It also proposes a gradual and targeted price hike for public rail transport to fund the maintenance and upgrading of the rail network.
“Nowadays the tickets do not even pay for 50 per cent of the costs of the train lines,” Transport Minister Doris Leuthard told a news conference on Thursday.
The proposals, including the creation of a special rail infrastructure fund and a system of mobility pricing, will now be submitted to parties and organisations for consultation before the government drafts a bill for parliament in 2012.
However, the cabinet is no longer pursuing road pricing plans.
Leuthard said more expensive motorway fees could result in additional revenue of SFr300 million ($312 million), also from drivers only transiting Switzerland.
The proposals have prompted mixed reactions. The rightwing People’s Party described the plans as a scandal, while the centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens insisted on their own proposals for the financing of transport infrastructure.
The centre-right Radical Party heavily criticised the plan, arguing that commuters would be particularly hit. It called on the government to look at efficiency and priorities before calling for more money.
Only the centre-right Christian Democratic Party, to which Leuthard belongs, welcomed the proposals that will be considered by parliament in 2012 at the earliest.
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