Capacity and Slot Management for Heavy Goods Vehicle Traffic Across the Swiss Alps

Capacity and Slot Management for Heavy Goods Vehicle Traffic across the Swiss Alps

Paper submitted for the 10th World Congress on ITS, Madrid

Matthias Rapp Rapp Trans AG Hochstrasse 100, CH 4018 Basel, SWITZERLAND Tel: +41 (61) 335 78 51 - Fax +41 (61) 335 77 00 e-mail: [email protected] www.rapp.ch

Christian Albrecht Head of Transport Policy Section, Federal Office for Spatial Development Bundeshaus Nord, Kochergasse 10, CH 3003 Bern, SWITZERLAND Tel: +41 (31) 322 55 57 - Fax +41 (31) 322 78 69 e-mail: [email protected] www.are.ch

Summary Responding to the growing goods traffic on transalpine roads the Swiss Government has introduced a traffic management system for heavy goods vehicles (HGV) following the fire catastrophe in the St. Gotthard tunnel in October, 2001. The safety-driven capacity management system comprises minimum distance requirements between heavy vehicles in tunnels, alternating one-way traffic for HGVs in the San Bernardino Tunnel and HGV-metering in the St. Gotthard tunnel as well as speed reduction for HGVs in tunnels and on access ramps. In order to further optimise the capacity management a slot reservation scheme for HGV passages is being developed. In addition, the long term perspective of an Alpine Transit Rights Trading Exchange is studied in a research project. The paper describes the experiences with the current operation of the Swiss transalpine capacity management and the development of a HGV slot reservation system and gives an outlook on the feasibility study of an Alpine Tran- sit Rights Trading Exchange.

2718_S~1.DOC 1 ARE / Rapp Trans AG Transalpine Capacity Management The Alps form a major barrier to transport between central and southern Europe. There are only a limited number of motorway or motorway-standard connections through it. In Switzerland there exist four connections:

Pass Tunnel Altitude Number of lanes Average daily HGV Length Tunnel Access traffic (oct/nov 02) Gd. St. Bernard 5 km 1900 m 2x1 2x1 350 Simplon --- 2100 m --- 2x1 270 St. Gotthard 16.9 km 1200 m 2x1 2x2 3’430 San Bernardino 6.6 km 1600 m 2x1 2x1 530

The Swiss heavy goods vehicle (HGV) capacity management system is part of the measures proposed by the Transport Ministers of the Alpine countries aiming at a more efficient use of the existing road infrastructure, at increased road user safety and at reduced traffic congestion on the bottlenecks that constitute the alpine passes. The components of the capacity management system are (Figure 1):  Minimum distance between heavy vehicles in tunnels (St. Gotthard / San Bernardino)  Speed reduction for HGVs in tunnels and on access ramps  Real-time metering of the HGV on the Gotthard entry ramps and through the Gotthard tunnel. The dispatch rate of HGV is limited to 1 to 2.5 HGVs per minute and depends on the flow rate of light vehicles. The total flow rate is limited to 1'000 passenger car units (pcu) in the merging area and in the tunnel (where 1 light vehicle = 1 pcu and 1 HGV = 3 pcu). In case of HGV overflow, HGVs are retained in holding areas.  Alternating one-way traffic for HGVs in the San Bernardino tunnel with a cycle time of 2 hours and a green phase of 15 minutes  Application of the “red phase” on days when the transportation demand exceeds the daily capacity of the Gotthard and San Bernardino tunnels. During this mode of operation, of predefined duration, HGVs entering Switzerland are not allowed to travel on the Gotthard and San Bernadino road sections  Vehicles with “S”-stickers can bypass the holding areas. HGVs, marked by an “S”-sticker attached to the outside of the vehicle, shall only contain goods which are intended for local transport from and to southern Switzerland. The „S“ traffic accounts for approximately 15% of the HGVs that use the Gotthard/San Bernardino routes in both directions each day. These measures are completed by additional measures for:  Route guidance  Section control  Traffic information including information on combined transport facilities  Additional measures for increasing traffic safety.

2718_S~1.DOC 2 ARE / Rapp Trans AG

France / Germany Basel / Bern Legend Germany Zurich HGV Holding area for transalpine HGV traffic S Pre-metering / Metering Site HGV Knutwil (LU) S Local traffic from and to Ticino („S“-Tag) Luzern HGV transalpine HGV traffic

S Motorway with lane separation 35 km HGV Axen (UR) bi-directional tunnel or highway S HGV Germany/Austria

Stans (NW) S Chur

25 km HGV Attinghausen (UR)

25km Thusis

Göschenen (UR) 2 km 31 km HGV S Gotthard Tunnel Nufenen (GR) 17 km bi-directional 4 km HGV Traffic San Bernardino Tunnel 6.6 km 0.5 km HGV Airolo (TI) alternating HGV 2 km S Traffic San Bernardino (GR) 17 km 27 km Stalvedro (TI) Soazza

HGV (GR) Bodio S S HGV Giornico (TI)

