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The 28 EU member states and Norway and Switzerland have agreed to take action in the short-term to improve international rail freight. A special declaration to this end was signed at the annual three-day conference on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Governments will work closely with railway managers, freight carriers and consignors, freight terminals, transhippers and parties in industry to achieve the declaration’s goals.

Development of core network

In a sector-wide declaration, parties in the sector have affirmed that they will continue working to further develop the existing railway corridors, which form the core network for international rail freight. This should make it easier for all parties to run freight trains across the European continent. Europe is currently covered by nine corridors, running in all directions. The Rhine-Alpine corridor, for instance, connects Rotterdam to Genoa. Traffic along each corridor is centrally coordinated.

Points for improvement

The declaration signed by the governments and sector parties yesterday set out many points that will be improved. For instance:

• There will be real-time exchange of data between transport partners.
• Decisions on noise caused by freight trains will be made in 2017.
• Performance of international freight transport in all countries will be measured and assessed using uniform methods.
• In identifying the main infrastructure bottlenecks in international rail freight, the focus will be on railway corridors. Introduction of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) will be adapted in line with these findings.
• Parties in the freight sector will be encouraged to harmonise their work methods and to coordinate their rail engineering works with neighbouring countries.

The parties’ response to the agreements and the actual improvements made will be monitored over the next two years.

For more information, go to www.tentdays.eu/2016

Documents

• RFC Declaration Publicatie | 21-06-2016

• Corridor Sector Statement Publicatie | 21-06-2016