| • |
Kilometre-based
tax on heavy goods vehicles: The Swiss people adopted the
constitutional article on the kilometre-based
tax on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on the same day as the Alpine
Initiative. Because there was a referendum against
the law adopted by Swiss parliament on the basis of this article,
the people had to vote once again in 1998, when it adopted the law
with a clear majority. The kilometre-based tax on HGVs is levied
on all roads and varies according to the gross vehicle weight rating
and the emission category of the vehicles. With a few exceptions,
it has to be paid by all Swiss and foreign freight vehicles above
3.5 t gross vehicle weight rating. The tariff amounts to 3 Swiss
centimes (approx. €0.02) per ton-kilometre, i.e. a maximum
of 1.2 Swiss francs (approx. €0.80) per kilometre for a 40-ton
lorry. This is to pay for uncovered infrastructure costs and external
costs (noise, health, accidents, and damage to buildings). The kilometre-based
tax on HGVs came into force on 1 January 2001. The tariff is being
increased gradually. The details are regulated in a decree. |
|
 |
|
>
top |
|
 |
| • |
New rail
link through the Alps (NRLA): The Swiss people adopted the
NRLA
in 1992, independently of the article on the protection of the Alps.
It consists of the St. Gotthard (57 km, completion ca. 2014), and
the Lötschberg base tunnels (Simplon axis, 34 km, completion
2007), the Ceneri base tunnel and the Zimmerberg tunnel. Shortly
after the adoption of the NRLA by the people it became clear that
the financing of these could not simply be left to their ultimate
users. The decision on the building and financing of infrastructure
projects in public transport, or FPT
(3rd interim regulation), regulates the financing of the NRLA, Rail
2000, the connection to the high-speed network of neighbouring countries
and noise protection along railway lines. The fund is to be fed
by two thirds of the revenues of the kilometre-based HGV tax, the
tax on petrol, VAT and credits from the capital market. The NRLA
is to make rail transport more efficient and attractive (shorter
distances, fewer gradients and thus no change of engines mid-way,
longer trains, etc.). |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
The land
transport agreement with the European Union: After the Swiss
people rejected accession to the EEA, Switzerland and the EU negotiated
seven bilateral agreements which were adopted by the Swiss people
in 2000. In the land
transport agreement, l'Unione europea ha riconosciuto i principi
della politica svizzera dei tras, the EU in principle accepts Swiss
transport policy (kilometre-based HGV tax, night and Sunday ban
on road freight transport, etc.) and declares its support for a
progressive introduction of true costs in transport and the promotion
of freight transport by rail. The EU has negotiated the replacement
of the 28 ton weight limit for lorries by a 40 ton limit in exchange
for its acceptance of the kilometre-based HGV tax. The amount of
the HGV tax was limited. This means that it cannot be increased
to 3 centimes/ton-kilometre, as allowed by Swiss legislation, but
only to 2.7 centimes. The idea of an additional Alpine transit tax,
as planned in the implementation strategy of the Federal Council
can no longer be implemented. This is why the Swiss parliament adopted
supporting measures in the form of a Traffic Transfer Act and a
block credit for the promotion of rail freight transport. |
|
|
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Traffic
Transfer Act: The law
adopted in 1999 defines, for the first time, the number of lorries
allowed to cross Switzerland: In the first two years after the enforcement
of the land transport agreement, the number of transalpine lorries
is to be stabilised at the level of 2000. It is then to be reduced
to 650,000 lorries a year by two years after the opening of the
Lötschberg rail base tunnel, i.e. by 2009. In 2000, 1.4 million
trips were registered. An additional means for the transfer from
road to rail is to be a stricter control of freight traffic. The
night ban is now laid down in a law instead of a decree. |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Resources
for the promotion of rail freight transport: The decree
provides 2.85 billion Swiss francs for the promotion of rail freight
transport within a period of 11 years. These funds are used to subsidise
user tariffs for railway lines and non-economically viable offers
of combined transport. Contributions to the construction of terminals
in Switzerland and abroad are financed from other sources. The framework
credit will be discontinued when the kilometre-based HGV tax can
be levied at its maximum level and the Lötschberg base tunnel
is completed. |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Freight
traffic controls: Controls on heavy goods vehicle traffic
(dimensions and weight, driving and rest periods, state of the vehicle,
etc.) are to be intensified as part of the Traffic Transfer Act.
