The traffic connections of the EEC member states north of the Alps with Italy are made via a dozen Alpine passes, ten of which are in Switzerland and Austria. In 1985, approxi- mately 27.5 million tons of goods were trans- ported by road and rail between Germany and Italy on the transit routes of the two non- EEC countries. With the 7% per annum growth rate of the last decade this means that the capacity of the transit routes would have to be doubled in the next few years. In Switzerland three rail routes (Lotschberg, Gotthard and Splugen) are being investigated with a view to installing a major new tunnel. In Austria the medium-term measures include the widening of the Brenner motorway by ad- ding a third lane and the development of the Brenner railway line to double rolling stock capacity. This required widening the tunnels for the two types of transport and building a new 12 km long bypass tunnel for Innsbruck station. In the long term the transit problem will only be solved by a Brenner-type tunnel. The basic research for this major tunnel of more than 50 km has been put in hand by the trilateral committee of Germany, Italy and Austria. The volume of investment in the new Alpine crossings far exceeds that of the Channel Tunnel. Various funding concepts have been developed in Switzerland and Austria, which are to be arranged without direct financial assistance from the EEC. The main focus of the paper is an assessment of the various forms of loan financing. There is a discussion of the budget situation of the Federation, the Federal road system and the Federal rail system.
Abstract