Suiza quiere digitalizar el transporte ferroviario de mercancías con los países vecinos
Published: Tuesday, Apr 30th 2024, 10:01
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Freight wagons and locomotives in European rail transport are to be equipped with a digital, automatic coupling in future. Switzerland signed a corresponding position paper with Germany and Austria on Tuesday.
The conversion to digital automatic coupling (DAK) is to take place across Europe by around 2033, said Transport Minister Albert Rösti at the beginning of the year. "We want to lead the way together with Austria and Germany."
A transnational position paper on the modernization of rail freight transport has now been drawn up by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) together with its partner ministries in Germany and Austria. In this paper, the three countries commit to introducing the DAK as quickly as possible and to co-financing it.
They are calling on the EU Commission to also take a leading role, in particular by adopting a concept for EU-wide co-financing of the DAK, as stated in a press release. The other EU states should also prepare financing solutions.
Costs in the billions
Switzerland, Germany and Austria are also calling on the industry to develop the necessary technical and operational foundations for the rapid and cost-effective introduction of the DAC. On 22 May, Rösti and the German Transport Minister Volker Wissing will organize another event on the DAC at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig to discuss the importance of introducing the DAC as soon as possible together with other EU countries.
In Switzerland, around 15,000 wagons and 520 locomotives are to be equipped with DAC. The Federal Council intends to support the retrofitting with a one-off investment contribution of 180 million Swiss francs. The EU Commission estimates the retrofitting costs across Europe at around 13 billion euros.
Digital Automatic Coupling is intended to make European rail freight transport cheaper and more efficient. Because it makes the time-consuming and sometimes dangerous manual coupling of freight wagons superfluous, trains can be put together more quickly.
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