Rhine - Danube corridor

Overview

The Rhine-Danube Corridor is the main west-east transport axis across Continental Europe and features the longest inland waterway segment of all TEN-T corridors. It includes 9 EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia) and 2 neighbouring countries (Serbia and Ukraine).

The northern segment, newly included in the corridor in 2024, originates at the German ports of Wilhelmshaven, Bremen, Hamburg and Rostock. It passes through Hannover, Berlin, Dresden and Prague before continuing eastward via Žilina and Košice to Lviv in Ukraine. This segment also includes a connection from Prague to Vienna and Bratislava.

The traditional southern segment starts in Strasbourg and branches out at Karlsruhe. One branch runs from Karlsruhe to Mainz and Frankfurt, following the Main River, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, and the Danube River before joining the other branch in Austria. The second branch connects southern Germany, including Stuttgart and Munich, and continues eastward. Both branches proceed to Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Belgrade and Bucharest, eventually reaching the Black Sea port of Constanța.

The corridor encompasses rail, road, ports, airports, road-rail terminals and the inland waterways of the Elbe River, Elbe Lateral Canal, Elbe Midland Canal, Weser and Vltava River in the northern segment as well as the Main River, Main-Danube Canal, the entire Danube downstream of Kelheim and the Váh, Sava and Tisa rivers in the southern segment.

The corridor facilitates multimodal transport, strengthens cross-border connectivity, and improves access to key maritime and inland waterway hubs. The key infrastructure projects are the railway sections Dresden – Prague, Stuttgart – Ulm, Munich – Freilassing, Prague – Vienna, Prague – Bratislava, Vienna – Bratislava – Budapest and Budapest – Bucharest as well as efforts to increase the resilience of the Danube and other inland waterways to the impacts of climate change.

Main bottlenecks and missing links

The Rhine-Danube Corridor faces several critical infrastructure challenges that must be addressed to enhance its efficiency and connectivity. Key missing links include cross-border rail infrastructure connections between Germany and the Czech Republic. Additionally, significant bottlenecks persist in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and along the Austria-Slovakia border. The Danube River requires significant enhancements to provide a seamless and fully integrated inland waterway corridor for freight transport, while also eliminating bottlenecks along the river and increasing its resilience to climate change. This is particularly important given that the lower Danube functions as a vital export route for Ukraine, emphasising its strategic significance.