Swiss Cargo sous terrain receives additional boost

The innovative logistics system Cargo sous terrain (CST) is at a crucial milestone: Since the beginning of the year, Parliament has been debating the legal basis for this generational project. The responsible parliamentary committee fully supports the law. At the same time, five new main investors have joined, broadening the financial base and taking seats on the CST board of directors.

(Basel) With the Federal Act on Underground Freight Transport (UGüTG), Cargo sous terrain receives the necessary legal foundation to implement the project under secure conditions. The Committee for Transport and Telecommunications of the Council of States (KVF-S) has supported the law in its deliberations without opposition. CST expects that the business will be ready for a decision in the Council of States during the summer session. At the same time, CST is continuously working to broaden its financial base, which further strengthens the Swiss majority in the shareholder structure. Through successful investor acquisition, the available capital has increased by CHF 7.8 million within a year. A total of CHF 100 million has already been secured for planning up to the building permit stage.

Location search for future hubs

In parallel to the legislative process, CST is advancing its own project and product development. The strategically important sub-project Smart City / Intercity Logistics has brought two sub-projects to market readiness and will be active in the market with these in 2021. The Digitization & IT sector has begun work on CST’s IT platform, which forms the basis for the market launch of the city logistics products. Another important element is the search for locations for the future CST hubs along the first section of the route. In addition, CST is preparing the spatial planning processes at the federal (master plan) and cantonal (guideline plan) levels in close coordination, so that these can start immediately after the law comes into effect. Additionally, CST is strengthening and systematizing the already inherent sustainability aspects. Besides ensuring emission-free and thus climate-neutral delivery traffic, a working group is preparing construction in compliance with recognized sustainability standards. With these concrete steps towards operability, CST is already specifying its intention to become an important part of Swiss logistics in a sustainable overall logistics system.

Strong commitments from new investors

At the 2021 General Assembly, CST welcomed five new investors from Switzerland and abroad as part of a capital increase approved by the shareholders: the Migros Pension Fund, the Migros Aare Cooperative, Siemens Switzerland AG, and ERNE AG Bauunternehmung join the shareholder structure as Swiss companies, while the Belgian wire manufacturer Bekaert brings valuable tunnel construction expertise to CST. With these companies, CST AG is not only expanding its shareholder base financially but also structurally with the entry of the first pension fund and valuable know-how for customer-oriented design and construction of the overall logistics system. This corresponds to the idea of privately financed, collaborative realization of Cargo sous terrain – as a visionary project that is market-oriented and developed step by step in collaboration with it. (Further information about the new main shareholders can be found at the end of this press release).
Graphic: © Cargo sous terrain