Rhine-Alpine News
14.05.2025
End of the rolling motorway: RAlpin to cease operations in 2025
Picture by RAlpin AG
RAlpin AG will discontinue Rolling Road (RoLa) operations on the route between Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) and Novara (Italy) in December 2025, marking the end of a key chapter in combined transport in Switzerland.
The operator explains that economic conditions have deteriorated so much recently that continued operation is no longer viable despite state support. The RoLa was introduced in the late 1960s to shift transalpine transit traffic from road to rail to reduce the burden on the environment and infrastructure.The RoLa had a capacity utilization of around 80%, but numerous train cancellations due to planned and last-minute construction sites led to considerable financial losses. In the first quarter of 2025, the number of trains operated fell by around 20% compared to the previous year. This development is symptomatic of the entire transalpine rail freight transport sector, which is suffering from a lack of infrastructure reliability.
The Swiss parliament had decided in 2023 to extend funding for the RoLa until 2028, but under current conditions it was no longer realistic to operate it economically until then. In consultation with the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), the programme will be discontinued at the end of 2025. The RoLa recently transported around 72,000 lorries through the Alps every year, which corresponds to around 7% of transalpine combined transport in Switzerland.
Source(in German):
German Federal Audit Office: BMDV risks cancellation of important waterway projects
Symbolic Picture by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash
A report by the German Federal Audit Office has concluded that the federal government has incorrectly prioritised its construction measures for waterways. Due to a lack of resources and a tendency to categorise too many projects as urgent, resources may be spread too thinly.
The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) has invested around €5 billion in its waterways over the past ten years, but the infrastructure has continued to deteriorate. The Bundesrechnungshof criticises BMDV’s prioritisation, stating that it cannot build everything it considers urgent with its current financial and human resources.
The report by the Bundesrechnungshof suggests that the BMDV must reprioritise and build the most important projects first, using traffic volume as a guide and specifying which construction measures should be prioritised.
Sources (in German):
CCNR publishes Market Insight 2025 Report
Market insight Inland Navigation Report 2025 by EU Commission and CCNR
The Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) and the European Commission have recently jointly produced a new report on European inland navigation.
In the first half of 2024, transport demand in the Rhine countries (Netherlands and Germany) fell below the previous year’s results, primarily due to a decrease in dry bulk transport. The decline was mainly due to the impact of coal, sand, stones, and building materials on dry bulk. Liquid bulk, driven by chemicals and mineral oil products, increased its transport volume by 5.4%, reaching 55.6 million tonnes. Container transport experienced a small decline of -1.3%, resulting in a transport demand of 14.6 million tonnes.
However, a recovery of Rhine transport can be observed, with waterside goods handling in main Upper Rhine ports following an upward trend in the first six months of 2024. In most Danube countries, transport demand grew by 21.5% and 33.9% respectively. Passenger transport traffic on the Rhine increased slightly, while capacity utilization of river cruise vessels on the Danube was higher than in 2023.
Freight rates for all cargo experienced a downward trend in the first half of 2024, particularly in dry bulk transport. The downward trend of fuel and oil prices is expected for the rest of 2024 and 2025. In Bulgaria, the second largest Danube country, agricultural products and iron ore represent almost half of all transport demand. In the first half of 2024, transport demand was upward in Bulgaria, with a high share of transit traffic (74% on average between 2014 and 2023) due to trading routes for agricultural products and iron ore on the Danube.
Access the press release and full report using the links below.
Sources:
Press Release by the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR)
The full report can be accessed on the Inland Navigation Market Website