TEN-T – Connecting Europe – Core network corridors

Brussels, Belgium (PortSEurope) June 19, 2017 - TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks) envisages coordinated improvements to primary roads, railways, inland waterways, airports, seaports, inland ports and traffic management systems, providing integrated and intermodal long-distance, high-speed routes. Key networks involving European ports are: Trans-European Inland Waterway network and inland ports; Trans-European Seaport network; Motorways of the Sea; Trans-European Combined Transport network; Trans-European Shipping Management and Information network. The EU promotes the networks by a combination of leadership, co-ordination, issuance of guidelines and funding aspects of development. These projects are technically and financially managed by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA), established by the European Commission in October 2006. "Core network corridors" were introduced to facilitate the coordinated implementation of the core network. They bring together public and private resources and concentrate EU support from the CEF, particularly to: remove bottlenecks, build missing cross-border connections and promote modal integration and interoperability. They also aim at: integrating (as ongoing modal measure, these corridors shall be integrated into the multi-modal TEN-T) rail freight corridors, promoting clean fuel and other innovative transport solutions, advancing telematics applications for efficient infrastructure use, integrating urban areas into the TEN-T, enhancing safety. Nine core network corridors are identified in the annex to the CEF Regulation, which includes a list of projects pre-identified for possible EU funding during the period 2014-2020, based on their added value for TEN-T development and their maturity status. The following nine core network corridors have been identified and will function along the lines described: Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor is a crucial north-south axis for the European economy. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Finland to Sweden and passing through Germany, the Alps and Italy, it links the major urban centres and ports of Scandinavia and Northern Germany to continue to the industrialised high production centres of Southern Germany, Austria and Northern Italy further to the Italian ports and Valletta (Malta). The most important projects in this corridor are the fixed Fehmarnbelt crossing and Brenner base tunnel, including their access routes. It extends, across the sea, from southern Italy and Sicily to Malta. North Sea-Baltic Corridor connects the ports of the Eastern shore of the Baltic Sea with the ports of the North Sea. The corridor will connect Finland with Estonia by ferry, provide modern road and rail transport links between the three Baltic States on the one hand and Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium on the other. Between the Odra River and German, Dutch and Flemish ports, it also includes inland waterways, such as the Mittelland-Kanal. The most important project is Rail Baltic - a European standard gauge railway between Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas and north-eastern Poland. North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor stretches from Ireland and the north of UK through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France. This multimodal corridor, comprising inland waterways in Benelux and France, aims not only at offering better multimodal services between the North Sea ports, the Maas, Rhine, Scheldt, Seine, Saone and Rhone river basins and the ports of Fos-sur-Mer and Marseille (France), but also better interconnecting the British Isles with continental Europe. Baltic-Adriatic Corridor is one of the most important trans-European road and railway axes. It connects the Baltic with the Adriatic Sea, through industrialized areas between southern Poland (Upper Silesia), Vienna and Bratislava, the eastern Alpine region and northern Italy. It comprises important railway projects such as Semmering base tunnel and Koralm railway in Austria and cross-border sections between Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Orient/East-Med Corridor connects the maritime interfaces of the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas, allowing optimising the use of the ports concerned and the related Motorways of the Sea. Including Elbe as inland waterway, it will improve the multimodal connections between Northern Germany, the Czech Republic, the Pannonian region and Southeast Europe. It extends, across the sea, from Greece to Cyprus. The Rhine-Alpine Corridor is one of the busiest freight routes of Europe, connecting the North Sea ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp to the Mediterranean basin in Genoa, via Switzerland and some of the major economic centres in the Rhein-Ruhr, the Rhein-Main-Neckar, regions and the agglomeration of Milan in Northern Italy. This multimodal corridor includes the Rhine as inland waterway. Key projects are the base tunnels, partly already completed, in Switzerland and their access routes in Germany and Italy. Atlantic Corridor links the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and the ports of Le Havre and Rouen to Paris and further to Mannheim/Strasbourg, with high speed rail lines and parallel conventional ones, including also the Seine as inland waterway. The maritime dimension plays a crucial role in this corridor. Rhine-Danube Corridor, with the Main and Danube waterway as its backbone, connects the central regions around Strasbourg and Frankfurt via southern Germany to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and finally the Black Sea, with an important branch from Munich (Germany) to Prague (Czech Republic), Zilina, Kosice (Slovakia) and the Ukrainian border. Mediterranean Corridor links the Iberian Peninsula with the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. It follows the Mediterranean coastlines of Spain and France, crosses the Alps towards the east through northern Italy, leaving the Adriatic coast in Slovenia and Croatia towards Hungary. Apart from the Po River and some other canals in northern Italy, it consists of road and rail. Key railway projects along this corridor are the links Lyon (France)-Turin (Italy) and the section Venice (Italy)-Ljubljana (Slovenia). The objective of infrastructure development along these corridors – and on the core network as a whole – is to complete seamless connections for the sake of efficient, future-oriented and high-quality transport services for citizens and economic operators. The 2011 White Paper sets out a range of policy measures which aim at removing remaining barriers to the internal market (with a strong emphasis on the railway and maritime sectors), improving transport safety and security, boosting quality services within and across transport modes, innovating to make the system more efficient, sustainable and user-friendly and to advance the transport industry's global competitiveness as well as, not least, ensuring efficient connections with global markets. Two key transport policy areas, which are closely related to infrastructure development, have been provided with a TEN-T governance form which is comparable to that of the nine "geographical" corridors: the establishment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and the promotion of Motorways of the Sea which aim at relieving land transport corridors and may constitute their "maritime leg". Source: European Commission Copyright (c) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2017.

TEN-T – Connecting Europe – Core network corridors

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TEN-T – Connecting Europe – Core network corridors

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