5% of their entire GDP on a single project? Let me know when the get FUNDING, not a "necessary legal framework". This seems like a ridiculously high investment, that would also have a much higher ongoing maintenance cost than surface rail. Given that they claim it will reduce heavy trucks on the roads by 40%, it sounds like they're going to have to directly compete on price with existing shipping. You would think someone writing an article about something like this would at least try to compare the costs of shipping freight via this concept vs. the existing systems.
This article is short on details, but what I liked most was how forward thinking European are about the future. When Americans are questioning global warming science, alternative energies and bullying EV drivers with their monster trucks, the people of Europe have decided to not let corporate interests dictate what the future will look like. EU gets the research done, they figure out the funding from public and private sources and they move forward. Switzerland has decided they no longer want trucks on their roads, because they pollute, damage the asphalt and exacerbate traffic. Yet the goods they carrying are necessary. Switzerland already required transnational shipments to be moved by rail. This is taking the next logistics step of bringing goods to cities. Will it be outrageously expensive? Hell yes! But the Swiss people have decided it's worth it to preserve their quality of life. I get it, on the Maslow pyramid they're a couple levels up from us, and I envy them.