Capacity and Slot Management for Heavy Goods Vehicle Traffic Across the Swiss Alps
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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 in- troduced 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 manage- ment 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 pas- sages 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 lo- cal 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 pre- sented 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 ve- hicles 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 inter- net 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 reserva- tion 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 transal- pine 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.