The quality of connectivity describes how good the transport options are for an area. Until now, there has only been a uniform standard available for public transport. A research package, led by INFRAS, has now developed a new methodology and draft standards.  

More traffic, more freight on the railway, and the growth of residential areas on either side of the Gotthard portal: INFRAS, along with partner offices, was commissioned by the federal government to investigate the impact of the Gotthard axis's new rail infrastructure on traffic and space. However, the Gotthard tunnel is just one factor at play. 

Forty to fifty million charging stations will be needed globally by 2030 in order to provide electricity to the growing number of electric vehicles. This will result in a large number of business models for investing and marketing charging infrastructure, as a joint white paper from INFRAS and SUSI Partners shows.

Traffic volumes in the town of Thun may increase by as much as 25 percent up to 2030. A new, holistic traffic concept sets out 40 measures to achieve sustainable mobility for the future. Public transport and cycling are particularly relevant.

Once the air force will have moved from Buochs Airport in the Canton of Nidwalden, it shall be opened for civil use. The project brings up many questions. INFRAS examined them in depth and lead as well as moderated through the process with its political actors.

New tram routes in the city of Basle, direct accessibility to the A18 motorway at Aesch and an upgrading to a mobility hub of the border and customs point Lörrach-Riehen: These are important measures of the new agglomeration programme of the Basle region. The programme has been developed in joint collaboration by many actors from Germany, France and Switzerland. INFRAS has accompanied the process closely and has contributed to establishing the programme report.  

In collaboration with the federal offices concerned, the Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE calculated how transport in Switzerland will develop up to 2040. In the reference scenario, the person-kilometres travelled will increase by a quarter by 2040. This is slightly less than projected population growth. By 2040, the share of all transport accounted for by public transport will rise by four percentage points. Assuming a 46 % increase in GDP, both the volume of freight transport and the tonne-kilometres transported will rise by 37 %. The cost of transporting freight by road will increase more than the cost of rail transport, so the modal split in terms of tonne-kilometres will shift by two percentage points towards the railways. (Photo: ARE)

The PLR Cadastre comprises the most important public-law restrictions to private property in Switzerland. In a first phase, eight pilot cantons are implementing the Cadastre until the end of the year 2015. The office responsible at the federal level, swisstopo, has commissioned the present study. INFRAS analysed and compared the implementation organisations and the technical solutions chosen by the pilot cantons. The results are intended as a basis for decision-making for the rest of the cantons implementing the Cadastre in the second phase.The evaluation team identified several important factors for a successful implementation of the PLR Cadastre. For example, the cantons should clarify responsibilities, processes and legal procedures to be applied in case of inconsistent plans as early as possible. Regarding the technical implementation, generic solutions transferrable between cantons are recommended.

Deep geological repositories (and their surface facilities respectively) have economic, ecological and social impacts on a siting region. These need to be identified objectively and as early as possible. It is with these objectives in mind that the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) commissioned a socioeconomic and ecological study in 2011 for all the six potential siting regions. INFRAS, together with Rütter Soceco and Ecosens, carried out the expert study. Now the final report of the study is available containing the following results:Economy: The more the construction and civil engineering as well as the metalworking sectors are represented in a region, the more added value, employment and, as a consequence, tax income are to be expected when a deep geological repository is constructed. Regions with a comparatively high proportion of sensitive sectors (tourism and agriculture), however, suffer a potentially negative impact from the presence of a deep geological repository. Environment: The highest impact concerning surface facilities arise in regard to consumption of land, crop rotation areas, excavated material as well as wildlife corridors. There is a low or no impact at all in regard to protected areas and ground water protection zones as these areas have been excluded on the basis of the site location process already. Society: The more the settlement area is dense, the aspired settlement growth is high and the surface facilities are well visible, the more a site is appraised as being negative. However, if there is industry and commerce represented in the vicinity of the site already the appraisal is less negative.All documents: www.bfe.admin.ch/soew