“The agreed risk control measures do not justify the introduction of additional national requirements outside the common [JNS] framework”, says the International Union of Wagon Keepers, UIP, in response to the FOT’s decision.

Both the new JNS safety rules and Switzerland’s own rules are a response to the Gotthard Base Tunnel derailment of 2023. A broken wheel caused the accident that led to considerable infrastructural damage and severe disruptions for rail freight for a whole year. An investigation found that new composite break blocks presented a systematic risk of wagon wheel breakage.

The court says “no”

Previously in December, a Swiss court had annulled the unilateral FOT measures relating to rail freight wagon wheel safety. That decision followed a lawsuit that was filed by wagon owners Ermewa, GATX and VTG. The FOT was given an extended deadline to appeal the decision by 24 January, but the Swiss approval of the common European rules made an appeal seem unlikely. However, the Alpine country went ahead with an appeal on 23 January regardless. The FOT will await a new court ruling, expected at the earliest by June 2026, says UIP.

“This sequence of events highlights the difficulty of maintaining consistency when collective efforts are later overridden by unilateral national measures which creates legal and operational uncertainty across the rail system”, comments UIP.

When Switzerland first introduced its rules in September 2025, some stakeholders expressed fear that the extra costs associated with the rule would hinder rail freight’s competitiveness and lead to a reverse modal shift from rail to road.

Safety is paramount, but so is regulatory unity

However, UIP now tells RailFreight.com that this is not the core objection to the Swiss course of action. “The issue is not about whether the Swiss measures are stricter or would lead to higher maintenance costs. Safety in rail freight is non-negotiable and remains the overriding priority for all actors involved.”

Rather, it is the effective introduction of a second set of requirements alongside the existing European framework that “risks fragmenting the coordinated approach that underpins the Single European Railway Area.” With Switzerland being a key transit country, especially on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, its unilateral rules could harm key European rail freight flows by introducing additional regulatory complexity.

Lower figures in most categories

When it comes to freight trains crossing borders along the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, there was a drop of 9,277 units, from 161,023 to 151,746. The only positive figures for 2024 in this case came from the Netherlands-Belgium borders, where 1,757 trains ran through compared to the 1,510 of 2023 (+16.4%). The closures of key lines and a general economic downturn were addressed as the main causes for this decline.

Similarly, the three main ports along this corridor – Genoa, Rotterdam and Antwerp – also recorded lower rail modal shares in 2024. In Rotterdam the rail modal share decreased from 11.4% to 10.3%, in Antwerp it went from 7.6% to 7.3% and in Genoa it fell from 16 to 15.6%. In all cases volumes were lost to the road, which slightly grew in all three ports. Even transalpine traffic through Switzerland, usually the showpiece of Rhine-Alpine rail freight, lost a few percentage points, from 72% to 70.3%.

ERTMS fragmentation

Another issue highlighted by the 2024 report compiled by the Rhine-Alpine Rail Freight Corridor is the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Some of the countries crossed by the corridor, such as Switzerland, Belgium and Italy are on the right track, with the new system installed on all or most of their network in line with the goals set by the Trans-European Transport Network. On the other hand, Germany and the Netherlands are still quite lagging behind. Berlin has delayed the ERTMS implementation plan to 2035, while Amsterdam has still not provided a clear timeline.

“Customers can expect continued support and high-quality intermodal solutions that leverage Hupac’s extensive expertise and Lineas’ proven reliability as a Railway Undertaking,” stated the two companies. On behalf of Lineas, Executive Chairman Bernard Gustin underlined the excitement surrounding this project and the belief that it will succeed, just like the Antwerp-Catalonia initiative.

Michail Stahlhut, CEO of Hupac Intermodal, added: “We appreciate the possibility of running our Belgium-Italy connection via Germany and France and serving terminals in the east and west of Milan. This would increase the resilience and performance of intermodal transport.”

Moreover, it seems that convoys will initially have to run on a single-track, with no clear deadline for when the whole infrastructure will be ready. The main issues causing these delays are of geological nature. Most of the line will be in tunnels, the digging of which has often been disrupted by high pressure of the ground above or the presence of gas. So far, only the northernmost section of the Terzo Valico, linking Tortona with Rivalta Scrivia, has been commissioned.

What about the Tortona-Milan section?

The following section of the corridor, between Tortona and Milan, also needs to be quadrupled to fully exploit the benefit of the Terzo Valico. The timeframe for this project, which was divided into two sections, remains somewhat vague. RFI confirmed that the Milan-Pieve Emanuele section will be completed by 2026, but for the Pieve Emanuele-Pavia section the project is still seeking authorisations and funds. “Without the quadrupling of the Tortona-Milan railway line, the benefits of the Third Valico risk remaining incomplete”, said Italian senator Lorenzo Basso.

The newly founded company has also trained drivers from both Switzerland and France. “While one part of the team will operate national routes in future, the other part will be able to operate both national and international routes”, they specified. SBB Cargo France will be headquartered in Huningue, not too far from the French border with Switzerland.

The Metz-Strasbourg-Basel line is not the only railway along the left bank of the Rhine. The Wörth-Lauterbourg-Strasbourg railway, for example, proved to be key in August while the main line through Germany was being upgraded. This line, however, is not electrified, and Switzerland is now pushing Germany and France to carry this project out, with the former showing some resistance.

