Brussels, 17/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Some 200 million tonnes of goods will cross the Alps in 2005, two thirds of which by road, which is why it is not only a priority but an absolutely necessity to balance out different forms of transport, said Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for transport, addressing a conference in Chambery (France) on 13 October on sustainable cross-Alpine transport for the year 2020. Rail will only be able to absorb some of the market if there is sufficient, well-adapted and interoperable infrastructure, he warned. Three big interoperable rail routes are planned for 2020, but alongside building four major train tunnels (Lyons-Turin, Lotschberg, Gothard and Brenner), rail motorways are also needed to allow full lorries (engines and loads) to be transported by rail in specially designed trains. France and Italy have been experimenting with such a system since 2003 in the Frejus rail tunnel. The closure of the Frejus road tunnel in June 2005 showed that the fail tunnel was potentially attractive for some destinations and some kinds of goods, explained the Commissioner, warning that the criteria and level of EU funding would be decisive for these priorities but it was still necessary to convince heads of state to be more generous and not stick to short-term balanced budget thresholds because otherwise some of the 30 identified projects will clearly not be completed by 2020 and might even have to be scrapped. Public private partnerships and eurovignette revenue would be key to funding major routes across the Alps. If the revised eurovignette directive makes it possible to raise road tolls by 25% to co-fund infrastructure for other forms of transport, then the Lyons-Turin (France-Italy) project could receive funding (according to DG TRAIN estimates) of around EUR 40 to 60 mil a year, and the Brenner could even get as much as EUR 90 mil a year. Barrot said Europe cannot afford to do without mega-priority investment of more than EUR 25 bn without damaging its structural competitiveness deficit with its global competitors, thereby failing to meet its commitments under the Lisbon Strategy.