Trucks given green light for Gotthard

Heavy goods traffic has been badly hit by the Gotthard restrictions Keystone

The Swiss transport minister, Moritz Leuenberger, has tentatively given the go-ahead for trucks to resume normal service through the Gotthard tunnel.

However, before two-way traffic flow can begin, the tunnel will have to be fully stabilised, cleaned and a new ventilation system installed. Eleven people died in a fire in the tunnel in October 2001, which caused major structural damage.

Leuenberger said this work would not be completed before September, meaning trucks will have to continue using the one-way traffic flow system – introduced after the tragedy – throughout the busy summer months. The tunnel was reopened in both directions to cars last December.

Initially, the two-way flow will be limited by a “drip-feed” system, whereby vehicles will enter the tunnel at regular controlled intervals, explained Leuenberger.

In principle, one heavy goods vehicle will be allowed to enter the Gotthard every 30 seconds. This would allow 3,000 lorries to pass through the Gotthard tunnel – Europe’s main north-south axis throught the Alps, each day. Some 4,500 trucks used the tunnel daily before the last October’s devastating fire.

Leuenberger announced his decision following a round-table discussion on the issue in Bern on Tuesday.

Trucker demonstration

Haulier companies and Swiss motorist associations have been calling for such a move for several months and shortly after the announcement Switzerland’s Road Transport Association (ASTAG) said they were happy with the outcome.

“We are very pleased that the sitation we had with the one-way regulation has been dropped because in practice it didn’t work at all.” Beat Keiser, ASTAG’s spokesman told swissinfo. “We hope that lorries can go in both directions even sooner than September.”

But ASTAG were quick to point out the limitatins of the “drip-feed” system saying it would lead to an overall reduction in heavy-goods traffic.

Haulier pressure

Leuenberger’s announcement follows last Friday’s lorry driver protests in the capital, when more than 200 truckers demonstrated in front of the parliament building calling for the re-introduction of a two-way traffic flow in the Gotthard tunnel.

They warned that Switzerland would face summer chaos on the roads if the one-way policy remained in place.

The one-way system for trucks has been in force for just under eight months and was introduced when the Gotthard tunnel reopened following the fire. It has led to major tailbacks at both ends of the tunnel.

One-way traffic

Kandid Hofstetter, the director ASTAG, says that hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by the Gotthard situation

He estimates that 7,500 businesses have been hit by the increased amount of time it takes to transport goods through the tunnel.

swissinfo with agencies