Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic begins operation

The first phase of the Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic launched on 10 November 2015 boosting the rail freight between North Sea ports and Poland.

Following several years of preparatory works, the first section of the Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic will open will an aim to boost the attractiveness and efficiency of rail freight compared to other modes of transport.

Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic includes more than 6000 km of railway lines

Co-financed by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility, the new rail freight line includes more than 6000 km of railway lines and connects the most important North Sea ports with Central Europe and the Baltic States. The line is, together with eight other rail freight corridors, part of the European rail freight network created on the basis of Regulation (EU) 913/2010.

The Corridor runs through six EU Member States: starting in the North Sea ports of Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerpen spreading in central Germany through Aachen – Hannover/Berlin – Warsaw – Terespol (Poland-Belarus border) / Kaunas / Falkenberg – Prague / Wrocław – Katowice. The line will eventually travel towards Estonia and Latvia and finally terminate at the Poland – Ukraine border.

From 10th November 2015 applicants will be able to order train paths for the whole corridor from the Corridor One-Stop-Shop (C-OSS) – a new single contact point for international rail freight along the Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic. C-OSS will act on behalf of all infrastructure managers (Infrabel – Belgium, ProRail – The Netherlands, DB Netz AG – Germany, Správa železniční dopravní cesty – The Czech Republic, PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. – Poland, AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” – Lithuania) and the Lithuanian allocation body.

First offer of the Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Baltic including the reserve capacity for the Timetable 2016 will be published on 10th November 2015. The catalogue including the pre-arranged paths offer will be published at latest on 11th January 2016 for the Timetable 2017.