A «piggyback» train travels along the Gotthard route in Ticino. The Swiss company Hupac, which takes its name from the German word for piggyback, is the leader in this field. (1998, Keystone)
In 1999, following approval of the Alps Initiative, parliament decides on how heavy goods traffic through the Alps is to be moved to the railways. Two years after the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the number of heavy goods vehicle journeys is to be reduced to 650,000. Motorised freight transport peaks in 2000 at 1.4 million journeys, falling to around 1 million by 2015.
« Scenarios are pictures of possible futures. »
Center for Futures Research, St. Gallen, Report, p. 2, 30.01.1981
The development of goods traffic on road and rail in Switzerland from 1980 to 2000 from the perspective of the St. Gallen Centre for Futures Research
1981 , Swiss Federal ArchivesGraphic representation of the 2000 automated road traffic census
2001 , Swiss Federal ArchivesPress release, Eliminating capacity shortfalls on motorways and in conurbations
2002 , Swiss Federal Archives
Motor vehicle traffic by the Teufelsbrücke restaurant on the old Gotthard road, 1950 (Uri State Archives)
Ticket bus for the car shuttle in Flüelen by the Eichhof beer depot, around 1960 (Uri State Archives)
Ticket bus for the car shuttle in Flüelen by the Eichhof beer depot, around 1960 (Uri State Archives)
crossing the Swiss Alps in 2008.
new deadline for achieving the targeted shift in traffic, pushed back from 2008.
a year to be crossing the Swiss Alps by 2009 – decided in 1999, when the total is 1,318,000.
Although work actually began earlier, the first blasting at the Lötschberg is regarded as the official start of NRLA construction.
View eventFor the first time, goods vehicles weighing forty tonnes are permitted to travel on Swiss roads. In return, the EU accepts the heavy vehicle fee.
View event