To achieve this goal, a whole network of competence centres is to
be created along national roads. The first centre was opened in
Stans in March 2002. |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Monitoring
of supporting measures - MSM: The Federal Department of Environment,
Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) is tasked with controlling
the implementation of the Traffic Transfer Act and the efficiency
of the supporting measures on road and rail. The monitoring project
continually analyses and supplements the available databases under
the overall control of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT). The
coordination and processing of the data has been entrusted to the
Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE). Detailed monitoring
of road and rail transport - in particular as regards transalpine
freight transport - provides indications on the effectiveness of
the measures taken. Every month, the current trends are published
in the "Monatsinfo",
a briefing in German. Every two years a "report on the transfer
of traffic" is drawn up for the two chambers of Swiss parliament,
with the next one being published in autumn 2004. It will assess
the middle- and long-term trends with regard to the transfer
objective. In parallel, the effects of the transfer policy on
the environment are to be recorded by means of the environmental
monitoring of supporting measures programme (MFM-U). |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Railways
reform: The operation of railways is to be reformed in line
with EU directives. The first step came into force in 1999. The
objective is to strengthen railways by means of separating economic
and political responsibility, free network access, transparent financing
(including separating the infrastructure and operation of their
accounts and their organisation), a commissioning principle for
railway lines and the liberalisation of transport. |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Regulating
freight transport: Since the reopening of the St. Gotthard
road tunnel after the catastrophic fire on 24 October 2001, freight
transport has been regulated at both the St. Gotthard and San Bernardino
road tunnels. At first, lorries at the St. Gotthard were only admitted
into the tunnel one side at a time (alternating one-way traffic).
Since autumn 2002 they have again been allowed to drive both ways
at once (two-way traffic). The number of vehicles, however, is limited.
Per hour and direction, no more than 1000 units are allowed to travel
through the tunnel. Lorries count as three units and private cars
as one unit, with private cars having priority. Per minute and direction,
a maximum of two lorries are to drive through the tunnel. The San
Bernardino still has a one-way system. The regulating measures are
probably at least stabilising freight transport on the St. Gotthard
and San Bernardino routes, while at the same time probably leading
to increased traffic on the Simplon and Gr. St. Bernhard routes. |
|
|
|
>
top |
|
|
| • |
Alpine
Crossing Exchange: It is obvious that the adopted measures
are not enough to achieve a transfer from road to rail within the
mandatory deadline. Moreover, the current system of regulation necessarily
leads to undesirable tailbacks of lorries, which then have to be
parked somewhere. This problem is to be solved with a reservation
system. The reservation system can be seen as a preliminary step
towards an Alpine transit stock market. This tool, which was proposed
by the Alpine Initiative, is intended to reduce road freight transport
to a level which is acceptable for humans and nature. Politicians
only have to define the desired amount of traffic for the individual
mountain passes. The rest should be taken care of by the market.
The permitted trips are to be sold to the highest bidders on an
internet-based stock market on a daily basis. Only those who can
provide a transit permit are allowed to use the corresponding Alpine
routes with their lorries. The price for a permit will not grow
infinitely, but will settle at a level which is close to that of
rail transport. As soon as the price gets higher it is cheaper to
use rail. The Alpine transit stock market can be used as fine control
instrument in addition to the kilometre tax for heavy goods vehicles,
a toll or a tunnel charge, and it can be implemented in all the
countries affected. Because bidding is carried out via the Internet,
everybody can take part and there is no discrimination. In 2003,
the Swiss government has commissioned a study on the reservation
system and the Alpine transit stock market. |
|
|
|
>
top |
 |
| Popular initiatives in Switzerland
- the example of the Alpine initiative |
| Swiss democracy enables the Swiss people to
have an important say in political discussions. They have the ability
to either ask for a "referendum" and thus vote on state
treaties or laws adopted by parliament, or start a "popular
initiative" and thus demand changes to the Swiss constitution.
Popular initiatives have to be accepted by both a majority of
the Swiss population and the Swiss cantons. Since the introduction
of popular initiatives in 1891 only twelve of about two hundred
initiatives were successful in overcoming both obstacles. The
Alpine Initiative (with its official title "Federal Swiss
Initiative for the Protection of the Alps from Transit Traffic")
made it a baker's dozen.
Since February 20, 1994 the text that has been approved in the
referendum has become part of the Swiss constitution as article
84. It demands the protection of the Alps from the negative effects
of transit traffic. This is to be done by two measures - firstly
by transferring transalpine freight traffic from road to rail,
and secondly by stopping the increase in the capacity of transalpine
transit roads.
Popular initiatives always demand a change to the Swiss constitution.
A popular initiative will only take effect if its initiators succeed
in collecting 100,000 valid signatures within 18 months. The collection
of signatures for the Alpine Initiative was started in May 1989
and a year later, in May 1990, 107,500 valid signatures were handed
over. In February 1992 the Swiss government published a communication
on the initiative and recommended it be rejected. In December
1992 and June 1993, respectively, the two chambers of Swiss parliament
rejected the Alpine Initiative with a clear majority. In the referendum
52% of the Swiss population and 19 of its 26 cantons approved
the Alpine Initiative.
The Swiss government (Federal Council) and the majority of the
Swiss parliament (National Council and Council of States) usually
see popular initiatives as a vote of no confidence and therefore
fight them fiercely. Popular initiatives enable those parts of
the population that do not have a majority in the authorities
to voice their interests and disrupt the circle of the powerful.
The Alpine Initiative was started by an ad-hoc committee of 42
people from the mountain cantons of Graubünden, Uri, Ticino
and Valais.
Their campaign was supported by all the environmental organisations,
the Swiss Union of Railworkers (SEV) as well as the Social Democratic
Party (SP), the Green Party (GP), the Alliance of Independents
(LdU) and the youth parties of the Christian Democrats and the
Radical Free Democratic Party (FDP).
|
|
| >
top |
|