Bellinzona

Chiasso Rapp | Trans | Italy

Figure 1: Overview of existing HGV capacity management system on Gotthard and San Ber- nardino Routes in Switzerland

2718_S~1.DOC 3 ARE / Rapp Trans AG The system has been introduced in several steps:

 Alternating one-way traffic for HGVs in November, 2001 the San Bernardino tunnel  Alternating one-way traffic for HGVs in December, 2001 the St. Gotthard tunnel  Reintroduction of bidirectional HGV traf- September 2002 fic and HGV metering in the St. Gotthard tunnel

The first experiences with the Swiss transalpine capacity management system have been presented at the last ITS World congress.1

Slot Reservation System

Principle

The HGV slot reservation system is one of the elements for further optimising the Swiss transalpine capacity management. The functions can be summarised as follows:  The passage for a planned HGV journey through the St. Gotthard or the San Bernardino tunnel can be booked for a given time slot on an internet site.  Vehicles holding a valid reservation can pass the chosen route at the booked time without any delays. These vehicles are privileged with respect to vehicles without reservation.  The reservation is open to all HGVs to the extent of the available capacity. The booking is free of charge except for a deposit which is reimbursed upon use of the slot. Due to the Swiss night ban for heavy goods road traffic from 22.00 to 05.00h there are only 17 operating hours for every workday. The daily operating time is divided into 16 time slots of one hour each from 05.00 to 21.00h and one extra hour from 21.00 to 22.00 for handling vehicles that could not be dispatched during the regular slots (e.g. traffic incidents or overload of standby traffic). The number of available HGV passages on the Gotthard route varies between 60 and 150 vehicles per hour in each direction depending on the expected volume of light vehicles traffic and depending on the expected volume of local HGV traffic (see below).

User Requirements The reservation system is not compulsory for the user. Vehicles without reservations will, however, be treated as “stand-by” at the slot allocation. The reservation is open to foreign and domestic HGV’s alike without any discrimination. The only exception is local traffic who cannot be asked to make bookings in advance for practical reasons. Local traffic marked with “S”-sticker (approx. 15% of total HGV traffic) need not

1 9th World Congress on ITS, Matthias H. Rapp, Alternating One-way Traffic and Truck Metering for Increased Safety in Tunnels through the Swiss Alps, Chicago, 16 October, 2002.

2718_S~1.DOC 4 ARE / Rapp Trans AG reserve passages but these vehicles are given a similar priority as are given to the reserved vehicles. The reservations are not tradable but are assigned to a particular vehicle. The booking must be done by the chauffeur or the dispatcher of a haulier company for a particular vehicle; inter- mediaries are excluded.

Registration Reservations can be booked on the internet. Internet terminals or kiosks will be available at the rest areas on the motorways on all the approach links to the Gotthard and San Bernardino Pass. Prior to the first booking, a user must register and pay a one-time reservation deposit or estab- lish a payment relation. Registered users obtain an identification number and a password.

Booking a Reservation A passage can be booked from one month in advance until on arrival at the HGV centre (see below). The user enters his desired time of passage and obtains a graphic presentation of the availablility of spaces in the desired slot. If no space is available, he can request the slots be- fore and after the desired time or the availability of slots on the alternative route (i.e. the San Bernardino Tunnel). In addition, the time tables and available space on the transalpine rail transport services (piggy-back) are shown and he is linked to the respective reservation internet sites. When the user has selected an available slot, the reservation is booked and the reservation fee is debited from his reservation deposit. At the same time, his vehicle license plate number is added to the “white list” in the background system. The user gets a printout from his reservation with the following data:  Reservation number (cryptographically secured)  Receipt for the debited reservation fee  Route description from his location to the HGV centre at the entry of the selected transalpine route including traffic information forecast along the route  Instructions on how to proceed when arriving at the HGV centre. In principle, changes or cancellations of bookings are possible at any time subject to the availability of space. If it turns out that the system is abused, restrictions may apply. It is possible, that in addition to internet and kiosk booking, a telephone solution (e.g. using SMS) will be offered, too. This solution will be evaluated in a later stage of the conceptual design of the system.

HGV Service Centres Different from the existing HGV traffic management on the Gotthard and San Bernardino routes the HGV’s will no longer have to queue on the hard shoulder or on the right hand lane of the motorway but a HGV Service Centres with waiting areas will be built on either side of the two transalpine routes (Fig. 2).

2718_S~1.DOC 5 ARE / Rapp Trans AG from Zurich Exit Erstfeld S+HGV Gotthard Tunnel

from / to Basel / Lucerne S Access Ramp HGV S+HGV to Gotthard Tunnel Enforcement- Waiting Area Metering Site centre Göschenen

Departure Area

HGV Service Centre Uri Legend

S Local traffic from and to Ticino („S“-Tag)

HGV transalpine HGV traffic Rapp | Trans |

Figure 2: HGV Service Centre (Example Uri Site on Northern Approach to Gotthard Tunnel)

