At the end of May federal councillor Moritz Leuenberger spoke at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig. He warned against cutting back on investments in transportation infrastructure projects because of the current financial crisis. According to Leuenberger, transportation policy must find sustainable ways to satisfy the increasing demand for mobility in the future. We wholeheartedly agree.

Transportation projects take decades until they are realized. Cutting back spending on transportation projects now will save money in the short term but will lead to a lack of adequate infrastructure in the long run. The time frame of the discussions and thinking about the current crisis rarely goes beyond an economic recovery expected in a couple of years. Nevertheless, we have to make long term decisions to find sustainable solutions for our future transportation needs.

Swissmetro is an innovation that provides much needed transportation capacities in a sustainable way. The economic environment may not be very favorable right now but Swissmetro is viable in the long run, far beyond the next economic recovery. Automakers go bankrupt because they didn’t innovate new solutions, airlines look forward to the economic recovery but at the same time they fear rising oil prices and train passangers keep increasing every year but the costs for maintenance and new capacities explode. That is why Swissmetro needs our support now.