In 2016, the Alpine Initiative handed over its archive (with annual reports and accounts, correspondence, files on actions and campaigns, topic dossiers and printed matter) to the Swiss Social Archives. The holdings can be consulted in the reading room of the Swiss Social Archive without any restrictions on use.
Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv
The Swiss Government adopted its message for a second bore at the Gotthard tunnel. It did so despite the fact that the Alpine Initiative had demonstrated repeatedly that a second bore would cost 3 billion Swiss francs more than a temporary transfer of the tunnel’s traffic to rail during renovation works. Moreover, a transfer to rail would neither isolate Ticino nor undermine the transfer of freight from road to rail.
The Alpine Initiative has initiated the establishment of a centre of excellence for a transport-efficient economy. Its aim is to study freight transport flows in greater detail and show how journeys could be prevented and distances shortened. Representatives from science, industry, associations and public administration met in Altdorf to discuss possible business models for such an institution.
With two traditional bonfires in Ticino and Western Switzerland, the Alpine Initiative again asked politicians to continue to protect the Alps and to pursue a moderate transport policy, without a second bore at the Gotthard road tunnel.
For about three months, the Alpine Initiative toured Switzerland to collect signatures against a second bore at the Gotthard tunnel. Ultimately, 68,023 signatures were submitted to the Swiss Parliament. Together with other organizations, the Alpine Initiative thus set a clear example for the protection of the Alps. It also showed that it can collect the 50,000 signatures necessary for an official referendum against the tunnel at any time.
The Alpine Initiative took part in the consultation into changing the Federal Freight Traffic Transfer Act and asked the government to refrain from constructing a second bore at the Gotthard road tunnel. A second bore is unnecessary, would sabotage the transfer of freight from road to rail and cost more than any other renovation solution.
With a popular consultation (petition) launched in Lucerne, the Alpine Initiative aims to get the Swiss government and parliament to scrap plans for a second bore for the Gotthard road tunnel. Such a tunnel would not only violate the Swiss constitution, but would also be a bad move from a transportation and financial point of view. Signatures are being collected until April 2013.
About 25 people from Austria and Italy visited the Heavy Goods Vehicle Centre and the construction site for the new Gotthard rail base tunnel in Erstfeld. The group comprised experts from transport ministries, universities, planning offices, trade unions, political parties, environmental organizations and economic research institutes. The visit focused on the Alpine Crossing Exchange.
The Alpine Initiative drew attention to the fact that the Swiss government had miscalculated the costs of a second bore for the Gotthard road tunnel. The proposed piggyback solution is cheaper than claimed by the government, while the construction and maintenance of two road tunnels is significantly more expensive. This means that transporting trucks via a piggyback solution would actually be 2.8 to 3.4 billion francs cheaper than building a second tunnel.
The Board of the Alpine Initiative decided unanimously to launch a referendum, should the Swiss parliament decide to drill a second bore for the Gotthard road tunnel. An alternative rail solution is feasible, and Ticino would remain easily accessible. While tunnel safety would be improved slightly with a second bore, even a slight increase in traffic would increase the risk of accidents across the entire Basel-Chiasso route.
The Alps desperately need relief from HGV traffic. Yet more trucks cross the mountains than are legally permitted to do so. The Alpine Initiative drew attention to this fact in four towns along transit routes – in Chur, Sion, Lugano and Lucerne.