The meeting between Chancellor Christian Stocker and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on 15 July 2025 also addressed the issue of road freight transport across the Brenner axis. On that occasion, Vienna reiterated its support for the introduction of a digital booking system for industrial vehicles based on time slots. Meloni referred to the proposal as “a pragmatic solution”, although she stressed that further evaluation would be required by technical and trilateral working groups. In a statement released after the meeting, the Italian government announced its intention to “quickly establish a technical task force among the transport ministries of Italy, Austria and Germany to assess the legal and digital feasibility of the model”. No formal agreements were signed, however, and the Italian government confirmed that it is continuing with its legal action before the European Court of Justice against Austria’s restrictions on transiting industrial vehicles.
The concept of a truck booking system was first presented in April 2023 as part of a joint declaration of intent by Bavaria, Austria’s Tyrol and Italy’s South Tyrol, aimed at developing a “Digital Green Corridor”, along with a related feasibility study. The following June, the mandatory online booking model was presented in Vienna, where it received political support in Austria, though without any formal commitment. The system envisages a maximum flow of 300 industrial vehicles per hour on the Kufstein–Vipiteno section, adjustable according to seasonal conditions.
All trucks would be required to book a 30-minute time slot at least 24 hours in advance. An algorithm would assign priority to intermodal freight and Euro VI-compliant vehicles. Monitoring would be carried out through licence plate–QR code scans at the Brenner and Kufstein checkpoints, with penalties for vehicles arriving outside their assigned time slot. According to Austrian sources, the software prototypes and the operations centre in Innsbruck are already prepared for pilot testing under the supervision of Asfinag.
The proposal has triggered mixed reactions. Austria is, unsurprisingly, fully in favour, with support from Bavaria on condition that Italy signs on. Austria’s Tyrol region is also in favour, but only if an annual cap of two million transiting industrial vehicles is introduced. The German federal government initially responded coolly under Chancellor Merker, but current Chancellor Mertz has since expressed support, provided Italy agrees and the system does not impose additional costs on hauliers.
Italian road haulage associations are strongly opposed to the slot system, describing it as a disguised form of quota management. Instead, they are calling for the removal of Austrian transit bans and restrictions on industrial vehicles. Equally opposed, though for entirely different reasons, is the Transitforum Tirol, which fears an increase in transit traffic and is pushing for a strict upper limit on vehicle numbers.
The July meeting concluded with the decision to hold a technical roundtable in September between the two countries’ transport ministries, aimed at assessing the legal compatibility of the proposed system with the EU’s principles of free movement of goods and with Italy’s ongoing legal challenge. A political decision could be taken at the EU Transport Council in December 2025. In the meantime, Asfinag and Autobrennero are considering a sixty-day voluntary pilot phase involving hauliers on the Verona–Munich route.
