International road-rail combined transport is about to lose a significant component: the rolling motorway (Rola) service between Freiburg and Novara, operated by Ralpin. This service enables entire articulated lorries to be transported by rail with their drivers on board. At the beginning of May 2025, Ralpin confirmed that it will cease operations by the end of the year rather than in 2028 as previously announced. The decision is rooted in economic and infrastructure-related reasons which, according to the company, make it unfeasible to continue operations, despite steady demand and a solid occupancy rate.
Launched in the late 1960s as a solution for transferring industrial vehicles from road to rail across the Alps, the Rola offered a practical intermodal transport option for decades, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises lacking the resources to handle unaccompanied transport. The service allowed entire lorries to cross the Alps with their drivers accommodated in passenger carriages. The Rola was initially conceived as a temporary measure pending completion of the New Alpine Railway (Nfta), intended for transporting semi-trailers and containers.
However, the Rola was revived in 2001 with the creation of Ralpin, a joint initiative by Bls, Hupac and SBB. In recent years, despite consistent support from the Swiss Confederation, Ralpin has faced increasingly complex challenges. In 2024, around 10% of scheduled trains were cancelled due to construction works and unforeseen issues across the rail network. Conditions worsened further in the first quarter of 2025, with a 20% drop in operations compared to the same period the previous year (794 trains compared to 1,018 in 2024). This led to a deficit of over 2.2 million Swiss francs (approximately 2.35 million euros) in 2024 alone, despite an 80% occupancy rate.
In 2023, the Swiss Federal Parliament approved a final extension of funding for the Rola, setting the end of service for the end of 2028. However, given the current operational difficulties, Ralpin and the Confederation have agreed to bring the closure forward to the timetable change in December 2025. The company’s three shareholders will ensure funding up to that date to guarantee an orderly shutdown. In the meantime, the Confederation will increase the average subsidy per truck transported until the service ends. Ralpin, which currently employs 16 people, has begun individual consultations to help each employee plan their professional future, considering that the service’s eventual closure had long been anticipated.
The Rola’s experience highlights the challenges faced by combined transport across the Alps. The deterioration of rail infrastructure, particularly in Germany, has undermined service reliability and restricted growth potential. Without supportive political intervention, it will be difficult to preserve the gains made over the past 25 years in shifting heavy freight from road to rail.
Nonetheless, Ralpin’s efforts have not been in vain. Despite rising costs related to energy, terminals and traction, the company has managed to transport up to 80,000 industrial vehicles per year, accounting for around 7% of Switzerland’s transalpine combined transport. A new phase is now beginning, with the need to identify solutions to keep this freight on rail even without the support of the Rola. Some of the loads may temporarily return to road transport while fleets are adapted to accommodate crane-liftable semi-trailers.
On the other hand, the completion of the Nfta has opened up new opportunities for unaccompanied combined transport, and it is in this direction that the evolution of the north-south European corridor is now heading. The closure of the Rola can therefore be seen as a transition, with the hope that the goods returning to the road due to its end will soon find their way back onto the rails.
