Rhine Alpine Talk #14

The 14^th edition of the Rhine Alpine Talks takes place on Friday June 23^rd starting at 11:00 (GMT+2).

The talk entails a presentation of key results of a 3-year Horizon 2020 project, PLANET, which addresses the challenges of assessing the impact of emerging global trade corridors on the TEN-T network and ensuring effective integration to the Global Network (https://www.planetproject.eu). EU has been playing a leading role in further advancing global transport flows and logistics and in understanding the impact of the TENT-T network of global transport and geo-economic trends. To this end, PLANET established several future scenarios for assessing the expected impact of emerging trade routes on the TEN-T Corridors using three Living Labs.

Registration

To receive your individual Zoom link, please register under

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc–vrjstHdcjbj6yJX52OUX_T70eniLI

German Federal Road Toll Act amended

Source: Picture by Andreas160578 on Pixabay

The Federal Road Toll Act (“Bundesstraßen-Mautgesetz” or “BStMG”) has been amended on the 14^th of June.

A CO2-Toll is to come into effect starting December 1^st 2023, and for vehicles above 3.5 tonnes starting July 1^st 2024.

One concrete consequence is that CO2-Emissions class is to become part of the toll’s tariff criteria. In the future, the toll-rate per kilometer driven is to be affected by the amount of CO2 excreted by the vehicle. This implementation is derived from an EU-wide legislation.

All vehicles are initially categorized in emission-classification 1, which along emission classification 0, is the most expensive toll rate. Starting July 2023, it is possible to apply for a change of the emissions class using an online platform. A tool called “Emissionsklassen-Finder”(Emissions class finder) enables customers to check the emissions class of vehicles.

The CO2 emissions class is now determined by the technically permissible maximum laden mass, instead of the maximum permitted total weight. As a consequence, some vehicles that weigh factually under 7.5 tons, may still be priced as if above that threshold.

Furthermore, particle reduction classes are no longer to be taken into consideration for the emissions class starting in December, thus some vehicles may be associated with higher expenses due to the lowering of their emissions classification and thus higher toll rates.

CNG and LNG trucks are also subject to tolls starting January 1st 2024. Emissions-free vehicles with electrical powerplants, hydrogen driven powerplants and hydrogen cell driven powerplants, are to remain toll free up until the end of 2025.Vehicles above 4.25 tons technically permissible laden mass in this category are to remain toll free indefinitely.

Starting January 1^st 2026, the aforementioned emissions-free vehicles are to be subject to 25% of the toll rate for infrastructure costs, in addition to the toll rates for noise pollution and air pollution.

Sources (in German):

https://www.tollcollect.de/de/toll_collect/rund_um_die_maut/meldungen/detailsseite_news_31936.html

https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/schadstoffklasse-lkw/#:~:text=Wollen%20Sie%20wissen%2C%20welche%20Schadstoffklasse,Hier%20finden%20Sie%20eine%20Schl%C3%BCsselnummer.

EU moving forward towards digitalisation of road transport infrastructure

Source: Picture by Geralt on Pixabay

A provisional agreement has been reached regarding digitalisation of road transport infrastructure, and is yet to be formally ratified by the European Parliament and the Council.

The aim of the legislation is to enable better communication between vehicles, infrastructure and major roads. Connecting and networking these systems to communicate with one another, is believed to lead to higher efficiency and better road capacity utilisation. Transport hub access and information on speed limits and roadworks is to be shared digitally.

An improvement of road utilisation efficiency is expected for instance by alerting drivers to bottlenecks, regulating traffic lights, or contacting emergency services when accidents occur, communication of access conditions for tunnels and bridges. All this information is to be made available to all the EU members.

Source:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/06/08/council-and-parliament-strike-a-deal-on-the-roll-out-of-intelligent-transport-systems/