Gurgiser with criticism

“Rolling highway still in the Stone Age”

The Rolling Highway stands.

(Bild: Transitforum)

Fritz Gurgiser, Chairman of the Transit Forum Austria-Tyrol, calls for more equal opportunities for rail on the occasion of 35 years of the "emergency terminal" at Lake Brenner. He makes well-known demands and measures.

On November 30, the "emergency terminal" at Lake Brenner celebrated its 35th birthday. In these 35 years, billions of euros of taxpayers' money have been invested in the Innsbruck rail bypass, the Lower Inn Valley route and the Brenner Base Tunnel. The aim was to shift at least part of the highly polluting road freight traffic to the railroads.

Politicians have improved the transport, financial and social framework conditions for the roads at the speed of light. And the railways are moving at a snail's pace!

Fritz Gurgiser, Obmann des Transitforums Austria-Tirol

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

 "Unfortunately, the Rolling Road is still in the Stone Age," says Fritz Gurgiser, Chairman of the Transit Forum Austria-Tyrol, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper, alluding to the blatant competitive disadvantage of rail compared to road. "Politicians have improved the transport, financial and social conditions for road transport at the speed of light. And rail is moving at a snail's pace! The railroads are still where they were in 1989. Week after week, fully loaded freight trains in unaccompanied traffic stand at the stations from Kufstein to Brenner for hours and even days because they cannot cross the Brenner," continues Gurgiser.

Thousands of trucks are forced onto the more attractive road - to the suffering of local residents.

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

But not because the drivers have to adhere to driving and rest periods, or because they have been banned from continuing their journey due to major technical defects or because the power has failed. "No! Because the freight trains are not taken over by Italy and therefore have to wait for hours or even days to be taken over. That's what disgruntled and rightly angry logistics companies and freight forwarders tell us," Gurgiser continues.

And while everything is at a standstill on the railways, the heavy 40-ton trucks with "tax and duty-friendly license plates and tax and duty-friendly registered drivers" roll along the Inntal freeway at three to five second intervals. Gurgiser repeats the known measures:

• A polluter-pays truck toll on the entire Rosenheim-Verona corridor
• Bringing forward the new IG-L limit values for NO2 and particulate matter throughout the country
• Promotion of unaccompanied rail freight transport
• Minimum wage for transit professional drivers of 5000 euros gross per month
• Polluter-pays CO2 surcharge on tolls with earmarking for climate protection measures of 15 cents per truck kilometer