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At its meeting on June 25, 2025, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the Transport Master Plan, part underground freight transport. This establishes the spatial planning basis for the planned underground freight transport system Cargo sous terrain (CST).
(Bern) The private company CST plans to construct an underground logistics system through the Mittelland. With the Federal Act on Underground Freight Transport (UGüTG), which came into force on August 1, 2022, the federal government established the legal basis for this.
Because the tunnel system has significant impacts on space and the environment (e.g., regarding groundwater and traffic), the federal government has included a new section on underground freight transport (SUG) in the Transport Master Plan. This section coordinates the spatial planning interests between CST, the federal government, and the four affected cantons. The SUG includes, among other things, the routing (corridor) of the planned first section between Härkingen and Zurich, as well as the boundaries of the hub locations.
Hearing of Cantons and Municipalities
In the first half of 2024, the affected cantons and municipalities had the opportunity to express their views during a hearing on the new section of the Transport Master Plan. The submitted statements addressed issues such as groundwater concerns, the expected traffic volume at the hub locations, and the handling of excavation material from the tunnel construction. The critical comments will be incorporated into the upcoming further development of the SUG. No deviations from the cantonal guidelines were identified.
One of Several Prerequisites
Master plans are an important and binding instrument of the federal government for coordinating and planning spatial development. The Transport Master Plan coordinates the entire transport system, aligns it with spatial development, and thereby creates planning certainty for the federal government, cantons, and municipalities. The entry in the Transport Master Plan, part underground freight transport, is one of several prerequisites for CST for the later issuance of a building permit.
Photo: © Cargo sous Terrain
