Commission wants clearer freight transport rules after Gotthard accident
Published: Tuesday, Aug 27th 2024, 17:40
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Following the derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the relevant National Council committee believes that clearer rules are needed on liability in freight transport. The committee has adopted a corresponding motion to revise the risk liability of owners of freight wagons.
The majority of the National Council's Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) hopes that a revision of the liability regulations will create incentives for wagon owners to increase safety measures, as reported by the parliamentary services on Tuesday. The committee approved the motion by 13 votes to 8 with 4 abstentions.
Contractual liability regulations are largely standardized internationally, writes the Commission in its motion. The Federal Council should submit a proposal to the existing international bodies to amend international agreements in line with the motion and submit clarifying provisions to the Federal Assembly.
In particular, the distribution of risk and the regulation of legal remedies between railroad companies and wagon keepers as well as the legal consequences of incidents involving dangerous goods need to be clarified.
According to the National Council committee, SBB Cargo "as the actual carrier will most likely be liable for the accident in the Gotthard tunnel". Under current law, the wagon keeper is only liable in the event of an accident if the railroad company can prove that it was at fault. A defect in the wagon is not sufficient to prove fault.
On August 10, 2023, a freight train derailed while traveling from Chiasso TI to Basel in the Gotthard railroad tunnel. According to the interim report by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (Sust), a broken wheel disk was responsible for the accident.
SBB put the amount of material damage caused by the train derailment, including loss of earnings, at around 150 million francs at the beginning of August this year. In principle, whoever provides the train driver is liable, said SBB CEO Vincent Ducrot in November last year.
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