Toll on all federal trunk roads successfully started
Berlin,
As of today, all federal trunk roads in Germany are subject to toll for motor vehicles and vehicle combinations with a gross vehicle weight of 7.5 tonnes or more. The toll road network in Germany now includes around 52,000 kilometres of motorways and federal trunk roads. The Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Steffen Bilger visited the toll operator Toll Collect in Berlin last night to experience the planned start of the toll extension for himself.
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer: "The truck toll on all federal trunk roads can start on schedule. In the years 2018 to 2022, an average of 7.2 billion euros in toll revenues will be brought in annually, which we will invest in modern and safe roads throughout Germany. That is about 2.5 billion more annually than before. This benefits not only our companies, which depend on an efficient infrastructure, but also all drivers.".
The technical adaptation of the truck toll system included automatic and manual toll collection as well as enforcement. The further developments were introduced gradually and implemented according to schedule. With today's start of the toll requirement on all federal trunk roads, this large-scale project comes to a successful conclusion. Hanns-Karsten Kirchmann, CEO of Toll Collect GmbH: "The challenge was to manage a complex project in line with requirements and, at the same time, ensure regular business operations with the usual quality and reliability. Toll Collect employees have completed both tasks with confidence. The flexibility of the toll system and the great extent of Toll Collect's expertise have once again been made clear."
Representatives of the toll operator's shareholders also attended the evening event for Toll Collect at Potsdamer Platz.
Dr Thomas Kremer, the Executive Board member of Deutsche Telekom AG responsible for Toll Collect, acknowledged Toll Collect's performance: "The employees of Toll Collect have once again demonstrated that they can implement large IT projects on time and within the agreed budget. Deutsche Telekom supports this cutting-edge technology made in Germany. For Telekom, the toll business is an important cornerstone for the entire IT field. We want to be the leading toll operator in Europe."
On behalf of Daimler AG, Tom Schneider, Head of Operations Daimler Financial Services for Europe, emphasised the toll system's pioneering technological role: "The satellite-based toll system has been developed continuously and with high quality by Toll Collect employees since it went into operation. This made it possible to successfully implement the highly complex expansion within just 24 months."
Jérôme Lejeune, Executive Director of the Electronic Toll Collection Department at VINCI Highways and former division head at Toll Collect, recalled: "Toll Collect has repeatedly demonstrated its toll expertise. We believe in the future of Toll Collect GmbH!"
More companies affected by the toll requirement
Estimates suggest that the vehicles of around 30,000 companies from a wide variety of sectors will be affected by the toll requirement. Companies should check whether they have vehicles or vehicle combinations with a gross vehicle weight of 7.5 tonnes or more in their fleet and then decide how they wish to pay the toll in future.
Changes to the automatic log-on process
From October 2017 until the end of March 2018, the approximately 1.1 million On-Board Units installed in trucks were gradually converted from a decentralised system to a centralised system for toll collection. The On-Board Units send time-delayed and encrypted journey data, and vehicle features relevant to the toll, to the Toll Collect computer centre. The toll for the route sections subject to toll that the truck travelled on is calculated there.
As part of the further development, the technical framework for differentiating the toll according to weight classes for future toll collection and enforcement was created.
Manual log-on
The further developed manual log-on process offers various options for paying the toll charges in future. The new manual log-on is centred primarily on the Toll Collect app and its use on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, it is possible to log on via stationary PCs or 1,100 new toll terminals. The new toll terminals supplement the online log-on.
Enforcement pillars
In future, enforcement pillars will check whether the toll requirement has been complied with on federal trunk roads. The enforcement pillars supplement mobile enforcement by the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG). Enforcement gantries will not be erected on federal trunk roads. The enforcement pillars will feature similar technological capabilities as the enforcement gantries installed on motorways. The approximately 600 enforcement pillars, which are four metres high and blue/green, check whether passing vehicles are subject to toll and whether toll charges were properly paid.
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