TRIESTE – The possible closure of a railway section south of Munich, for a technology upgrade, could create a critical scenario for freight traffic along the Brenner axis and calls for immediate political and technical coordination among the territories involved.
The issue was at the centre of the Conference of Presidents of the Brenner Railway Action Community (CAB), which met yesterday in Trento at the seat of the Autonomous Province, with the 2025–2026 CAB presidency held by Trentino. Participants included, among others, the transport councillors of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Land of Tyrol, the head of the Office for the Development of the Brenner Corridor and TEN-T corridors, Massimo Negriolli, and the President of the Trento Chamber of Commerce, Andrea De Zordo.
The provincial councillor for spatial planning, energy, transport, sport and protected areas recalled the work carried out by CAB in 2025 on the study of freight intermodality along the Munich–Verona axis, aimed at mapping in a comprehensive way existing and planned infrastructure. This analysis also had an operational step in the workshop held in Trento on 27 January.
During the meeting, strong concern emerged over the hypothesis of a closure of a railway line section by Deutsche Bahn, required for the technological modernisation of the infrastructure. As highlighted, a total closure of up to five months could generate very serious disruption, further aggravated by the current slowdowns affecting alternative road traffic in Tyrolean territory. The risk is heavy consequences for intermodal transport and, above all, for the free movement of goods along one of Europe’s main corridors.
The critical issues do not concern transport operators alone, but also potential economic impacts on end consumers, in terms of higher logistics costs. For this reason, the matter was described as a priority, with the need to assess alternatives to a full line closure and to share in advance how the Bavarian worksite will be managed.
In the broader framework, CAB reiterated as a strategic goal improving the efficiency of regional and local freight transport, reducing road traffic and promoting the transition towards decarbonised transport modes. For the Autonomous Province of Trento, the central theme remains intermodality, understood as a lever to shift freight from road to rail.
Within this context fall the major infrastructure works currently under way, from the Brenner Base Tunnel to the Trento rail bypass. Among the objectives of CAB’s Trentino presidency are also enhancing intermodality in the short- and medium-term scenarios—marked by reduced motorway capacity due to scheduled maintenance—optimising rail freight transport in response to growing demand, and simplifying cross-border procedures through stronger coordination among regions.
On the sidelines of the Conference, the iMONITRAF! agreement was also signed, ensuring the continuation of the traffic monitoring project along the main Alpine passes.
