ASSOCIATION

Portrait

The VAP association has been promoting rail freight transport since 1912.

With an acti­ve trans­port poli­cy, it works to opti­mi­se the poli­ti­cal and eco­no­mic frame­work con­di­ti­ons, the rail­way infra­struc­tu­re and the logi­stic cen­tres in such a way that rail, as part of the mul­ti­mo­dal logi­stics world, remains a valuable trans­port solu­ti­on in the future. This is in the inte­rest of both the envi­ron­ment and the Swiss living and eco­no­mic space.

VAP repres­ents around 300 com­pa­nies from the ship­pers’ and logi­stic indus­try in Switz­er­land and neigh­bou­ring count­ries. They ope­ra­te 850 sidings and ter­mi­nals, tran­ship­ment faci­li­ties, trac­tion vehic­les and 45,000 pri­va­te freight wagons. With its prac­ti­ce-ori­en­ted mem­ber­ship and con­sul­ting acti­vi­ties, VAP also helps ship­pers and the logi­stics indus­try to mini­mi­se the costs of rail freight transport.

That’s how we make a dif­fe­rence for you:

With pro­found exper­ti­se in all areas of freight trans­port, natio­nal­ly and internationally

By pro­mo­ting and net­wor­king stakeholders

In a neu­tral posi­ti­on bet­ween the stakeholders

Thanks to a very good repu­ta­ti­on and broad sup­port among our members

With inter­na­tio­nal know­ledge and relations

With good con­nec­tions into poli­tics

Ready for you to download:

Focus topics

Freight transport in the area

What about wagon­load traf­fic? How sys­te­mi­cal­ly rele­vant is it?

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TR TransRail
More about freight trans­port industry

Digitalisation in rail freight transport

How rail freight trans­port can beco­me more effi­ci­ent, pro­duc­ti­ve and attrac­ti­ve, and thus com­pe­ti­ti­ve in the mul­ti­mo­dal logi­stics chain of the economy.

More on digitalisation

Interoperability

The opti­mi­sa­ti­on of pro­ces­ses and inter­faces and the con­nec­tion with the 4th EU rail­way package.

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More on the topic

These are the other issues we are focu­sing on:

  • Stan­dar­di­s­a­ti­on: Stan­dar­di­s­a­ti­on makes sense espe­ci­al­ly in the case of high invest­ments. For exam­p­le, various expen­si­ve spe­cial vehic­les are curr­ent­ly in use. Since these are only nee­ded sea­so­nal­ly, they remain stan­ding for months. It would be more pro­fi­ta­ble to have stan­dar­di­sed wagons throug­hout Euro­pe that can be loa­ded with dif­fe­rent inter­ch­an­geable platforms.
  • Fle­xi­ble inter­faces: If the rail trans­port com­pa­nies could act more fle­xi­bly tog­e­ther with the cus­to­mers, this would bene­fit the freight rail­ways. They could accept more short-term orders, which would increase both uti­li­sa­ti­on and effi­ci­en­cy. That is why we are also working towards more fle­xi­ble inter­faces in 2022.
  • Sen­si­ble incen­ti­ve struc­tures: In some cases, the wrong incen­ti­ves are set in rail freight trans­port. Laws and stan­dards that are not of a tech­ni­cal or safe­ty natu­re should be repla­ced by incen­ti­ve struc­tures that pro­mo­te com­pe­ti­ti­on. That is why we will con­ti­nue to advo­ca­te for impro­ve­ments that pro­mo­te com­pe­ti­ti­on in 2022.

 

More topics

Responsibilities

You can count on us in this regard:

  • Con­sul­ting: We advi­se mem­ber companies
  • Exch­an­ge of expe­ri­ence: We main­tain the exch­an­ge of expe­ri­ence bet­ween the rele­vant mar­ket players.
  • Draf­ting: We draw up tech­ni­cal, ope­ra­tio­nal, legal and eco­no­mic standards.
  • Repre­sen­ta­ti­on of inte­rests: We repre­sent the inte­rests of our mem­ber com­pa­nies vis-à-vis par­lia­ments, aut­ho­ri­ties, indus­try and other institutions.

