Catherine Trautmann makes these statements in a video interview in the run-up to RailTech Europe. There she will give a presentation on the important developments in this international freight corridor on 30 March. The North Sea-Baltic rail corridor connects Eastern and Western Europe and runs from Belgium and the Netherlands via Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to Estonia.

Interconnectivity

According to Trautmann, interconnectivity between different countries is an important aspect that is currently being worked on. The introduction of the European safety system ERTMS will make it easier for trains to cross the border, because there is no need to change signaling systems. “I am working with my colleague coordinator to close the ERTMS gap. Steps must be taken to implement this system in Berlin and Warsaw.” She also names the Rail Baltica project as a major step in increasing interoperability between the various EU countries on the rail corridor.

Rail Baltica

Rail Baltica is the largest rail project in the history of the Baltic States. With the application of the standard European track width of 1,435 millimeters and ERTMS, the railway is the missing link on the North Sea-Baltic rail corridor.

The completely new 870-kilometre rail link will connect Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and, indirectly, Finland. Rail Baltica consists of an electrified track, which both freight and passenger trains can use. Passenger trains and freight trains will be able to run on this high-speed line from 2026.

In addition to three multimodal terminals in the Baltic States, seven new passenger stations will be added to the route in Talinn, Pärnu, Riga Central, Riga Airport, Panevėžys, Kauas and Vilnius respectively. The project is partly financed from the European Connecting European Facility (CEF) fund with the aim of better connecting European countries.

Rail corridor priorities

According to Trautmann, promoting interoperability, removing obstacles to long freight trains and better connecting the cities on the route with a high-speed connection are “top priorities” of the work on the North Sea-Baltic rail corridor. “This is an opportunity and the regulations of the TEN-T networks are very useful for this. We hope that by 2030 we will have completed all projects in the corridor.”

She points out that digitisation plays an important role in the Rail Baltica project. “Customers want to know where their goods are and when they will arrive. Digitalisation and innovative systems will ensure that the tracing of goods offers great advantages for customers.” Because Rail Baltica is constructing completely new railway lines, she believes it is easier to include innovative solutions in the implementation from the start.

European Year of Rail

According to her, the European Year of Rail is important because ‘it shows what rail has to offer’. “It changes the perception of the railways because knowledge is shared about its benefits. In addition to the good performance of the rail, it is a compatible transport system in fighting climate change. It is a sustainable means of transport, but it also has social benefits.”

In addition to the various projects in the corridor, work is being done at European level on proper diversion routes for maintenance work or accidents. “We must have diversion routes that ensure that freight transport does not come to a standstill. Predictable and reliable transport is one of the results we hope to achieve in the Year of the Rail.”

European Railway Award

Trautmann was born in 1951 in Strasbourg, France, and has had a long political career. Between 1997 and 2000, she was Minister of Culture in France and between 1989 and 1997 and 2004 and 2014 she was a Member of the European Parliament. She was also mayor of Strasbourg and president of the port of Strasbourg for a number of years. In 2014 she was appointed by the European Commission as coordinator of the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T rail corridor. In 2019 Trautmann won the European Railway Award for her efforts in international rail transport.

Catherine Trautmann will give a presentation on March 30 during RailTech Europe, which will be devoted to the European Year of Rail 2021 on that day. Also Elisabeth Werner, Director Land Transport of the European Commission, Florian Böhn, Head of Rail at the German Ministry of Transport, and ProRail CEO John Voppen will give a presentation on this day. Visit the event website for more information.

Watch the video interview here:

Plans for investment

Belgium/Flanders and the Netherlands will invest two million each to develop the Ghent-Terneuzen canal zone. Moreover, they hope that EU support will not be missing from their endeavour. Apart from the initial plans to enhance North Sea Port’s connectivity with rail freight corridors (RFCs), the parties concerned have three more infrastructure projects in mind.

They want to launch a new connection on the canal’s east bank between the Dutch town Axel and the Belgian town Zelzate, a new south-east curve in the track east of the Sluiskil bridge, and they also want to extend and open up to the north of the rail bundle at the Kluizendok ( ‘Zandeken’). The new connection on the east bank between Axel and Zelzate could provide more capacities to the preexisting rail freight network. Moreover, such a rail link could also reduce traffic via the Sluiskil Bridge, Terneuzen and Wondelgem (Ghent), relieving these current bottlenecks.

The new south-east curve in the Sluiskil Bridge’s track ensures trains to and from the Dutch Axelse Vlakte (between Terneuzen and Zelzate) can enter the European railway network directly and faster. Finally, developments on the track bundle at Kluizendok could also increase rail capacities on the Canal’s western bank and improve the port area’s logistics.

