Dispute over transit

Bavaria wants movement from Tyrol on night driving ban

The Lueg Bridge will become a bottleneck from January 2025 with the single lane.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Following various business umbrella and haulage associations, the Bavarian state government is also urging Tyrol to soften the ban on trucks driving over the Brenner Pass at night - and is apparently linking this to the jointly agreed truck "slot system". 

The plans for this could only succeed if "Tyrol finally moves on the night driving ban", explained Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) in a joint press release with the South Tyrolean State Councillor for Mobility Daniel Alfreider (SVP). "In the interests of continued good cooperation, I call on Tyrol to finally return to the negotiating table," Bernreiter made clear after a meeting between the two politicians.

Alfreider remained more reserved in public when it came to the night driving ban. In general, he called for joint action by the three countries. Especially when the nation states were hardly moving, "regional solidarity" was all the more important.

Information policy on Luegbrücke bridge criticized
Both Bernreiter and Alfreider were apparently also annoyed by Tyrol's "information policy" with regard to important renovation measures and their effects. This primarily concerned the planned renovation of the Luegbrücke bridge on the Tyrolean Brenner freeway (A13), which is due to start in 2025. "Unfortunately, we only ever find out what is being planned and what impact it will have from the newspapers and third parties," criticized Bernreiter.

The truck "slot system" with bookable truck journeys was politically agreed by Bavaria, South Tyrol and Tyrol in Kufstein in spring 2023. Most recently, it was also reported that the preparatory work regarding the functionality was almost complete. However, implementation requires a state treaty between Italy, Germany and Austria, which is not in sight due to the negative or very critical attitude of the first two. The situation is further complicated by Italy's pending appeal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the Tyrolean anti-transit measures.