More passengers are traveling by train thanks to the Gotthard Base Tunnel
Published: Tuesday, Jan 16th 2024, 11:31
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Thanks to the Gotthard and Ceneri base tunnels, more passengers are traveling by train on the north-south axis. The urban centers in Ticino have been strengthened.
The Federal Office for Spatial Development published its new report on the effects of the Gotthard railroad expansion on Tuesday. The monitoring covers the years 2016 to 2022.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel was opened in 2016 and the Ceneri Base Tunnel in 2021. The four-metre freight corridor and the Altdorf cantonal railway station were also completed during the monitoring period. The results were influenced by the Covid pandemic.
From 2016 to 2019, the number of rail passengers on the Gotthard axis increased by 28%, according to the Federal Office for Spatial Development. At the same time, the number of road passengers fell by 2 percent.
Sharp increase after the pandemic
After the pandemic, rail travel increased sharply again in 2022, namely by 48% compared to 2016. This corresponds to an additional 4000 travelers per day. There were also more road travelers in 2022 compared to 2016, with an increase of 8% or 2,000 people per day. This development had a positive impact on the number of overnight stays in Ticino.
According to the Federal Office for Spatial Development, there has been a "noticeable shift from road to rail" in freight traffic. For the first time, in addition to transit traffic, there has also been significant growth in regional rail freight traffic between Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland. Since 2016, the volume of containers handled in Ticino terminals has increased by around 38%.
Another finding of the report is that the urban centers in Ticino have been strengthened by the new railroad infrastructure, especially the Bellinzona agglomeration. However, there were also positive effects in Uri thanks to the new cantonal railway station.
©Keystone/SDA
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