Switzerland is ready to allocate up to 80 million euros for upgrade the railway along the left bank of the Rhine, almost all in French territory, from Metz to Basel via Strasbourg. The proposal was put forward in June 2024 by the Federal Council and has now been formalized pending the actual allocation. It is not too surprising if Switzerland puts its hand into its wallet to finance railway projects even outside its borders, as this decision has already been taken several times in favor of neighboring countries, with the focus on Italy, and not from today: the first Italian-Swiss agreement dates back to 1955 following which the Confederation financially contributed to the electrification of the Novara-Alessandria railway in 1960.
The disruption following Rastatt’s collapse in August 2017 highlighted how essential this is find alternative routes along the Rhine, fundamental axis of freight transport in Europe, key section of the North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean Ten-T corridor (formerly Rhine-Alpine Corridor). The Metz-Strasbourg-Basel railway does not represent the only alternative along the left bank of the Rhine, but it has the advantage of being an electrified line and for this reason Switzerland intends to invest in this route by stimulating the intervention of France and Germany.
In the summer of 2024, however, following the interruption for works in German territoryfreight transport had been diverted to Wörth-Lauterbourg-Strasbourg, a line that was almost entirely thermal traction, apart from the initial sections. Despite these limitations, over the summer, it was possible to manage the transit of up to twenty freight trains per day according to a project proposed by Hupac and planned for some time together with other railway companies involved in the international service.
The Swiss railway company has become the spokesperson for the request to strengthen the infrastructure in the French region, now finding at its side the Swiss Confederation ready to finance some essential interventions. Hupac has on several occasions reported the limited capacity of the German network aggravated by the planned renovation works on railway lines which involve the closure of numerous sections for several months until beyond 2030. The only solution according to the Swiss company is to strengthen the network through France, adapting it for intermodal transport without gauge limits, the real current limit of these alternative itineraries.
Still on the subject of alternative itineraries, Switzerland has taken advantage of the lessons learned following the partial closure of the Gotthard base tunnel for just over a year following the disaster caused by a freight train in August 2023. Immediately after the opening in 2016 of the new Alpine transversal which is part of the AlpTransit project, many critical voices were raised about the maintenance of the historic line, due to its high costs of maintenance. The latter, however, proved to be providential during the partial closure of the base tunnel, even if it showed some limitations, in particular those of the reduced gauge not suitable for intermodal trains. For this reason, federal councilor Albert Rösti, head of the Department of Transport, has announced his intention to invest over a billion euros to also adapt the historic line.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
Do you want to stay updated on the latest news on transport and logistics and not miss a single piece of news from TrasportoEuropa?
Subscribe to our Newsletter with the list and links of all the articles published in the days preceding sending. Free and NO SPAM!