Read more under Services.

 

Ser­vices

Engagement

We are invol­ved in the fol­lo­wing inte­rest groups and organisations:

 

Wagonload Transport Interest Group (IG WLV) 

In 2018, the VAP, tog­e­ther with SBB Cargo and the Asso­cia­ti­on of Public Trans­port (VöV/UTP), foun­ded the Swiss Wagon­load Trans­port Inte­rest Group – IG WLV Schweiz for short.
The inte­rest group aims to pro­mo­te the fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment of wagon­load traf­fic in Switz­er­land. In the com­mon inte­rest, it pur­sues the goal of pro­vi­ding the ser­vices of the rail­way sys­tem more effec­tively and effi­ci­ent­ly and thus enab­ling a self-sus­tai­ning and sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment of rail freight trans­port in the sense of the GüTG. The sys­tem of wagon­load traf­fic is to be ali­gned with the strengths of the rail­way and the needs of the cus­to­mers and is to be regard­ed as an inte­gral part of the over­all logi­stics. Both rail pro­vi­ders and cus­to­mers should bene­fit equal­ly from its cost-effec­ti­ve­ness and relia­bi­li­ty.
The stake­hol­ders of IG WLV regu­lar­ly exch­an­ge views on various topics in board mee­tings. In addi­ti­on, in regu­lar work­shops they shed light on the con­cre­te chal­lenges and hurd­les of the rail­way sys­tem, such as the deve­lo­p­ment pos­si­bi­li­ties in sin­gle wagon­load traf­fic or the reasons why cus­to­mers are dis­sa­tis­fied with the cur­rent situa­ti­on. Reports on the work of the IG WLV

Cargo Forum Switzerland (CFS)

The Cargo Forum Switz­er­land (CFS) is an inte­rest group of asso­cia­ti­ons for the bene­fit of freight trans­port. The CFS pro­mo­tes the inte­rests of freight trans­port in poli­tics, admi­nis­tra­ti­on and the public. It aims to bet­ter high­light the eco­no­mic importance of freight trans­port and to repre­sent its inte­rests on a hig­her level. The CFS con­tri­bu­tes to poli­ti­cal solu­ti­ons and pro­mo­tes fair and prac­ti­ca­ble frame­work con­di­ti­ons. It forms a plat­form for the freight trans­port indus­try, aut­ho­ri­ties and politicians.

 

-> More about the Cargo Forum Switzerland

 

Umbrella organisation of the Swiss economy “economiesuisse”

As a natio­nal fede­ra­ti­on, eco­no­mie­su­is­se repres­ents the inte­rests of the com­pe­ti­ti­ve, inter­na­tio­nal­ly net­work­ed and respon­si­ble Swiss busi­ness community.

Association of Public Transport VöV/UTP

The Asso­cia­ti­on of Public Trans­port is the natio­nal umbrel­la orga­ni­sa­ti­on of public trans­port companies.

LITRA

LITRA is an asso­cia­ti­on that pro­mo­tes public trans­port in Switzerland.

UIP International Union of Wagon Keepers

Foun­ded in 1950, the UIP – Inter­na­tio­nal Union of Wagon Kee­pers, with its seat in Brussels, is the umbrel­la asso­cia­ti­on of natio­nal asso­cia­ti­ons from four­teen Euro­pean count­ries. The UIP repres­ents the mem­bers’ con­cerns at inter­na­tio­nal level.

European Rail Freight Association ERFA

All ERFA mem­bers share a com­mit­ment to work towards a non-dis­cri­mi­na­to­ry, com­pe­ti­ti­ve and inno­va­ti­ve Sin­gle Euro­pean Rail­way mar­ket by pro­mo­ting attrac­ti­ve, fair and trans­pa­rent mar­ket con­di­ti­ons for all rail enter­pri­ses. http://erfarail.eu/

Swiss Supply

The asso­cia­ti­on Swiss Sup­p­ly aims to pro­mo­te the repu­ta­ti­on of logi­stics, sup­p­ly chain and trans­port in Switz­er­land and aims to inform and edu­ca­te the public about the fun­da­men­tal importance of value chains, the con­tri­bu­ti­on of the sec­tors respon­si­ble for the sup­p­ly of goods and dis­po­sal / recy­cling to the eco­no­my and socie­ty as well as the diver­si­ty of job descrip­ti­ons and care­er oppor­tu­ni­ties within these indus­tries and functions.