At present, several alternative sites are being evaluated. For the Gotthard route the site must have waiting space for 250 – 300 vehicles on either side of the Alps. The HGV Service Cen- tres fulfil the following functions: 1. Reception and dispatching HGV’s on the tunnel route within the reservation system (“gate” function); 2. Parking area for vehicles (HGV and cars) in case of disturbances in the tunnel or on the access ramps (traffic accidents, breakdown vehicles, snow or other adverse meteorological conditions; 3. HGV parking area during the HGV night ban (from 22.00 to 05.00 h); 4. HGV traffic enforcement centre 5. Sanitary facilities In addition, depending to private initiative, the HGV Service Centres may include: 6. Garage and repair shop 7. Petrol station 8. Shopping 9. Information centre 10. Lodging

Dispatching Procedure at the HGV Service Centres During regular service (i.e. no incidents on access ramps or in tunnel) the procedures for HGV’s will be as follows (Fig. 3): 1. At the HGV Service Centre site HGV’s use a special exit ramp of the motorway and are directed towards the HGV Service Centre. Vehicles marked with an “S” (local traffic) are not required to exit but may progress directly towards the tunnel. At times complete HGV

2718_S~1.DOC 6 ARE / Rapp Trans AG safety checks may be made and then “S” vehicles are directed to the HGV Service Centre, too. 2. Arrival at the HGV Service Centre and manual sampling by traffic police of HGV’s that are sent for a safety check to the enforcement centre within the Traffic Centre. The safety check includes checking driver condition, driving hours, vehicle condition, loading, LSVA compliance (Swiss distance-related HGV fee) and others. After the check vehicles move to the waiting area. Vehicles not selected for safety checks may proceed directly to the waiting area. 3. In the waiting area, vehicles are parked and the driver walks to the dispatching desk (manned) or to an electronic kiosk. 4. At the desk or the electronic terminal the driver presents – in case of booking in advance - his reservation confirmation and receives a departure tag with a departure number. The reservation fee is returned by crediting his deposit account. 5. The departure numbers are assigned as follows:  Vehicles with a reservation: next free number in the reserved slot or next free number in earlier slot if available and desired by the chauffeur. In case or late arrival the vehicle is put on standby, i.e. the first available departure number in the first free slot is assigned to it.  Vehicles without a reservation: assignment of first available number in next free slot. 6. Waiting for the departure number to be called. Departure numbers or ranges of numbers that are called are displayed on variable message signs in the waiting area. Until departure the vehicle remains at the same parking space with its motor off. 7. When the departure number is called, the HGV proceeds to the exit of the HGV Service Centre. The departure tag must be presented at the exit gate and is validated for further checking at the metering site at the tunnel entrance.

2718_S~1.DOC 7 ARE / Rapp Trans AG Motorway exit at HGV Traffic Centre HGV Centre site

S-Tag yes w.o. check.?

Safety check in Safety Enforcement centre yes Check ? no

Veh in waiting area; get departure # at desk

no or late arrival arrival in time reserved? proceed toward Tunnel next free departure # # in reserved slot

Wait for call of # depart. tag Exit motorway valid or S? no (return or wait)

no yes # called ? Metering site yes Tunnel Departure tag validated; wait move to depart. area open? no yes no yes proceed into Metering Site at wait ramp free? tunnel Tunnel Entrance

Rapp | Trans | Figure 3: Process at HGV Service Centre and at Metering Site at Tunnel Entrance

In case of an incident on the access ramp or in the tunnel causing a closing of the route for an extended time all HGV’s including “S”-marked local traffic are sent to the HGV Service Cen- tre and must wait there. When the route is re-opened, the waiting area is emptied in the order of the assigned departure numbers. There is a bypass at the exit gate for vehicles wishing to return on the motorway. These vehicles may select a different route but since their departure tag is not validated they will not be able to pass the tunnel.

Expected Effects The reservation system will improve the flexibility of the traffic management. It increases the ability of the truck companies to plan the trips and it improves the reliability of travel times. It also gives the traffic management centre a better information of the HGV traffic demand. The system is expected to have the effect that transalpine HGV flows are better distributed over time. The system is currently being developed by the Swiss Ministry of Transports. No date for the start of operation is set yet.

2718_S~1.DOC 8 ARE / Rapp Trans AG Alpine Transit Rights Trading Exchange In the political debate about the problems of HGV traffic across the alps various proposals have been submitted for putting passage rights up for sale. Current Swiss laws and the treaties between Switzerland and the European Union do not permit the use of pricing instruments in addition to the existing Swiss Distance Related Heavy Goods Vehicles Fee. Nevertheless, the feasibility of an Alpine Transit Rights Trading Exchange for heavy goods vehicles will be examined in a research study with consideration of the situation in the neighbouring countries. Possible concepts with alternatives are being developed and evaluated. The Alpine Transit Rights Trading Exchange is meant to be an extension of today's instruments for heavy goods vehicle management across the alpine passes and the promotion of the policy of shifting goods traffic from road to rail. The project aims to give new impulses to the ongoing political debate about heavy vehicles traffic policy by showing to what an extent the transalpine routes with their limited capacity could be administered more efficiently with innovative and market conformant instruments.

2718_S~1.DOC 9 ARE / Rapp Trans AG