The Swiss Federal Council has decided to maintain the financing of the rolling motorway rail service, which would be finished at the end of this year, extending them to the end of 2026 as a contribution to the transfer of freight traffic transalpine from road to rail. The initial proposal of encourage the Rola service for the last time until the end of 2028 through an annual contribution of around CHF 20 million Swiss has been re-evaluated by the Swiss government which, on the basis of to financial policy considerations, decided to extend the grants only until the end of 2026. The government resolution is has been forwarded to Parliament for the necessary amendment of the law on the transfer of freight traffic.

The renewal of the funding programme has been accepted with satisfaction from RAlpin, the company that manages the motorway travelling through the Swiss Alps, emphasizing whereas the decision confirms the importance of RoLa for the transfer from road to rail of about 80,000 vehicles heavy per year and for climate protection. The company has however, it was pointed out that continued support for the service until 2028, with a financial need of around 100 million francs, and the related cessation of activity at the end of the 2028, would have allowed to get the best ratio cost-benefits with the least extraordinary depreciation, allowing so as to avoid new investments. According to RAlpin, which is owned by the Swiss are BLS, Hupac and SBB, the continuation of funding until 2028 would also leave sufficient time for provision to find appropriate accompanying measures to the transfer of these volumes from the rolling highway to the unaccompanied combined transport, while with cessation of the activity already in 2026 there would be a risk concrete of a partial return to the roads of the trucks currently transported in an environmentally friendly way by the rolling motorway since the planned transfer of heavy goods vehicles to non-combined transport accompanied can not be made in a period of such a short time. In addition, RAlpin believes that the financing of CHF 64 million expected until 2026 will not be probably sufficient due to higher depreciation costs extraordinary. Given that the final decision on the duration of the continuation of the rolling highway is the responsibility of Parliament, the company hopes that it can still be insured the continuation of the activity until 2028.