To support her argument, she said the infrastructure on the Strasbourg-Lauterbourg line was in a particularly poor state of repair – the rails being over 80 years old and suffering from a chronic lack of maintenance. This was precisely the reason why any increase in traffic on the line had previously been ruled out. However, at the end of last month, Kannengieser’s arguments were rejected by the court, leaving the path clear for the extra freight trains to operate.

The rerouting via France

The plan to temporarily increase freight traffic follows an agreement between SNCF Réseau and its German counterpart, DB InfraGo, which is currently carrying out work to upgrade the section between Rastatt and Baden-Baden. This entails an interruption in rail traffic on the German network; 50 per cent of freight trains will be cancelled while 25 per cent will take a route via Stuttgart and another 25 per cent the Woerth/Lauterbourg/Strasbourg/Kehl/Offenburg route. SNCF has given assurances that local passenger services will not be affected and underlined that there are no plans for the Strasbourg-Lauterbourg line to become an international rail freight route beyond the period covered by the temporary measures.

‘If there’s room for freight, there should be room for passengers’

Interviewed by the France 3 TV channel, François Giordani, President of an association representing public transport users in the Strasbourg area, said that for the past two years, he and his members have been told that more passenger trains cannot be put on the line despite the strong demand. “Now we’ve been informed that there are going to be more freight trains on the same line, which risks damaging the track and making it even worse,” he said.

Giordani added: “If things go well for the freight trains, there will be no excuse not to add passenger trains.”This was echoed by Kannengieser, who said in a Facebook post: “If the rails can handle 40 additional freight trains daily, couldn’t they accommodate three or four additional passenger trains at times when they are very much needed to link La Wantzenau to its surrounding area?”

With the closure of these two lines going to Domodossola, Italy is running the risk of remaining temporarily isolated from the rest of the continent in terms of rail connectivity. The main border crossing with France, via the Frejus Railway, has been closed since August 2023 and will be until early 2025. Moreover, the other main connection between Italy and Switzerland, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, has also been (partially) closed since August 2023 and should reopen at the beginning of September.

Closures all along the Rhine-Alpine Corridor

When it comes to the Rhine-Alpine section in Germany, the Rhine Valley line between Rastatt and Baden-Baden will also be closed between 9 and 30 August, just like the Novara-Domodossola line in Italy. Some industry players from France, Germany and Switzerland, led by Hupac, will establish a new route via the Offenburg-Wörth section to keep trains running. However, it is not yet clear if similar initiatives will be undertaken to find alternatives to the Novara-Domodossola line in Italy.

In the meantime, and for the Arona-Stressa line closure (9 June-8 September), trains carrying P400 trailers will be able to access the Simplon route via the Novara-Borgomanero-Premosello-Domo2, which operates on a single track and does not provide much flexibility to operators.

Most closures concern upgrading tunnels to fit the P400 profile. In this sense, they are essential for the whole Transalpine corridor in terms of increasing rail capacity. However, as Italian media mentions, these closures also constitute a “black period” for rail logistics, considering that they add more pressure on companies.

Also read:

• How much will the disruptions in the Alps cost for rail freight operators?

• Rail freight across the Alps dropped, but not because of the Gotthard

In addition, Hupac mentioned the “poor quality of the rail network, particularly in Germany” as another main factor for the general decline in 2023. These conditions have led to various capacity bottlenecks, delays and cancellations. Unfortunately, it seems that bottlenecks along the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, not only in Germany, will remain an issue for quite some time. All these issue significantly affected Hupac’s services, with punctuality along the north-south axis of Swizterland falling below 50 per cent and cancellations exceeding 10 per cent.

‘Even small measure would bring relief’

Hupac shared some suggestions that might, at least partially, solve these issues. First, they are asking for more storage sidings that would allow trains to leave terminals in case of disruptions or be parked along the corridor until they can continue their journeys. The Swiss company is also highlighting that an additional 15 million euros in funds are needed to boost combined transport between southern Germany and the French region of Alsace.

Moreover, the company underlined the problems caused by the lack of alternative routes to the Rhine Valley line. Hupac claimed, for example, that the upgrade of the Belgium-Metz-Strasbourg-Basel railway to accommodate 4-metre profile should be made a priority. In Germany, people have been vocal about building an alternative railway between Wiesbaden and Neuwied which would be solely dedicated to freight traffic.

A few positive aspects

A few positives can be drawn from Hupac’s review of 2023. Namely, the company started offering services along the left bank of the Rhine River through the Worth-Lauterbourg-Basel route. Nonetheless, such operations remain costly ones, as hybrid locomotives and bilingual drivers are necessary. Moreover, in 2023, Hupac won the tender to manage and operate the La Llagosta terminal, near Barcelona, which will be ready in 2025. For the near future, Hupac is also investing in three intermodal terminals in northern Italy.

Outlook for 2024

For the current year, Hupac does not expect big changes compared to 2023. The company’s network is also being developed, with the takeover of operations at the Köln Nord terminal, and planned frequency increases for the Zeebrugge-Piacenza and Rotterdam-Brescia services. “Another project in the pipeline is the connection of the port of Lübeck to the Hupac network via Ludwigshafen as a hub”, the company concluded.

Also read:

• Switzerland joins the club of countries increasing TACs
• Swiss and German ministries spearhead CargoBeamer’s terminal expansion
• Swiss Council asks for public funds to invest in private rail freight facilities