Relocation policy
The policy of relocation in Switzerland is the policy of politically moving as large a proportion of the mainly international freight traffic crossing the Alps as possible from the roads to the rail corridors .
aims
According to the documentation of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), the Swiss modal shift policy aims to protect the Alpine region from the negative effects of heavy goods traffic across the Alps.
The expected effects include a decrease in the volume of traffic on the most important alpine roads and thus a reduction in noise in the large alpine valleys, air pollution from exhaust emissions and the risk of accidents on the roads.
In addition, if goods traffic were to be reduced, the further expansion of the roads in the spatially narrow valleys could be dispensed with.
The cantons of Uri and Ticino , which are particularly affected by traffic on the Gotthard axis , advocated effective means of shifting heavy traffic.
history
On February 20, 1994, the Swiss population accepted the Alpine Initiative in a referendum ; this enshrined the relocation policy in the federal constitution. The aim is to shift as much heavy goods traffic across the Alps as possible from the road to the railroad in order to free the population and the environment of the Alps from excessive pollution . The goals of the relocation policy have been confirmed several times in referendums, most recently when the Avanti initiative was rejected on February 8, 2004.
According to the Relocation Act, the instruments of the relocation policy are the performance-based heavy vehicle tax (LSVA), the New Railway-Alpine Transversal (Neat), the railway reform , the night and Sunday driving ban and various accompanying measures. Specific figures are given in Art. 3 of the Relocation Act: after the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a maximum of 650,000 truck trips across the Alps per year, and as an interim goal for 2011 a maximum of 1 million trips.
The relocation policy has so far failed by far to achieve the objective set out in the adopted Alpine initiative of a complete relocation of transalpine freight traffic - also in the form of piggyback solutions - within a set deadline. Road freight traffic continued to grow almost continuously, with rail freight traffic only slowly gaining market share. The main causes of this constitutional enforcement deficit are the pressure from the EU and the Swiss economy, both of which opposed the mandatory police solution stipulated in the initiative from the start. In the bilateral treaty negotiations with Switzerland, the EU only agreed to a policy of relocation in the form of an incentive, as represented by the HVF. In addition, it enforced an increase in the Swiss truck weight limit from 28 tons to 40 tons. a. also to ensure a fairer distribution of traffic on the Austrian and French Alpine transit roads.
As a further possible market economy solution, the introduction of an Alpine transit exchange is currently being discussed in Switzerland and in some cases also internationally .
International comparison
Although the relocation goal of the Alpine initiative has not yet been achieved in Switzerland, there are still more trucks driving over the Austrian Brenner Pass than through the Swiss Gotthard road tunnel . The following reasons are given:
- The Brenner has a four-lane motorway without a tunnel, while on the Gotthard there is only a two-lane motorway with a tunnel.
- As a member, Austria is bound to EU legislation, which offers less scope for relocation policy than the land transport agreement between non-member Switzerland and the EU. HVF and other accompanying measures are therefore comparatively more effective than the Austrian measures. Inadvertently, these only partially lead to a shift effect on the rail, and partially to a shift to the burner.
literature
- "Echo", the magazine of the Alpine Initiative Association , various issues
Web links
- Relocation of freight traffic through the Alps bav.admin.ch - website of the Federal Office of Transport (BAV)
- Relocation reports documentation, Federal Office of Transport (FOT)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Objectives of the relocation policy ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at bav.admin.ch (Federal Office of Transport FOT)
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: FOEN: Life in the Alpine Transit Corridor
- ↑ For immediate implementation of the relocation law, article on nzz.ch of February 20, 2008
- ↑ Art. 3 Shift target SR 740.1 Federal law on the shift of heavy goods traffic across the Alps from road to rail
- ↑ Mixed balance of the relocation policy blog at Avenir Suisse from July 15, 2016
