Corridor description
The total length of the Rhine - Danube corridor (RDN) is 5 910 km long, including the Connecting Europe Facility 2 (CEF 2) extension. It crosses 7 countries: Czechia, Germany, France, Hungary, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia (some ports in Bulgaria are also part of the RDN, however, the railway connections are not included in the RDN).
The RDN CNC, with the Main and Danube waterways 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 essential branch from Munich to Prague, Zilina, Kosice, and the Ukrainian border.
ERTMS deployment on the corridor
The following image shows the state of play and deadlines for the ERTMS deployment in the RDN corridor, considering the dates of the EDP:
Overall, ETCS is operational on 7% of RDN, while GSM-R is operational on 59% of the corridor. According to the EDP, 2 062 km are expected to be operational by 2023. In March 2023, 29% of the RDN length planned in the EDP by 2023 was in operation with ETCS. According to the TEN-T Guidelines, the whole RDN corridor is expected to be equipped by 2030.
The deployment status per Member State where the RDN corridor runs is as follows:
- In France, only one line is included on the RDN corridor, from Strasbourg to the German border, whose commissioning is expected by 2025 according to the French plan.
- In Germany, there are no lines ETCS on the RDN corridor in operation yet. According to the German plan, German sections planned in the EDP by 2023 will be delayed, and their commissioning is expected by 2025-2028. Regarding German sections planned in the EDP beyond 2023, there are no specific deadlines for RDN sections in the German plans. It is expected though that the entire German network will be equipped by 2040.
- In Czechia, there are some lines in operation on RDN. The Czech sections planned in the EDP for 2020 and 2021 will be delayed until 2023. The commission of the Czech section of the cross-border between Czechia and Germany is planned by 2022, however this is technically possible only in cooperation with Germany, whose section is planned by 2025. Other RDN sections are planned by 2030 according to the Czech plans.
- Austria's lines currently in operation had already been commissioned when the EDP was published in 2017. The Austrian sections planned in the EDP by 2022 will be delayed until 2026. All remaining Austrian sections are planned by 2030, both in the EDP and the Austrian plan.
- The line currently in operation in Slovakia had already been commissioned when the EDP was published in 2017. The Slovak deployment plan is in line with EDP. Therefore, all RDN sections will be commissioned by 2030.
- In Hungary, there are no lines in operation on RDN. According to the Hungarian plan, some RDN sections will be commissioned by 2023. The Szajol – Romanian and Hungarian border section is delayed to 2025. The Budapest Ferencváros - Budapest Rákos, Border HU/SK (Petrzalka/Rajka) – Hegyeshalom and Hegyeshalom – Budapest sections are expected to be ready by 2030.
- In Romania, there are some lines currently equipped with ETCS on RDN but only the Brazi – Buftea line (close to Bucharest) is in operation. According to the Romanian plans, all the Romanian lines in the RDN will be in operation by 2030.