 4.7% drop compared with 2022, with road freight falling by 1.4%.
As a result, BAV says the target to shift 650,000 road trips to rail was missed and rail’s share of all transalpine freight transport through Switzerland fell from 72.9 to 72%.
“The main reason for the reduction in transalpine rail freight transport is the difficult economic situation in Europe, triggered by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and problems with supply chains,” BAV says. “In addition, there is still poor reliability, especially because of the many construction sites on the north-south axis. Road transport, on the other hand, suffered less from the difficult economic situation in Europe because it has a higher proportion of domestic traffic.
“The partial closure of the Gotthard Base Tunnel after the accident on August 10 2023 had little impact on the volume of goods transported,” BAV explains. “Freight trains were able to be rerouted via the Lötschberg-Simplon axis and the Gotthard mountain route.”
