photo: The Load Star/Gavin van Marle/Better connections between Europe and Asia? The expansion of the North Sea-Baltic Rail Freight Corridor offers new opportunities
The North Sea-Baltic Rail Freight Corridor (RFC NS-B) got extended to Medika in Poland and the ports of Ghent and Zeebrugge in Belgium as a mainline and the port of Terneuzen in the Netherlands as a connecting line.
The extension will allow direct access to the three ports, improve the land bridge between Europe and Asia, ensure better connections between Eastern and Western European countries and different corridors, and bring new trade opportunities to the corridor.
The extension in the western part of the corridor is a vital artery for the participating ports and gets supported by Infrabel and ProRail. This extension is of strategic importance for companies that want to transport their goods safely and efficiently and contributes to the transition to rail transport. Reliable and accessible rail freight is the way forward and benefits both the environment and the economy.
The extension of the Medika corridor is another step towards improving rail transport to the east and Asian countries, increasing the transport potential of this corridor, and expanding the transport offer, thus in line with the diversification strategy of the Polish railway infrastructure operator PKP PLK. These corridor extensions also respond to customer expectations and are evidence of cooperation between many stakeholders.
The RFC NS-B project aims to increase the attractiveness and efficiency of rail freight transport by creating a continuous offer of high-quality routes on this corridor. From now on, Upgrades can apply for capacity on these new lines through the single corridor point of contact, which is the single point of contact for all corridor applications.
The North Sea-Baltic freight corridor covers more than 5,200 km of central lines and over 2,500 km of diversion lines, offering 891 km of connecting links. Two hundred fifty-seven terminals along the corridor provide transport links to 14 seaports.
Following the revision of the TEN-T Regulation presented by the EC in December, 11 RFCs and 9 CNCs will be integrated into the European Transport Corridors (ETCs), increasing synergies and better integrating the EU rail network.