The EU wants to shift the growing level of transported goods from the roads onto the railways. The Eureka Logchain Footprint project aims to deliver the scientific basis for a heavy goods vehicle surcharge similar to that already in force in Switzerland. A measurement station will be set up, under the leadership of the Empa, to measure the “environmental footprint” of lorries and coaches.

As project leader the Empa can also take advantage of its many years of experience in interdisciplinary collaboration. The other partners involved in the Swiss part of the project are the various federal offices of roads and transport, the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), two companies (Kistler Instruments and RTSC) and the Commission for Technology and Innovation (KTI).

Comparing road and rail traffic

The measuring station in Lenzburg will play an important rôle of the EU Eureka Logchain Footprint project, which commenced at the beginning of this year. This work is designed to provide information on the interaction between different means of transport and the infrastructure. A second measuring station has been installed in Zevenhuizen in Holland which is designed to systematically measure the environmental “footprint” of rail vehicles, based on the same criteria as those to be applied by the Empa in Switzerland. This allows road and rail transport to be compared on an equal basis. Research institutions, governmental bodies and companies from six EU countries are also participating in the overall project, with the UK acting as project coordinator. Data from amongst other sources the Swiss and Dutch measurement stations will be used to develop cost evaluation models. The goal is to establish and deliver to the political decision-makers in three years a scientific basis for the introduction of a pan-European heavy goods vehicle surcharge. This value of the surcharge will depend on the environmental effect of and the polluting emissions from a particular vehicle.

More goods on the railways

It is predicted that by 2010 there will be a 30% increase in goods transported within Europe. To avoid choking the flow of road traffic, the proportion of goods transported by rail – currently a mere 15% in the EU – must therefore be increased. Three years ago in its “White Book Mobility 2001”, the EU established clear targets: the Europe-wide introduction by the year 2015 of a road toll for vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes and harmonized monitoring devices. The technical basis for this process is to be supplied by the Eureka Logchain Footprint project.

Contact persons for technical information:

Lily Poulikakos, Abt. Strassenbau, Tel. +41 44 823 44 79, lily.poulikakos@empa.ch
Dr. Manfred Partl, Abt. Strassenbau, Tel. +41 44 823 41 13, manfred.partl@empa.ch