Germany Restricting Road Haulage
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ABILL to curtail the expansion of long-distance heavy goods traffic by road in Germany was approved by the
Federal Cabinet last week. It will impose heavy additional taxation on long-distance road transport to raise funds to improve the roads.
A decline of goods traffic on the railways resulted in a deficit of 510m. marks during 1953. Among proposals designed to restrict road haulage competition is one which would prohibit the carriage of certain goods by road over distances exceeding about 32 miles.
A request by the railways for the Government to prohibit long-distance delivery of goods from factories by road did not succeed, a n d instead there is to be a higher tax against that class of transport.
Some of the money from the additional taxation will be used to improve ordinary roads, and a substantial sum will be spent on extending the autobahn system. A public corporation is expected to be set up to build about 370 miles of new autobahnen at a cost of some £100m. in about seven years.