North Sea Port

Being included in one of the European Rail Freight Corridors (RFC’s) means being part of the prioritised railway network in Europe. The port is now part of three of these corridors. Apart from the North-Sea Baltic (NSB) corridor, the North Sea Port was already included in the Rhine-Alpine corridor and the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor.

The NSB corridor connects the most important North Sea ports with Central Europe and the Baltic States, providing a rail bridge between eastern and western Europe. It runs from Belgium and the Netherlands via Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to Estonia. In Poland, the corridor connects to the New Silk Road.

Joining the third corridor is good news for the port and the port companies since optimal accessibility is vital for its growth. “Better rail access for North Sea Port is in line with the Belgian government’s ambition to double the volume of freight transport by rail by 2030”, said Georges Gilkinet. His Flemish counterpart, Lydia Peeters, also mentioned that “from Flanders, we only applaud an initiative like Rail Ghent-Terneuzen. It is an example of how we can achieve our modal shift objectives through cooperation. A shift towards the railways reduces freight traffic by road, but it also provides a logistical and economic boost, with ultimately a positive impact on our air quality and climate”.

Read also: 

• North-Sea Baltic corridor now includes North Sea Port

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European support

Joining the third corridor is good news for the port and the port companies. With the development of these main axes, Europe wants to give rail freight transport a boost as an alternative to road transport. Infrastructure projects in the corridor have a better chance of European support. They may also be placed higher on the agenda of infrastructure managers such as ProRail in the Netherlands and Infrabel in Belgium.

Shippers and rail operators can now more easily obtain capacity or “train paths” to run trains on that route. They thus participate at the European level. This opens up new economic opportunities for them. Numerous terminals and companies within North Sea Port are directly connected to the rail and make intensive use of it to supply or remove goods. After all, the port area is at the crossroads of the European railways (as far as China).

Rail ambitions

North Sea Port keeps rail transport on top of the agenda. Every year, 7 to 8 million tonnes of cargo enters or leaves the port by rail. That is 10 per cent of all freight transport between the port and the hinterland, a relatively high share compared to other ports on western Europe. More than 300 trains come and go every week.

North Sea Port has the ambition to further increase that share. This is in line with the strategy of sustainability and greening. Together with companies and many partners, the port is actively committed to the completion of the line between Vlissingen and Antwerp and between Terneuzen and Zelzate, to tackle a number of bottlenecks on the railways in the port area and to use railway line 204 for passenger transport between Gent-Dampoort and Zelzate.

Routes

The North Sea-Baltic corridor (RFC NS-B) routing has been extended from Kaunas (Lithuania) to Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia) as a main route and from Kaunas to Vilnius (Lithuania), Daugavpils and Krustpils to Riga (Latvia) as a diversionary line. All these lines have a track gauge of 1520mm. This interface between standard and broad gauge, together with the strategic location of Latvia and Estonia will contribute to a better connectivity of the European Union with the East and Asia, as well as open multimodal transportation opportunities from the Baltic Sea ports to the North Sea ports.

The corridor announced to be grateful for the financial support received from the European Commission, which made these developments possible. “The RFC NS-B belongs to the corridors with the greatest potential for growth by providing high capacity transport services. From now on, capacity can also be requested on these lines via the corridor One-Stop-Shop, the single contact point for all Corridor requests.

8000km of rail

RFC NS-B was established on 10 November 2015 according to the Regulation (EU) 913/2010 concerning a European rail network for competitive freight. It includes more than 8000 km of railway lines and connects the most important North Sea ports with Central Europe and the Baltic States providing a rail bridge between Eastern and Western Europe.

With the extension, the corridor now runs through eight EU Member States: starting in the North Sea ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven and Hamburg spreading in central Germany through Aachen, Hannover, Magdeburg and Berlin to Warsaw and the Polish-Belarus border in Terespol. A branch leads from Magdeburg to Prague via Falkenberg and Dresden. In Falkenberg starts the Southern branch in Poland to Wrocław and Katowice. Another branch goes from Warsaw to Kaunas, then to Riga and Tallinn.

The corridor and Poland

One of the principal objectives of the TEN-T policy is connecting east with west, improving the accessibility of the Eastern EU Member States and connecting the western and the eastern markets. Poland is placed in the middle of the corridor, the consultant explains. “As such, the country plays an important role, both as transit country between east and west as well as a relevant country of origin or destination.”

In Poland, the corridor interconnects with the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, which links the Polish maritime ports with south of Europe. Such interconnections only increase the significance of a particular country, Kaczmarzyk argues. “In Poland, the two corridors connect at Warsaw, Łódź and Poznań.”

