Switzerland’s key north–south alpine arteries fell silent this morning after the Federal Roads Office ordered the immediate closure of the Gotthard, Grimsel and Furka passes following heavy overnight snowfall and a rock-fall warning. According to the official Alpine Pass information portal, the Gotthard Pass shut at 08:09 on 22 October and will remain closed “until further notice”, with the next safety inspection scheduled for 08:00 on 23 October. The Grimsel and Furka routes, which link Bern, Valais and Ticino, were also placed under extended winter closure earlier this week, while neighbouring Klausen Pass reopened briefly but now requires full winter equipment. The closures come almost a month earlier than the median shutdown date and cut one of the most important surface links between German-speaking Switzerland and the southern canton of Ticino. Although the A2 Gotthard road tunnel and the Lötschberg/Simplon rail corridors remain open, trucks carrying dangerous goods, oversize machinery or live animals are normally routed over the mountain pass in shoulder seasons to avoid the tunnel restrictions. Logisticians estimate that up to 850 heavy-goods vehicles a day will now have to detour via the San Bernardino or pay for rail piggy-back transfer, adding 90–120 minutes per journey and CHF 250–400 in extra costs. Tourism operators are also feeling the pinch. Hoteliers in Andermatt and Airolo report cancellations from hikers and motor-home travellers who had planned to cross the scenic Tremola road before winter. Car-rental firms have begun to waive one-way fees for vehicles left on the “wrong” side of the Alps, while the PostBus network is revising timetables to maintain valley connectivity. For business travellers the main impact is schedule reliability: passenger cars may still transit the 17-km road tunnel, but queues can exceed 60 minutes at peak times when weather or incidents block the single-tube bore. Cargo owners are being urged to switch to combined transport via the 57-km Gotthard Base Tunnel, although capacity is tight because of earlier maintenance on the Rhine–Alpine rail line in Germany. Authorities advise companies moving time-critical consignments to factor in at least one extra day for deliveries to Ticino and northern Italy until conditions stabilize. A further cold front is forecast for 24 October, and transport planners are warning that the early shutdown could last all season if rock-fall remediation proves complex.
Source: Alpenpässe.ch
