Dr Peter Füglistaler: “In principle, I welcome new market participants seizing their opportunity.”

The Fede­ral Office of Trans­port (FOT) pro­mo­tes the sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment of freight trans­port and the effi­ci­ent inter­ac­tion of all modes of trans­port within the frame­work of Swiss poli­cy. It is respon­si­ble for licen­sing, finan­cing and safe­ty super­vi­si­on in rail trans­port, cable­ways and chair­lifts, buses and ship­ping. Thanks to favoura­ble frame­work con­di­ti­ons, it should be pos­si­ble to ope­ra­te rail freight ser­vices on a self-finan­cing basis. In addi­ti­on, the fede­ral govern­ment can grant invest­ment con­tri­bu­ti­ons for tech­ni­cal inno­va­tions in rail freight trans­port. The FOT con­trols and checks the sub­s­idy pay­ments in freight trans­port within the frame­work of a con­trol­ling sys­tem. Dr Peter Füg­lis­ta­ler has been Direc­tor of the FOT since 2010. Befo­re joi­ning the FOT, Peter Füg­lis­ta­ler held various posi­ti­ons at the Swiss Fede­ral Rail­ways (SBB). In an inter­view with the VAP he ans­wers ques­ti­ons about rail freight transport.

VAP: Mr Füglistaler, SBB Cargo does not seem to be coming out of restructuring/subsidy mode. At the same time, federal finances are very tight. Can rail freight customers sleep easy, will SBB Cargo be able to turn the corner?

Dr Peter Füg­lis­ta­ler: The Con­fe­de­ra­ti­on has made it clear that it wants to deve­lop freight trans­port fur­ther – taking into account ener­gy and cli­ma­te poli­cy goals and in the know­ledge of the great importance of rail trans­port for Switzerland’s secu­ri­ty of sup­p­ly. The Fede­ral Coun­cil is also pre­pared to moder­ni­se rail freight trans­port tech­ni­cal­ly and orga­ni­sa­tio­nal­ly and pro­po­ses tar­ge­ted finan­cial sup­port for this pur­po­se. Nevert­hel­ess, it is important that ship­pers also play their part in sha­ping the future.

The sugar beet contract was lost, Coop successfully runs its own RU, now also in the WLV system. Gravel companies are building up their own EVU. How do you assess this market development from the owner’s point of view?

I can only speak here as the direc­tor of the finan­cing and super­vi­so­ry aut­ho­ri­ty. In prin­ci­ple, I wel­co­me it when the mar­ket plays and new mar­ket par­ti­ci­pan­ts seize their oppor­tu­ni­ty. SBB Cargo, for exam­p­le, also has to assert its­elf in the mar­ket and look at its own eco­no­mic viability.

The pressure to settle, keyword “Major Accidents Ordinance”, has an impact on the transport of dangerous goods. What is the FOT doing to ensure that dangerous goods transports continue to be possible within the existing framework in order to secure self-sufficiency and safeguard Switzerland as an industrial location?

The FOT regu­lar­ly reviews the risks of dan­ge­rous goods trans­ports and, if neces­sa­ry, imple­ments mea­su­res at an early stage in dia­lo­gue with the par­ties invol­ved. A good exam­p­le is the joint decla­ra­ti­on by indus­try, trans­port com­pa­nies and aut­ho­ri­ties on risk reduc­tion in the trans­port of chlo­ri­ne. Such early reco­gni­ti­on and joint action makes it pos­si­ble to con­ti­nue trans­port­ing dan­ge­rous goods safe­ly by rail.

While Europe focuses on the DAK, SBB is more interested in the AK – without the D. Is this also your perception and would you support this position of SBB?

I don’t see this sepa­ra­ti­on at SBB at all. Like BAV, VAP and VöV, SBB is of the opi­ni­on that digi­tal func­tions are nee­ded to make rail freight trans­port safer, fas­ter, more fle­xi­ble and thus more relia­ble and che­a­per. With the sup­port of the FOT, SBB Cargo has set up a test train to test and opti­mi­se the power sup­p­ly and data trans­mis­si­on in goods trains. The results are being incor­po­ra­ted into the work at Euro­pean level, where SBB is actively invol­ved, as are all the other rail­ways in Euro­pe. Switz­er­land will not be making any extra moves as far as digi­tal auto­ma­tic cou­pling is con­cer­ned. Howe­ver, we will not be able to wait if the work in Euro­pe is delay­ed. Becau­se by wai­ting, we risk the achie­ve­ment of nati­on­wi­de rail freight trans­port. As soon as the tech­ni­cal spe­ci­fi­ca­ti­ons in the TSI stan­dards are fixed, we want to start.

There are many calls for the industry to speak with one language. Now the industry has jointly realised the “Vision 2050”, but unfortunately this was not reflected in the design of the consultation for nationwide rail freight transport. Was the voice too quiet? What is the FOT’s expectation?

The visi­on was drawn up by the FOT’s accom­pany­ing group for the fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment of freight trans­port by rail. The most important asso­cia­ti­ons and play­ers in Swiss rail freight trans­port are repre­sen­ted there. But the thing is: despi­te this visi­on, the asso­cia­ti­ons have expres­sed very hete­ro­ge­neous ideas and in some cases not very rea­li­stic wish lists for the future of Swiss rail freight trans­port as part of their state­ments on the con­sul­ta­ti­on process.

How would you describe the VAP?

The VAP is an important voice in the Swiss freight trans­port indus­try, which in turn is exis­ten­ti­al for the country’s secu­ri­ty of supply.

What strengths do you attribute to the VAP?

The VAP has its strengths in bund­ling the inte­rests of the play­ers and in its good rela­ti­ons with the poli­ti­cal decision-makers.

What else would you like to see from the VAP?

In the future it will be important to pre­sent the inte­rests of the ship­ping indus­try even more poin­ted­ly to the out­side world. The VAP can streng­then its posi­ti­on in this respect.

To whom would you recommend cooperation with the VAP?

Rail freight trans­port does not work wit­hout sidings and freight wagons. That is why coope­ra­ti­on with the VAP is recom­men­ded to ever­yo­ne who wants to ope­ra­te rail freight trans­port successfully.

Dr Füglistaler, thank you for the interesting interview.

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