"Swiss Roadway for Trucks to Reopen": Swiss 'Moving Highway' to Shut Down Temporarily
Head's Up: The truck-to-train "Rolling Highway" service through the Swiss Alps, operated by RAlpin, faces an untimely end in 2025. Here's the dirt on this unfortunate turn of events.
The Lowdown on the Halt:After decades of moving around 80,000 lorries annually, RAlpin's trucks will no longer be gracing the Swiss Alps railways due to substantial financial difficulties. In a telling press release, they explained the decision, citing a slew of unexpected rail network hassles as the reason behind the premature halt. Despite backing from the federal government and consistent customer interest, a whopping 10% of trains were scrapped last year, leaving only 80% of the scheduled runs.
While the first quarter of 2025 witnessed a 20% drop in train runs, compared to the same period in 2024, RAlpin deems its Rolling Highway service unprofitable under the current circumstances. They've deliberated over the matter and sadly concluded that the service won't turn a profit under the prevailing conditions, with a return to normalcy nowhere in sight.
Germany, You're Blocking Our Rolling Highway:RAlpin is actively pointing a blame-finger at Germany, with "persistently disruptive" rail infrastructure causing "unexpected cancellations" on the Rolling Highway.
What Comes Next:Starting in 2026, Swiss roads will witness a truck boom as they take back their rightful place on the Swiss Alps for transalpine transport. Predictably, this shift will result in increased traffic and pollution in mountain communities, though the precise impact remains unquantified at this moment.
** union's Verdict:**"The premature discontinuation of the Rolling Motorway is a nasty blow to climate policy," states the Transport Workers' Union, lamenting the step back towards relying on road transport.
With no announced plans to replace the truck-to-train service of similar scale, Swiss roads seem primed for a trucking comeback. In the meantime, modernization initiatives continue in the regional passenger rail sector, introducing new trains like the EMUs for the Mont Blanc Express at the Swiss-French border, focusing primarily on passenger services rather than freight piggyback operations.
- The financial difficulties faced by RAlpin, as revealed in their press release, have stemmed from a multitude of issues in environmental-science, such as unexpected rail network hassles and a high rate of train cancellations due to persistently disruptive rail infrastructure, particularly from Germany.
- In light of the Rolling Highway's discontinuation, finance will play a significant role in the future of transportation, as automotive trucks are forecasted to experience a resurgence on Swiss roads, potentially leading to increased environmental pollution, especially in mountain communities.
- The premature end of the Rolling Highway service has raised concerns among industry experts in environmental-science, with the Transport Workers' Union arguing that the decision is detrimental to climate-change mitigation efforts, as it represents a step back towards reliance on road transport rather than rail.
