The rolling highway service between Novara, in Italy, and Freiburg, in Germany, is dispatching its last trains today instead of tomorrow because of a planned strike in Italy. Trucks are thus deemed to go back to the road due to the vast amount of construction sites along the railways, especially in Germany.
The service is simply not financially viable in these conditions. “There is no sign of the situation returning to normal. On the contrary, the situation has worsened further over the course of the year”, RAlpin, the company operating the service said. The last trains are scheduled to depart Freiburg at 13:03 and Novara at 15:38, reaching their destinations eight hours later.
The Swiss Parliament had decided to extend financial support to the company, owned by Hupac, SBB and BLS, until the end of 2028. However, last spring came the decision of ceasing operation at the end of this year. Now, to add insult to injury, the last convoys run a day earlier than planned. “In its nearly 25-year history, RAlpin has transported over 2 million lorries through Switzerland by rail”, the company noted.
From rolling highway to rail highway?
This is the second rolling highway service ceasing operations this year, after the one between Orbassano, in Italy, and Aiton, in France. The service was halted in August 2023 after a massive landslide closed the main line between France and Italy for over a year and a half. This stoppage led to a halt in public subsidies, which was fatal for the initiative.
With rolling highways, the whole truck is placed onto rail wagons, including the tractor, and trains are equipped with passenger cars for the drivers. This concept now seems to have died out, as there are no longer such services in Europe. On the other hand, there has been a rise in rail highway services, where only the semi-trailers are placed on freight trains and travel without their tractor and driver.
This new type of service requires further equipment, whether at the terminal or in terms of wagons. The main players in this industry are Modalohr, CargoBeamer, VTG, and Helrom. Many new connections of this kind have been launched over the past few years, but this segment still occupies a minor part of the rail freight sector as a whole. However, its contribution to the modal shift are impactful, especially if the number of services continues to grow.