The pan-European rail Corridor C – Anvers-Basel-Lyon – next to the other five corridors established in 2006, is part of a European network dedicated to freight rail transport that boosts the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of end-to-end freight rail traffic. Next to Corridor A (Rotterdam – Genoa) and Corridor D (Valencia – Lyon – Ljubljana – Budapest), Corridor C provides real opportunities in developing transport business activities and brings added value to the railway-maritime intermodal route.
Logistics, a strong point
Due to their geographic position, Corridors C and A, with outlet to the North Sea, represent the foundation of freight traffic development since the largest flows of goods transport cross Anvers and Rotterdam ports.
Corridors C and D intersect in Lyon (one of the biggest European industrial centres) and in Amberieu, providing customers with interoperable connections to Northern and Southern Europe. Corridor C route has a strategic position for freight transport as it links one of the largest ports in Europe to major industrial centres. The activity carried out by RailNetEurope (RNE) will be crucial in terms of ensuring an international railway route and managing traffic in real time. The project ensures better cooperation, improved consulting and coordination for the infrastructure managers involved in the Corridor C project. For infrastructure managers activating on different corridors, the project provides them with the opportunity of improved adaptation to their offer. The Corridor C project aims at creating a fast rail, strong and quality connection between the port of Anvers (Belgium) and the industrial centres in Lyon (France) and Basel (Switzerland). The total network of Corridor C is 1,840-km long, 510 km in Belgium, 1,250 km in France, 70 km in Luxembourg and 8 km in Switzerland. The European Commission takes active participation in the development of each freight corridor by granting subsidies. During 2008-2013, EC has allocated EUR 79 Million to Corridor C for infrastructure works. EUR 36 Million were granted to Infrabel in Belgium, EUR 33 Million to FRF in France and EUR 9.5 Million were granted to CFL in Luxembourg. The Commission also provides subsidies of EUR 8.6 Million for CFL’s rolling stock. The port of Anvers, the second largest after Rotterdam, will invest EUR 1.6 Billion in developing new infrastructures. The project stipulates the extension of the port over the next 15 years in order to cope with the competition of ports Le Havre – Hamburg. Anvers plans to develop two new port facilities in Verrebroek and Saeftinghe.
Performance as key target
Statistically speaking, 45% of the trains crossing Corridor C mainly carry coal and oil products, while 385 of trains carry containers. The tonnes carried and the number of tonnes/km carried on Corridor C increased by 8% in 2008 against 2007.
Ambitious plans
“For 2009-2013, the Corridor C prospects are ambitious. The average travel time between Anvers and Basel was 11 hours and 30 minutes, in 2010 11 hours and 10 minutes, while 10 hours and 15 minutes are expected for 2013. The travel time between Anvers and Lyon was of 13 hours 30 minutes in 2009, 13 hours 20 minutes in 2010 and only 12 hours 15 minutes are expected in 2013. Train punctuality improved in 2009 to 70%, in 2010 to 72% and in 2013, an 85% is expected”. “2009 was marked by the economic and financial downturn, with visible consequences on traffic development. International traffic on Corridor C has dropped by nearly 30%. This tendency still affects goods transport market. However, this traffic drop can be seen as a challenge for 2010”, believe those in charge with the Corridor C project. Five different signalling systems are currently used along Corridor C. By 2018, the entire corridor should be equipped with the ERTMS system. It will be a step-by-step situation and will include a gradual route section. One of the most important projects for Corridor C includes the elaboration of an offer with 2 journeys per hour and direction dedicated to 750-m long trains. The offer could become available starting 2016. The advantages of this project refer to creating a better offer for customers in what concerns transport capacity by increasing capacity along the corridor on the entire TEN-T network.
by Elena Ilie
Share on:
