Trucks up to 25.25 metres in length and weighing up to 60 tonnes are permitted in domestic traffic in Sweden. This deviates from the EU standard, according to which trucks are not to be longer than 18.75 metres or weigh more than 40 tonnes. The Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications has commissioned VTI to study what economic consequences this deviation has had for Sweden and to describe the competition interface between road and rail transport. The effects on transport costs for business, exhaust and noise emissions, road wear, time delay for motorists and road safety have been estimated. A very large proportion of freight transport by road takes place by vehicles that exceed the EU standard. Reducing vehicle size would lead to large economic losses. Transport costs would increase in particular, but significant cost increases would also occur in the areas of road safety, exhaust emissions and noise emissions. It is noted in the study that it is difficult, at least in the short term, to bring about transfers between road and rail. This is due, in part, to high rate of utilisation of the railway capacity. (Author/publisher)
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