Important EU grants set to help transform rail freight transport across Europe

The European Union will co-finance four projects aimed at preparing the implementation of four Rail Freight Corridors across Europe with a total of €5.7 million from the TEN-T Programme. The projects focus on establishing fully operational rail freight corridors as required by EU Regulation 913/2010, providing optimal rail freight transport and increasing rail transport competitiveness across the EU.

The four projects were selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call.

The first, which will receive €1.3 million in EU co-financing, will prepare the managerial structures and activities needed to establish Rail Freight Corridor 2, a trans-national rail freight axis starting in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and then, via Belgium, Luxembourg and France, reaching Basel (Switzerland) and Lyon (France).

The second project, which will receive just over €1.6 million in EU co-financing, covers the preparatory studies and activities needed for the organisation of Rail Freight Corridor 8. This axis runs from the key ports of Bremerhaven (Germany), Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Antwerp (Belgium) to Kaunas (Lithuania), crossing northern Europe on an east-west path.

The third project, receiving nearly €1.7 million in EU support, concerns the establishment of Rail Freight Corridor 6, which runs along the south of Europe from Almeria and Madrid in Spain to Záhony in Hungary, crossing France, Italy and Slovenia.

The final project will receive just over €1 million in EU co-financing to prepare the implementation of Rail Freight Corridor 4, which runs from Lisbon, Sines and Leixões (Portugal) to Algeciras, Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Irun (Spain) and all the way up through Paris and into northern and eastern France. The project will undertake the required analyses for the freight corridor and prepare the implementation plan.

Establishing the managerial and operational structures of these four rail corridors is of paramount importance as they will have to coordinate and bring together all the relevant stakeholders to ensure an improved rail freight flow along each individual corridor, to enhance the interoperability and to foster cooperation among the Rail Freight Corridors.

All four projects will be managed by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency and are set to be completed by December 2014.

For more information:

http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/multi_country/2011-eu-95088-s.htm

http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/multi_country/2011-eu-95090-s.htm

http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/multi_country/2011-eu-95093-s.htm

http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/ten-t_projects/ten-t_projects_by_country/multi_country/2011-eu-95107-s.htm

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