The planned Swiss freight metro has achieved a new milestone. The association Cargo sous terrain has been turned into a public limited company, and the existing members of the association will become shareholders. The main shareholders have been appointed to the Board of Directors, including representatives from Coop, Migros, Mettler2Invest, Swisscom, Zürcher Kantonalbank or ecos. The Board of Directors is chaired by Peter Sutterlüti, who was previously the president and delegate of the association.
Transforming the association into a public limited company means that the necessary legal form has been created to bring future investors on board for the coming phases and subsequent implementation of the project. It also fulfils a condition of the federal council to begin the legislative process in favour of Cargo sous terrain.
The initiators of Cargo sous terrain want to move freight transport underground. The network would stretch from Geneva to St.Gallen with lines to Basel, Lucerne and Thun. The new public limited company is currently holding talks with investors to finance the construction approval phase, which includes planning the first section from Härkingen-Niederbipp to Zurich. The goal is to secure funding in the amount of CHF 100 million for this phase.
The freight metro will be built with private sector funding alone.