The International Transport Forum (ITF) in Leipzig hosted European transport ministers from The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany discussing the Rhine-Alpine corridor, which links the strategic ports of Rotterdam and Genoa via Switzerland and the major economic centres of Germany’s Rhein-Ruhr and Rhein-Main-Neckar regions.
Together with European Commission transport representatives and rail stakeholders, ministers pledged to build on the success of the route, which is already benefiting from the new Gotthard rail tunnel linking Switzerland and Italy, and further increase its appeal as the preferred mode of transport for freight customers.
One of the key drivers for expanding capacity on the route will be the introduction of longer trains, and the Leipzig summit saw ministers discuss the possibility for having the first 740-metre trains, which are more than 200 metres longer than current trains, operate on the Rotterdam-Genoa route by 2021.
The Rhine-Alpine Rail Freight Corridor (RFC) is one of the nine strategic European rail freight corridors, providing a network of opportunities for rail freight stakeholders and customers all over Europe. A mixture of public and private enterprise, the corridors’ core aims are to remove capacity bottlenecks, build missing cross-border connections and promote modal integration and interoperability.
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