{"id":21805,"date":"2024-03-22T19:30:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T09:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=51029"},"modified":"2024-03-22T19:30:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T09:30:27","slug":"rail-freight-across-the-alps-dropped-but-not-because-of-the-gotthard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=21805","title":{"rendered":"Rail freight across the Alps dropped, but not because of the Gotthard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freight transport across the Alps in 2023 decreased both when it comes to road and rail, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT). Concerning rail freight, volumes dropped by 5.9 per cent compared to 2022. The FOT stated that the main cause is the general economic situation in Europe, and not the closure of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>In general, the modal share of rail freight across the Alps fell from 73.9 per cent in 2022 to 72 per cent in 2023. The main factors causing these drops, as the FOT said, are the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the problems linked to supply chains and various construction sites on the north-south axis.<\/p>\n

Gotthard accident had minimal impact in Switzerland<\/h2>\n

The FOT specified that the issues at the Gotthard Base Tunnel<\/a>, connecting Switzerland and Italy, had a minimal impact on rail freight volumes. This infrastructure has been only partially available after a train derailment in August 2023, leaving only one of the two tunnels usable. Most of the traffic was diverted through the Simplon axis or the older Gotthard mountain railway. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n

If the partial closure of the tunnel did not have a significantly disruptive effect for Switzerland, things are quite different for its neighbour in the south: Italy<\/a>. Paired with the closure of the Frejus Railway, the main railway leading into France, the impact on Italy is quite higher, as its main connections to the rest of Europe are impaired.<\/p>\n

Road freight volumes dropped, but not enough<\/h2>\n

As mentioned, there was also a drop when it comes to cross-Alpine road freight traffic in 2023, which decrease by 1.4 per cent compared to 2022. However, this decrease was not enough for Switzerland to meet its goals to have maximum 650,000 lorries crossing the Alps. In total, there were 916,000 of them throughout 2023, which is 12,000 fewer than 2022, but still almost 300,000 over the initial goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freight transport across the Alps in 2023 decreased both when it comes to road and rail, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT). Concerning rail freight, volumes dropped by 5.9 per cent compared to 2022. The FOT stated that the main cause is the general economic situation in Europe, and not the closure\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,6706,3740,349,350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-cross-alpine-traffic","category-gotthard-base-tunnel","category-swiss-federal-office-of-transport","category-switzerland"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t