[2] Sergio Salvioni was a leading member of the radical wing of the Ticino's Free Democratic Party (FDP).

He paved the way for the Gotthard AlpTransit project with the parliamentary motion "Railway line through the Alps" of 14 June 1984.

He was president of Swissmetro SA from 1995 to 2003,[4] the purpose of which was to promote and develop the futuristic underground partial vacuum magnetic levitation passenger transport system of Switzerland.

At this time, the Swiss federal government was already absorbed with other national infrastructure projects (Bahn 2000, Gotthard AlpTransit, etc.).

New efforts are now being made by the SwissMetro-NG association (NG=New Generation) to promote a modern version of the original project.