Since the 1960s, RAlpin, a company that operates the truck-to-train service, saw up to 80,000 lorries per year switch from road to rail on certain sections of the Swiss Alps — despite rising costs for the use of the train infrastructure, energy, and other related expenses.
However, trucks will no longer be able to cross the Alps by rail due to "major economic challenges," RAlpin explained in a press release this week.
Even though it receives funding from the federal government, and the customer demand for this service is consistently high, “an unexpectedly large number of restrictions on the rail network” has prompted RAlpin’s decision to cease the service at the end of 2025, instead of the end of 2028, as previously planned.
Unreliable rail network
“Around 10 percent of trains had to be cancelled throughout 2024, due to planned construction sites and construction works set up at short notice, as well as other unforeseeable events,” RAlpin explained.
Concretely, around 20 percent fewer trains ran in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the previous year; "instead of 1018 trains in the first quarter of 2024, only 794 trains ran in the same period this year,” the company said.
“RAlpin has now concluded that the Rolling Highway can no longer be operated profitably under the changed conditions, especially as the situation is unlikely to return to normal in the near future,” it added.
The company is pointing an accusing finger at Germany, saying that “the increasing number of train cancellations on the Rolling Highway is due to "the persistently high susceptibility to disruption of the rail infrastructure in Germany."
What will happen next?
From 2026, significantly more trucks are expected to be on Swiss roads.
This will not only generate heavier traffic, but will also result in more pollution in the mountain communities, though the extent of this damage can’t be quantified at this time.
According to the Transport Workers' Union, "the premature discontinuation of the Rolling Motorway means a massive shift of freight transport back to the road – a significant step backwards for climate policy.”
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