TEN-T compliance

The next ten years on the corridor are shaped by the technical requirements defined in the TEN-T Regulation. This is a set of standards that must be met on the corridor by 2030, with the exception of the 1520mm networks in the Baltic States. More concrete, this Rregulation requires 83 per cent compliance in the fields of ERTMS, electrification, track gauge and train length, and 96 per cent in terms of line speed. Required axle load is already almost reached for the entire corridor.

Especially in terms of line speed a lot remains to be done, Kaczmarzyk points out. “There is a line speed compliance of minimum 100km/h for freight in the Netherlands and Germany, but in Belgium there are some sections that are not compliant. In Poland, the line speed compliance along the corridor is on a low level, caused mostly by very low maximum speed on certain sections (especially Warsaw southern rail bypass and Rail Baltica close to the border with Lithuania). Large-scale projects are in progress or foreseen by 2023 to upgrade the performance of the network.”

657 projects

In general, the TEN-T regulation for the NSB corridor translates into 657 projects amounting to about 110 billion Euros. This is divided by projects identified by Member States and stakeholders (590 projects with the total value nearly 110 billion euros) and additional projects identified by the corridor consultants, in order to achieve full compliance with TEN-T KPIs (key performance indicators). The latter make up for 67 additional projects amounting to an estimated nearly 500 million euros.

The foreseen investment in rail is the largest, Kaczmarzyk notes. This amount is over 44 billion euros, as rail can be seen as the most effective way to address the climate change issues, along with inland waterway investments. The second largest category is road (nearly 39.5 billion euros) followed by maritime (11.6 billion euros).” That is not to say that all these investments have been secured. “There is a gap of required financing without any information on the sources in the amount of 15.5 billion euros”, the consultant points out.

Investment opportunities

Although it is not within the scope of this article to name all projects, Kaczmarzyk is asked to name a few. “There is substantial number of rail and rail ERTMS projects currently ongoing on the corridor, including modernisation of the national railway sections in Poland”, she says. Examples are the sections Warsaw-Łowicz, Sochaczew-Swarzędz and Siedlce-Terespol, Warsaw Rembertów – Sadowne, Czyżew – Białystok, Białystok – Ełk.

“Other ongoing initiatives relate to national railway section is in Estonia (section between Tapa and Tartu) as well as preparation and implementation of Rail Baltica corridor through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. There are furthermore specific investments in infrastructure at railway junctions and nodes along the corridor, such as Klaipeda, Vilnius, Helsinki or Riga. There are also investments in rolling stock as well as deployment of telematics applications in all of the corridor countries.” In the coming few years, some projects with a higher budget are planned to commence. “Such are the development of an interconnecting freight terminal in the port of Tallinn, purchase of rolling stock, or capacity improvement at the railway station in Amsterdam”, the consultant names a few.

Beyond regulation

Although compliance with the TEN-T Regulation is a main objective, it is not the only one, the corridor consultant points out. “Better coordination and implementation of complex cross-border projects will contribute to faster and better achievement of economic, environmental and other corridor objectives.”

Moreover, new TEN-T is currently formed, taking into account the projected corridor extension. “Work on the corridor extension is also relevant in the context of opportunities such as the Arctic dimension and further development of EU-Asia connectivity.”

Port as a frontrunner

Kaczmarzyk also stresses the importance of cooperation with regions, cities and ports. And, cross-sectoral collaboration is needed to enable the transition to zero-emission transport, she argues.

“Ports as important transport and logistics hubs are frontrunners of economic developments. Issues to be addressed in port cities, such as reducing noise and pollution, rely on good cooperation among all actors, both at the local level and between the ports of the different sea basins. As ports are an integral part of many cities, social and economic issues are intertwined and relate to better integration with other related industries in the value chain, including intermodal terminals, intelligent freight as a concept, different ways of organising logistics chains, rail as an answer to port challenges and demands. Efficient port hinterland connections, in particular by rail and inland waterways, remain a major priority on the NSB Corridor.”

RailFreight Summit

Do you want to hear more about the future opportunities on the North Sea-Baltic Corridor? Izabela Kaczmarzyk is closely involved with the Corridor Work Plan. At the RailFreight Summit Poland, she will discuss what remains to be implemented until 2030. She will also talk about the funding and financing statistics and opportunities, as well as the European Coordinator recommendations and corridor future outlook.

The RailFreight Summit Poland will be held in Poznan on 1, 2 and 3 September. Registration for this event is open and can be done here. You can have a look at the programme here.