 

You can read more about the latest deve­lo­p­ments and insights from our enga­ge­ment on a regu­lar basis in our expert blog.

 

Blog

Positioning

«We represent all the players who get goods moving on the rails – comprehensively and farsightedly. And we stand up for what benefits everyone.»

DEFINITION RAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORT

The core area of rail freight trans­port com­pri­ses the com­mer­cial trans­port ser­vices of goods trains. In addi­ti­on to the actu­al trans­port, there are also pre- and post-trans­port ope­ra­ti­ons and pro­ces­ses, such as the loa­ding of goods onto the rail mode of transport.

One of the spe­cial fea­tures of rail freight trans­port is that in addi­ti­on to the clas­sic play­ers in freight trans­port, the freight con­si­gnor, the freight for­war­der and the freight con­si­gnee, infra­struc­tu­re com­pa­nies are hea­vi­ly invol­ved in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess and pro­duc­tion qua­li­ty due to the sys­tem cha­rac­te­ristics. This often invol­ves seve­ral rail­way infra­struc­tu­re com­pa­nies that ope­ra­te, among other things, rail­way lines, freight sta­ti­ons, sidings, tran­ship­ment sta­ti­ons, mar­shalling yards, etc.

 

The qua­li­ty of rail ser­vices depends on three fac­tors: Net­work, ope­ra­ti­ons and sites

Network

Switz­er­land curr­ent­ly runs seven stan­dard-gauge net­works – with high addi­tio­nal admi­nis­tra­ti­ve costs and syn­er­gy los­ses. Against this back­ground, we advo­ca­te a stan­dar­di­sed stan­dard gauge net­work for Switz­er­land, so that you do not miss the con­nec­tion to other count­ries – just as with the road net­work.
The time­ta­ble – i.e. the avai­la­bi­li­ty of train paths – is curr­ent­ly geared towards fast pas­sen­ger traf­fic and many stops for regio­nal trains. This redu­ces the avera­ge speed of goods trains.
Their eco­no­mic via­bi­li­ty is also influen­ced by the tariff struc­tu­re for the use of train paths. That is why we advo­ca­te a gra­dua­ti­on into A and B tariffs for freight rail trans­port. These should depend on the time spent on the net­work and be based on pro­duc­ti­vi­ty.
Track con­s­truc­tion is curr­ent­ly geared to the com­fort requi­re­ments of pas­sen­ger trans­port and thus signi­fi­cant­ly increa­ses con­s­truc­tion and main­ten­an­ce costs. Here we demand more far-sigh­ted plan­ning and more inno­va­ti­ve main­ten­an­ce. Hig­her stan­dards of pas­sen­ger traf­fic are to be com­pen­sa­ted with dis­coun­ted track pri­ces in the freight rail­way sys­tem. And final­ly, the mar­shalling yards are part of the rail­way net­work – just like the sub­ur­ban rail­way stops.

Read more about this topic in economiesuisse’s Infra­struc­tu­re Report 2019.

Actors in the infra­struc­tu­re sector:

  • Track con­s­truc­tion companies
  • Engi­nee­ring offices

EU

Swiss freight trans­port knows no bor­ders. Many of our mem­bers are inter­na­tio­nal­ly acti­ve and regu­lar­ly serve the EU area. To ensu­re that we can con­ti­nue to pro­vi­de you with this access to an inte­res­t­ing mar­ket poten­ti­al in the future, we are invol­ved in the inter­na­tio­nal arena.

The “Inter­na­tio­nal Union of Wag­on­kee­pers” – UIP for short – pur­sues Euro­pean freight trans­port poli­cy. We at the VAP foun­ded the UIP in 1950 and have been incor­po­ra­ting the Swiss per­spec­ti­ve in Euro­pe ever since.

The “Euro­pean Rail Freight Asso­cia­ti­on” sums up its goal: “We deli­ver com­pe­ti­ti­on! (We deli­ver com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness!). We are also clo­se­ly asso­cia­ted with this orga­ni­sa­ti­on and pro­vi­de its Vice-President.

Operation

Whoe­ver speaks of rail­ways thinks of peo­p­le and rails. We repre­sent freight stake­hol­ders and in this chap­ter we focus on infra­struc­tu­re ope­ra­ti­on, i.e. trans­port. We advo­ca­te free ope­ra­ti­on on the last mile. In favour of fair com­pe­ti­ti­on, we want to use the strength of all modes of trans­port and com­bi­ne them in an opti­mal way. Becau­se this makes the route shorter for ever­yo­ne – and more economical.

Stake­hol­ders in the area of operation:

  • Rail­way under­ta­kings (RUs)
  • Manufacturers/holders of rol­ling stock (pri­va­te wagon hire companies)
  • Ope­ra­tors (ACTS)
  • Time­ta­bles (train path allo­ca­ti­on body TVS)

Sites

For the first and last mile, we are con­cer­ned about a balan­ce of power bet­ween mar­ket powers, pro­per incen­ti­ves and an atten­ti­on to ade­qua­te safe­ty regu­la­ti­ons. The first and last mile in the rail freight sys­tem includes sidings, free loa­ding faci­li­ties and ter­mi­nals. None of these tran­ship­ment faci­li­ties should allow the abuse of mar­ket power and thus unneces­s­a­ri­ly distort com­pe­ti­ti­on. The rail freight sys­tem needs free access to the first and last mile in par­ti­cu­lar. For exam­p­le, it deri­ves no bene­fit from a sta­ti­on con­ver­ted for pas­sen­ger traf­fic that can no lon­ger be recon­ci­led with its loa­ding prac­ti­ce – but rather addi­tio­nal expense.

We also advo­ca­te equal stan­dards for freight and pas­sen­ger trans­port when it comes to ope­ra­ting and safe­ty regu­la­ti­ons. Stan­dard increa­ses that are desi­ra­ble for pas­sen­gers should at least be ade­qua­te­ly com­pen­sa­ted. Here, bold­ly moving for­ward makes more sense than back­ward-loo­king reactions.

Stake­hol­ders in the area of sites:

  • Siding owners
  • Ship­pers
  • Trans­ship­ment ter­mi­nal, mar­shalling yard (1st/last mile)
  • Can­tons and muni­ci­pa­li­ties (spa­ti­al planning)

Organisation

The struc­tu­re of the rail freight sys­tem is his­to­ri­cal­ly com­plex. For this reason, we have a lean orga­ni­sa­ti­on and can act for you all the more effectively.

For gene­ral ques­ti­ons or initi­al cont­act, plea­se cont­act Gene­ral Secre­ta­ry Frank Furrer.

General Secretariat

Secre­ta­ry Gene­ral
Dr. Frank Fur­rer
+41 44 491 15 95
vap(at)cargorail.ch

Tho­mas Jakob Ernst
+41 79 383 70 76
ernst(at)cargorail.ch

Hans-Peter Rutz
+41 79 223 16 48
rutz(at)cargorail.ch


Joseph Ball­aman
+41 79 204 55 32
ballaman(at)cargorail.ch

Jürg Lüt­scher
+41 79 371 32 71
luetscher(at)cargorail.ch


Rosan­na Blätt­ler
Mar­ke­ting & Kom­mu­ni­ka­ti­on
blaettler(at)cargorail.ch

Jür­gen Maier-Gyom­lay
+41 79 485 53 81
maier(at)cargorail.ch

President’s Office

Pre­si­dent
Josef Ditt­li
Stän­de­rat UR/FDP
+41 79 567 73 11
josef.dittli(at)swissonline.ch

