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Three publications on the outcomes of the latest study initiatives on transport in mountain regions have been recently published by the European Academy EURAC in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of the Environment.

The carbon footprint of a ski school in France has been measured for the first time.

The transport ministers of Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, France and Slovenia have commissioned an in-depth analysis relating to the introduction of the Alpine Crossing Exchange. At a meeting of the ministers in Vienna/A a body was entrusted with clarifying the preconditions for the implementation of the three traffic management systems, specifically the Alpine Crossing Exchange, the emissions trading scheme and "Toll plus".

The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA International) very much welcomes the fact that the EU now intends to set a course that reflects the true costs of transport and is taking a first step by amending Directive 2006/38/EC ("Eurovignette III"). The Directive must also relieve the burden on the Alpine region, which is particularly sensitive ecologically and whose population has to bear particularly high external costs; it must also contribute more to sustainability in freight transport. One important step is a sound directive on transport infrastructure costs, i.e. one that includes the efficient and consistent allocation of all relevant costs. Everyone stands to benefit from its success: the population, with a healthier, safer and better quality of life, and the transport industry, with more reliable transit routes. Indeed, the risks affect the local population as much as they affect those travelling through.

The "Alpine Pearls" co-operation venture is organising a "softly mobile" winter trip through the Pearls of the Alps between 19 and 30 January 2009 - specially for members of the press.

ACCESS, the transnational project, was launched in Genoa/I at the end of October. Its objective is to improve the provision of basic public services in rural mountain regions using innovations in organisation.

For some time now Switzerland's Bundesrat [Federal Council] has been wanting to push ahead with relocating freight-related transit traffic from the road to the rail by creating an Alpine transit exchange. Transit quotas for freight on the road could then be auctioned from the exchange.

Transport across the Alps is at the centre of the Final Conference of the Interreg III B projects MONITRAF and ALPNAP, which have been running since 2005. The Conference is entitled "Transport across the Alps. Approaches and common measures for sustainable transport development in the Alpine region".

Last weekend saw the official inauguration ceremony of the Lötschberg base tunnel in Switzerland after a construction period of eight years. At 34.6 km it is the third longest railway tunnel in the world. The new link between the Bernese Oberland and the Valais drastically reduces the journey time.

(6.6.2007) A new book entitled "SWOMM - Scientific Workshop on Mountain Mobility and Transport" published as part of the Interreg IIIB project AlpFRail summarises the results of the international workshops SWOMM 2005 and SWOMM 2006.