German government prepares nationwide Gigaliner trials

18 Jan 2010. The federal government of Germany has for the first time voiced its plans on the upcoming nationwide trials with Gigaliners. In a letter, answering a parliamentary question put by the social democratic party (SPD), the transport ministry’s parliamentary secretary of state, Andreas Scheuer, responded for the government (parliamentary number 17/294). Therein it says: "In spring 2010 the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development plans a preparatory working group of representatives of federal and state governments to plan the nationwide trial." This means not less than that the nationwide trials in Germany, which have already been announced in the government’s coalition agreement, are now becoming concrete.

However the government has difficulties to explain the necessity of the trials. The reply to the question - what contribution it was expecting LHVs to make towards sustainable mobility – was as follows: “In general, the nationwide trials are also intended to provide information on how much more freight will be transported per heavy goods vehicle while maintaining a maximum permissible weight of 40 tonnes. This could make possible a reduction in the total number of commercial vehicles or journeys, which would additionally lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions and traffic noise.”

What the government is ignoring here: Among researchers and people in the industry there is complete agreement that licensing mega trucks for regular use would result in more heavy goods vehicles on German motorways and not less. The additional loading space would make road freight transport around 25 percent cheaper. In other words, there would even greater cost incentive to use the motorways for freight storage, leading to a modal shift away from the inland waterways and the railways to the roads. Nationwide trials will not provide any insight into this issue because the transport industry will not be able to base any decisions on the narrow scope offered by these pilot trials. Only when the next step is taken and mega trucks are licensed for everyday deployment will major changes be made to logistics plans.

At least the federal government has admitted that existing parking spaces for goods vehicles at motorway services are too small for LHVs. Taxpayers’ money will have to be spent on providing additional parking for these dangerous and environmentally damaging mega trucks, not to mention the fact that traffic roundabouts and railway level crossings will also need to be upgraded.

Additional information: