Rösti calls on travelers to travel by train due to A13 closure
Published: Tuesday, Jun 25th 2024, 16:20
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Additional rail connections should help prevent traffic chaos during the vacation period following the closure of the A13. The federal government expects the San Bernardino route to be open again in July. Meanwhile, the search for two missing persons continues in Misox.
A solution must be found quickly so that the phase with lower capacities in the north-south can be managed as well as possible, said Federal Councillor Albert Rösti in Bern on Tuesday.
Together with Jürg Röthlisberger, Head of the Federal Roads Office (Astra), the Minister of Transport informed the media about the next steps at a media conference.
SBB had promised to offer additional north-south connections at the weekend, he announced. There will also be more capacity for freight traffic.
Backfilling planned
Rösti called on holidaymakers to switch to the train. Everyone could do their bit by doing so. At the same time, he announced that the originally planned night closures of the Gotthard road tunnel would be discontinued with immediate effect.
Rösti explained that it is assumed that one lane in each direction can be built by July by filling in the road. Thanks to the construction work on the Gotthard tunnel, sufficient material is available. However, Rösti qualified that he could not commit to a fixed timetable. Because new thunderstorms are possible.
Night driving ban remains
The head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) rejected calls for the ban on trucks driving at night and on Sundays to be lifted.
According to Rösti, Astra is only examining a selective exception: this would allow drivers to drive from the truck waiting area in the north of the Gotthard road tunnel to the one on the south side and vice versa during the night.
Doubts about the transfer effect
Meanwhile, Peter Füglistaler, Director of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), commented on the situation following last week's storms on SRF Radio's "Tagesgespräch" program.
Füglistaler, who steps down at the end of July after 14 years in office, expressed doubts that there will be a strong transfer effect to the train.
He said that previous closures had already shown that freight traffic was very flexible. This is different for tourists who come in the summer. He does not expect the latter to make any major changes. It is much more likely that travelers will simply set off by car two hours earlier than usual and ultimately arrive in the south two hours later than usual.
Commemoration of victims
During a heavy thunderstorm on Friday evening, the Moesa river washed out the A13 national road near Lostallo GR and tore away 200 meters of the carriageway.
During the same storm, a mudslide destroyed three houses in the village of Sorte GR. One man lost his life and two other people were still missing on Tuesday. According to the local authorities, 15 residents of the village, which belongs to the municipality of Lostallo, were still evacuated.
During his appearance in Bern, Rösti expressed his heartfelt condolences to the man's relatives and remembered the missing: "Unfortunately, fate is unfathomable."
Rescuers do not give up
Meanwhile, the search for the missing persons continued in Sorte. Between 15 and 25 people were still involved, a spokesperson for the regional command staff told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The search is expected to continue until Friday, although the chances of finding the two missing people alive are dwindling, the spokesperson said. The rescuers are concentrating on the masses of rubble in the village and along the Moesa.
Damage greater than expected
The storms continue to cause traffic restrictions in Valais. According to the Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway, the damage to the Visp-Täsch line was greater than initially assumed. This became apparent after the level of the Vispa river dropped.
The railroad company expects the repair work to take several weeks. During this time, replacement buses will run between Visp and Täsch, and a shuttle train will run between Täsch and Zermatt.
©Keystone/SDA
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