From north to south, from east to west: the nine corridors that will rewrite European mobility - Main contents
Connecting Europe: the mission of the EU transport policy for 2050
Transports play a key role in the European economy. In order to promote growth and competitiveness, the European institutions have defined a coherent transport policy aimed at connecting the continent from east to west and from north to south removing obstacles and bottlenecks that slow down the movement of people and goods.
Since by 2050 freight transport is expected to grow by 80 % and passengers transport by over 50%, funds for infrastructures for 2014-2020 have been increased.
In order to integrate national networks within the Single Market, 26 billion euros have been earmarked for the construction of a network made of 9 main corridors. These corridors can be divided into two north-south channels, three east-west channels and four diagonal ones.
The Baltic Adriatic Corridor connects the Baltic with the Adriatic Sea through industrialized areas, such as Sothern Poland (Upper Silesia), Vienna, Bratislava, the Eastern Alpine region and Northern Italy.
The North Sea-Baltic Corridor links the ports of the Eastern coast of the Baltic with the North Sea. The corridor will connect Finland with Estonia by ferry and will create modern road and railway connections between the three Baltic countries on the one hand and Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium on the other.
The Mediterranean Corridor connects the Iberian Peninsula with the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. It follows the Mediterranean coastline of Spain and France, crosses the Alps towards the east through Northern Italy, passes across the Adriatic coast in Slovenia and Croatia and ends in Hungary.
The Orient-East Med Corridor links the maritime interfaces of the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Sea optimising their ports and Motorways of the sea.
The Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor is a north-south axis crossing the Baltic Sea in Finland and Sweden towards Germany, the Alps and Italy. It links the main urban centres and ports of Scandinavia and Northern Germany with the industrial centres of Southern Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, the Italian ports and Valletta.
The Rhine-Alpine Corridor constitutes one of the busiest freight routes of Europe: it connects the Northern Sea’s ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp with the Mediterranean basin in Genoa, crossing Switzerland and some of the main economic centres of the Rhein-Ruhr, the Rhein-Main-Neckar region and the agglomeration of Milan.
The Atlantic Corridor links the western shore of the Iberian Peninsula and the ports of Le Havre and Rouen to Paris and further to Mannheim/Strasbourg through high speed and traditional railways.
The North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor stretches from Ireland and the north of UK until the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France , crossing the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Rhine-Danube Corridor connects the central regions surrounding Strasbourg and Frankfurt am Mein via Southern Germany to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest reaching the black Sea with an important branch from Munich to Prague, Zilina, Kosice and the Ukrainian border.
The EU transport policy provides for the realization by 2050 of:
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-94 big European ports with railway and road lines;
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-38 big airports with railway lines providing connections with the major cities;
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-the conversion of 15,000 traditional railways lines into high speed ones;
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-35 cross-border projects to reduce bottlenecks
The goal is not only to improve accessibility to networks and reduce the time of travelling for most citizens and companies but also to decrease transport emissions.
For further information visit the website of the European Commission.
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