European Railroad Discussion > Swiss Rolling Highway to End

RAlpin has announced that this will be
the final year for Rolling Highway services
between Freiburg in Germany and Novarra
in Italy via the Lötschberg and Simplon
Tunnels across Switzerland. The
announcement was made due to the
service becoming uneconomic even
with the subsidies offered by the Swiss
Government. The service will end at the
December timetable change.

RAlpin Service Notice;
https://ralpin.com.pagesystem.ch/sites/default/files/2025-05/2025_05_05_RAlpin_MM_EN_Final.pdf

Thanks for posting this. Sad news. It's unfortunate that the rail route infrastructure issues are such that they dent into what was probably a narrow range of pretty high utilization to enable break-even or profitability. Utilization and demand was already fairly high, per the news release. But evidently even higher utilization  was needed, and network reliability cut into that margin. Very unfortunate.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/25 20:28 by ironmtn.

What a problem to have: not enough railroad - 80% utilization. For reliable service, that is slightly over full. Meanwhile, the US utilization is 11th in the world, behind Czech Republic (measured in train miles per mile of track adjusted for US train length).

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a problem to have: not enough railroad - 80%
> utilization. For reliable service, that is
> slightly over full. Meanwhile, the US utilization
> is 11th in the world, behind Czech Republic
> (measured in train miles per mile of track
> adjusted for US train length).

Tom, I think the 80% utilization figure refers to
the load factor. Track capacity is frequently at
50% over the segment from Mulheim to Haltingen
with only one track open for bi-directional use.
The ETCS signal system has teething problems,
and the only four track segment is through the
Katzenburg Tunnel. Unfortunately that dumps
into the two track segment and trains entering
Weil am Rhein yard and Intermodal terminal.
The project to extend four tracks from Rastatt
to Weil am Rhein is behind schedule with 
completion now scheduled for 4Q of 2030,
maybe.

SOO6617 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Tom, I think the 80% utilization figure refers to
> the load factor. Track capacity is frequently at
> 50% over the segment from Mulheim to Haltingen
> with only one track open for bi-directional use.
> The ETCS signal system has teething problems,
> and the only four track segment is through the
> Katzenburg Tunnel. Unfortunately that dumps
> into the two track segment and trains entering
> Weil am Rhein yard and Intermodal terminal.
> The project to extend four tracks from Rastatt
> to Weil am Rhein is behind schedule with 
> completion now scheduled for 4Q of 2030,
> maybe.

Thanks. Yeah, ETCS, like US PTC is more complicated than anyone imagined when they imagined it. Sounds simple until you try to make it happen. The problem is Europe is exacerbated by needing to be compatible with the practices and operating rules of every EU country.

I have read several sources (and talked to one) indicating that open access as practiced in Germany was wildly more successful than they imagined. Hopefully, the construction problems don't drive away too much business and make recovery difficult.

TAW

TAW