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Mobility and Transport

Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor

Strasbourg – Stuttgart – München – Wels/Linz

Strasbourg – Mannheim – Frankfurt – Würzburg – Nürnberg – Regensburg – Passau – Wels/Linz

München/Nürnberg – Praha – Ostrava/Přerov – Žilina – Košice – UA border

Wels/Linz – Wien – Bratislava – Budapest – Vukovar

Wien/Bratislava – Budapest – Arad – Braşov/Craiova – Bucureşti – Constanţa – Sulina

The Rhine-Danube Corridor, with the Main and Danube waterway as its backbone, connects the central regions around Strasbourg and Frankfurt via Southern Germany to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and finally the Black Sea, with an important branch from Munich to Prague, Zilina, Kosice and the Ukrainian border.

Ms Karla Peijs is the European Coordinator for the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor.

Map: Rhine-Danube Corridor

The overall TEN-T corridor map

Declaration by the Coordinator of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor. Mrs Karla Peiis

Description

This corridor will provide the main east–west link between continental European countries, connecting France and Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria all along the Main and Danube rivers to the Black Sea by improving (high speed) rail and inland waterway interconnections. It includes sections of Priority Projects 7, 17, 18 and 22. The parts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are also covered by Rail Freight Corridor 9.

Missing links

The main missing links are the cross-border rail network interconnections between Germany and its neighbours, France, Austria and the Czech Republic with the view to develop a cross-border network. Bottlenecks between Austria and Slovakia, in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria also need to be removed. While the navigation on the Rhine River as well on the connection Rhine-Main-Danube Canal is not hampered by the presence of major bottlenecks for a thorough inland waterway transport, the navigability of the Danube River must be improved in order to offer a real modal choice for freight transport. In addition, the Western Balkans section of the Danube plays an important part in the functioning of this corridor.

Major issues

Development of (high-speed) rail

During the last decade several rail sections have been upgraded or build, especially in Austria and France:

  • In France, the TGV-Est service started in 2007 between Paris and Strasbourg, gaining 100 minutes of travelling time between Paris and Strasbourg (from 4 hours down to 2 hours 20 minutes).
  • The Kehl Bridge crossing the Rhine was opened in December 2010 increasing the efficiency, capacity and speed on this section (from 50 km/h to 160 km/h).
  • The rail connection Vienna – Budapest was upgraded to 140 km/h in Austria and up to 160 km/h of Hungarian sections, already in the 1990ies.
  • The railway line Budapest – Lököshaza (border between Hungary and Romania) has already been upgraded, upgrading on the Romanian side via Arad – Brasov – Bucuresti is on-going (with a few subsections completed), the Bucuresti – Constanta section has greatly been upgraded already.

Inland waterways transport

The main inland connection between Rhine, Main and the Danube represents the backbone of the inland navigation between north-western European basins and the south-eastern Black Sea.

On the Danube, the refurbishment of navigability in the section east of Vienna till the border with Slovakia is being successfully dealt with through a best practice that is being tested via a pilot project inside the natural protected area. The old bridge in Bratislava is being lifted up in order to allow the transit of vessels at category VI. In Hungary a study has been performed to evaluate the necessary intervention in thirty-one sites. Works have not yet started as the study is still been kept on hold for environmental reasons.

Studies have also been undertaken in the section that forms the border between Bulgaria and Romania. An inter-ministerial committee has been set up in order to coordinate the efforts and to develop a strategy for a territorial development of the region along the Danube.

In Romania, at Calarasi-Braila, an experimental monitoring programme, supported by the ICPDR, has been set up to evaluate the impact on the flora and fauna during and after the construction of the infrastructures meant to redirect part of the flow from the Bala branch to the main branch of the river.

CEF: Pre-identified projects

Rail connection Strasbourg - Kehl Appenweier

Rail

works interconnection Appenweier

Karlsruhe - Stuttgart - München

Rail

studies and works ongoing

Ostrava/Prerov – Žilina – Košice – UA border

Rail

upgrading, multimodal platforms

Zlín – Žilina

Road

cross-border road section

München – Praha

Rail

studies and works

Nürnberg – Praha

Rail

studies and works

München - Mühldorf - Freilassing - Salzburg

Rail

studies and works ongoing

Salzburg - Wels

Rail

studies

Nürnberg - Regensburg - Passau - Wels

Rail

Studies and works

Rail connection Wels - Wien

Rail

completion expected by 2017

Wien – Bratislava / Wien – Budapest / Bratislava – Budapest

Rail

studies high speed rail (including the alignment of the connections between the three cities)

Budapest - Arad

Rail

studies for high speed network between Budapest and Arad

Komárom – Komárno

IWW

Studies and works for cross-border bridge

Arad - Brašov - Bucurešti - Constanta

Rail

upgrading of specific sections; studies high-speed

Main – Main-Donau-Canal

IWW

studies and works on several sections and bottlenecks; inland waterway ports:multimodal interconnections with rail

Slavonski Brod

Port

Studies and works

Giurgiu, Galați

Port

Further development of multimodal platforms and connections with the hinterland: studies and works

Danube (Kehlheim - Constanța/Midia/Sulina)

IWW

studies and works on several sections and bottlenecks; inland waterway ports:multimodal interconnections

Sava

IWW

Studies and works on several sections and bottlenecks (including cross-border bridge)

Bucharest – Danube Canal

IWW

Studies & works

Constanta

Port, MoS

port interconnections, MoS (including icebreaking services)

Craiova – Bucharest

Rail

Studies and works

Forum Meetings 2014

  • 4th Forum Meeting of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor, Brussels, 18th November 2014

Agenda

  • 3rd Forum Meeting of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor, Brussels, 2nd October 2014

Agenda

  • 2nd Forum Meeting of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor, Brussels, 18th June 2014

Agenda

  • 1st Forum Meeting of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor, Brussels, 3rd April 2014

Agenda