Europe: Atlantic Freight Corridor Extends to Germany
Image courtesy of Atlantic Corridor EU
The Atlantic Freight Corridor now runs from Saarbruken in France to the Mannheim in Germany, bringing Europe one step closer to the planned Single Railway Area.
DB Netz AG have joined the Atlantic Corridor European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) as it opened last month, enhancing the competitiveness, capacity and quality of rail freight transport on the continent.
The project, which was undertaken by successful applicants from the rail freight industry, is one of nine freight corridors which will be established under EU Regulation No. 913/2010. The route is 6,200km long and connects key Atlantic sea ports in Portugal, Spain and France to Central Europe. The works undertaken to create the line have included the construction of UIC-guage lines in the Iberian Region and the northern branch of POS (Paris – Eastern France – Southwest Germany).
Oliver Sellnick, Head of European Corridor Management at DB Netz AG said:
“The extension of the Rail Freight Corridor “Atlantic” allows us to provide attractive offers for transports between Southwest Europe and Northeast Europe. By implementing the fourth Corridor on our railway network, we underpin our important role amongst the European rail infrastructure managers when it comes to developing a European rail network for competitive freight. In the growing market of international transports, Corridors provide an excellent possibility to realise rail freight traffic efficiently. Timetables and offers for international train paths may easily and exclusively be requested at the Corridor-One Stop Shop.”
It will be operated by Spanish infrastructure operator ADIF, who will oversee the Corridor-One Stop Shop and be the single point of contact with customers and rail freight operators. From 11 January 2016, Pre-Arranged Paths have been available on request to customers, on a system which uses the the Path Coordination System provided by RailNetEurope.
The operators of the route host regular advisory groups with rail infrastructure operators and stakeholders in order to maintain an open dialogue on relevant issues so that quality of service may be consistently improved. The next meeting is to take place on 16 March 2016 in Lisbon.
