Photo: klk.

Designwerk Technologies' eTrucks have broken the 1000 kWh barrier. The battery packs are correspondingly enormous. The electric vehicle pioneers are now cutting through the debate surrounding charging infrastructure with a "Mega Charger" housed in a container. The development is promising, and Galliker is the premium customer. 

Everyone who is anyone in Swiss railway policy – ​​and beyond – is expected to attend the National Railway Congress on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Novartis Campus in Basel. The focus will be on the future of rail transport in 2050.

 Port of Poti (Georgia)

, the transport market is seeking new routes – instead of via Moscow – from Europe through the Caucasus to the Chinese border. A new corridor has emerged as an alternative. Hamburg-based HHLA is participating in this route with its "hinterland transport" by rail.

 Photo: LKZ

A consultant from Berlin will advise the transport industry, shippers, municipalities, and institutions on the implementation of logistics processes and refueling/charging infrastructure for transalpine freight transport. A corresponding agreement has been concluded with the Prien Logistics Competence Center.

Fig.: AdBarc

The six largest German-speaking Swiss cities – Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Winterthur, and Zurich – presented their third joint report, "City Comparison Mobility," at the beginning of the month. The figures for 2021 were heavily influenced by the effects of the pandemic. 

The planned hydrogen network via inland ports, intended to accelerate the energy transition, was recently celebrated during a visit by Dutch King Willem-Alexander to Duisburg. The first ship carrying low-carbon ammonia arrived there from Rotterdam via the planned hydrogen corridor. 

Fig.: Siemens

MIREL is a train control system developed to ensure the safe operation of railways in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. With an interface compliant with European railway standards, it is capable of integration into the European ETCS. 

"Advanced Air Mobility" is the name of a new economic sector that deals with future transport opportunities in airspace. A promising sector, as Erik Linden, who sees the Swiss supplier industry playing a key role here, stated in an interview with Swissmem. Despite certain risks.

Photo: Juna

Electric trucks aren't cheap. In 2022, only about 4,000 electric trucks were registered in the EU. In August 2023, of the 800,000 trucks on German roads, just 0.5 percent were electric. Now, a joint venture with Scania plans to finance 5,000 electric trucks by 2030 through a leasing model. 

At the beginning of the month, the official opening of the first eTruck charging park in Sargans marked a milestone in the Swiss eMobility roadmap of logistics service provider Käppeli and Scania Switzerland. They are continuing to work on the ongoing development and joint expansion of the network.

Photo: SBB

SBB Cargo handles one-seventh of Switzerland's freight traffic, transporting 180,000 tons daily within the country via wagonload, block train, and combined transport. The maintenance facility in Chiasso, renovated at a cost of 12 million Swiss francs, has now been reopened – a significant milestone, according to the company.  

Approximately 300 meters of the 7-kilometer-long damaged track are currently being renewed each week at the badly damaged Gotthard Base Tunnel. The estimated cost of the damage is between 100 and 130 million Swiss francs. According to Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the work will continue until at least autumn 2024.

 Photo: LHoF

Farewell to "Heidi" Senger-Weiss, co-owner and supervisory board member of the transport company Gebrüder Weiss until her advanced age. She was 82 years old. Together the company from 1968 to 2004 to which she remained closely connected .

 Fig.: Spectaire

Of course, it's purely coincidental that the cooperation between the automotive logistics company Mosolf and the US company "Spectaire" sounds like the 2015 James Bond thriller "Spectre". CEO Jörg Mosolf arrives in Berlin with a micro-mass spectrometer, mountable on trucks, in his suitcase. 

If humans return to the moon in the coming years, heavy transport on the lunar surface will be easier than on Earth due to the lower gravity. Dust, however, is likely to pose a greater problem. A laser could be used to 3D print roads and sinter the regolith to fit the surface.