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At its meeting on June 25, 2025, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the Master Plan for Transport, 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 build 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 created the legal basis for this.
Since 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 Master Plan for Transport. 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 perimeters 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 regarding the new section of the Master Plan for Transport. The submitted statements addressed, among other things, the groundwater issues, the expected traffic volume at the hub locations, and the handling of the 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 Master Plan for Transport coordinates the entire transport system, aligns it with spatial development, and thus creates planning security for the federal government, cantons, and municipalities. The entry in the Master Plan for Transport, part underground freight transport, is one of several prerequisites for CST for the later issuance of a building permit.
Photo: © Cargo sous Terrain
