Söder writes a letter to the traffic light minister: CSU boss calls for new toll plan - against heavy traffic in southern Bavaria
Created: 01/28/2022, 02:00 p.m
By: Christian Deutschländer
Markus Söder in the MAN plant in Nuremberg - the prime minister wants to show Brummis a new path (archive image).
© Daniel Karmann/dpa/picture-alliance
The Brenner traffic is a permanent issue in Bavaria.
Markus Söder now wants to show trucks a new way - a corresponding letter to traffic lights and the EU is available to Merkur.
Munich – New toll plan for Bavaria: Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) wants to reduce the flood of trucks to the Brenner with higher special fees for the motorways to the south.
Söder suggests raising the truck toll rates noticeably on the routes through Upper Bavaria.
A problem on the Brenner route is the "relatively low toll fees," writes Söder in a letter to the new Federal Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing (FDP).
The letter is available to the
Munich Merkur
.
Söder sees Bavaria's motorways heavily loaded - and demands new truck tolls from the traffic lights
Thanks to the Eurovignette Directive, up to a 50 percent surcharge is possible under EU law on heavily used sections, writes Söder.
He complains that the previously comparatively low tolls "result in truck drivers from the Netherlands and western Germany choosing a long detour via the Brenner instead of the much shorter Gotthard route, and thus not only the Alpine pass itself, but also the already strong put additional strain on the heavily loaded autobahns in Bavaria".
If Germany, like Austria, would raise the toll rates, the Brenner would become less attractive.
There would then be a "shift from truck traffic to rail and an improvement in the congestion situation on the Brenner".
Söder does not name a specific toll amount, speaking in the letter of a “relative framework”.
CSU boss now recognizes “common understanding” with Tyrol: Söder is targeting the Brenner location
The idea of the toll is not entirely new; in South Tyrol, for example, it has been discussed for years. Söder is now addressing this for the first time. His letter to Berlin - it is also available to the EU Commission - does not contain any shrill attacks on the neighbors in Tyrol and their block handling. Söder points to massive disadvantages for the environment and road safety, as well as disadvantages for the transport chains, he calls for EU intervention. But he also speaks of a “common understanding” between Tyrol and Bavaria that the situation on the Brenner route needs to be improved.
At the same time, in the letter to Wissing, Söder calls for more speed when planning the northern approach to the Brenner Pass.
The rail route south of Munich must run “largely underground”.
The aim is “maximum resident friendliness, i.e. noise and landscape protection”.
There is considerable local resistance to the previously proposed, mostly above-ground routes.
(
CD
)