Vice Pre­si­dent
Ulrich Walt
Logi­stics Advi­so­ry Experts GmbH
+41 79 619 98 39
ulrich.walt(at)logistics-advisory-experts.ch

Executive Committee

Per-Anders Ben­thin
TRANSWAGGON AG
+41 41 729 41 68
pa.benthin(at)transwaggon.group

Nico­las Herold
Syn­gen­ta Crop Pro­tec­tion Mon­they SA
+41 24 475 22 87
nicolas.herold(at)syngenta.com
Roland Jäggi
Plan­zer Trans­port AG
+41 81 286 30 10
rjaeggi(at)planzer.ch
Fri­do­lin Landolt
Mehr­wert Manu­fak­tur GmbH
+41 79 925 43 73
fl(at)mehrwert-manufaktur.ch
Mar­kus Vaerst
Was­co­sa AG
+41 41 727 68 78
markus.vaerst(at)wascosa.ch

Titus Büt­ler
Post CH AG
+41 58 341 34 48
titus.buetler(a)post.ch

Bern­hard Hoff­mann
Erme­wa SA (Frank­reich)
bernhard.hoffmann(at)ermewa.com

Peter Kla­rer
Pan­log AG
+41 79 423 48 86
pklarer(at)panlog.ch
Ueli Mau­rer
Bert­schi AG
+41 62 767 67 00
ueli.maurer(at)bertschi.com

Die­ter Weber
Sabua AG
+41 79 354 21 52
dieter.weber(at)sabua.ch

Otti Häf­li­ger
TRAVECO Trans­por­te AG
+41 58 433 60 30
otti.haefliger(at)traveco.ch

Mat­thi­as Howald
Hol­cim (Schweiz) AG
+41 58 850 62 11
matthias.howald(at)lafargeholcim.com

Bern­hard Kunz
HUPAC Inter­mo­dal SA
bkunz(at)hupac.com

Mario Stan­ganel­lo
VTG Rail Euro­pe GmbH
+41 61 206 90 22
mario.stanganello(at)vtg.com
Phil­ipp Wegmüller
rail­Ca­re AG
+41 62 388 93 70
philipp.wegmueller(at)railcare.ch

Management Committee

Pre­si­dent
Ulrich Walt
Logi­stics Advi­so­ry Experts GmbH
+41 79 619 98 39
ulrich.walt(at)logistics-advisory-experts.ch

Titus Büt­ler
Post CH AG
+41 58 341 34 48
titus.buetler(a)post.ch

Fri­do­lin Landolt
Mehr­wert Manu­fak­tur GmbH
+41 79 925 43 73
fl(at)mehrwert-manufaktur.ch

Vice Pre­si­dent
Josef Ditt­li
Stän­de­rat UR/FDP
+41 79 567 73 11
josef.dittli(at)swissonline.ch

Mat­thi­as Howald
Hol­cim (Schweiz) AG
+41 58 850 62 11
matthias.howald(at)lafargeholcim.com
Mar­kus Vaerst
Was­co­sa AG
+41 41 727 68 78
markus.vaerst(at)wascosa.ch


Per-Anders Ben­thin
TRANSWAGGON AG
+41 41 729 41 68
pa.benthin(at)transwaggon.group​

Bern­hard Kunz
HUPAC Inter­mo­dal SA
bkunz(at)hupac.com


Die­ter Weber
Sabua AG
+41 79 354 21 52
dieter.weber(at)sabua.ch

Auditor

Oli­ver Kon­rad
Has­tag (Zürich) AG
oliver.konrad(at)hastag.ch

Mar­kus Zemp
BP Euro­pe SE
+41 41 581 50 49
markus.zemp(at)ch.bp.com

Members

Here is an excerpt from our wide-ran­ging mem­ber­ship list:

 

Bertschi
Coop
HIAG Immobilien
Ems-Chemie
Lonza
MOGROS -Logo
MIDOR
Nestlé – Logo
swissterminal – Logo
Swiss Steel Group -Logo
TAMOIL – Logo
TRAVECO – Logo
PLANZER – Logo
VTG – Logo