Switzerland is committed to getting more freight onto the rail network.
Switzerland has pledged up to CHF66.3 million ($73.7 million) to help finance a rail freight terminal near to Milan, Italy.
The funds are being spent abroad as part of Switzerland’s drive to steer more freight away from roads and onto the rail network as it passes through the Alps.
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The Milan terminal is expected to load freight from 150,000 trucks onto trains each year once it is completed.
The funds will be handed to the company Teralp, in which the Swiss logistics firm Hupac has a stake. The financing is contingent on the company meeting performance goals over the next ten years.
The CHF66.3 million will come out of a CHF300 million pot approved by parliament to improve freight transport from 2021-2024.
Switzerland has helped finance other freight projects abroad in the past. These include reloading terminals in Gallarate and Piacenza, Italy, Duisburg and Singen in Germany and the Belgian port of Antwerp.
Funding foreign projects is approved if they“serve Switzerland’s policies and would otherwise not be built,” the government stated on Thursday.
Source: MENA FN