Freight Corridors

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European Rail Freight Corridors, established by Regulation (EU) 913/2010 and subsequently revised underRegulation (EU) 2024/1679, are one of the key European policies instruments for strengthening the competitiveness of international rail transport and achieving the modal shift objectives set out in the 2011 EU White Paper.

In this sense, they represent a positive example of structured cooperation between infrastructure managers, transport companies and terminals.
In particular, in collaboration with the other infrastructure managers involved, we are responsible for defining the best way to harmonise the processes and tools to manage international rail capacity and planned service interruptions. We also coordinate the management of cross-border traffic and emergencies, and assess international rail performance .

There are currently eight European Rail Freight Corridors in operation, and five of them involve the Italian territory:

North Sea - Rhine - Mediterranean Corridor
Scandinavian - Mediterranean Corridor
Baltic - Adriatic Corridor
Mediterranean Corridor
Alpine - Western Balkan Corridor (RFI’s participation inthe Corridor governance is currently being finalised)

Each Corridor is organised as an independent legal entity (EEIG – European Economic Interest Grouping or International Association), with its own operational governance structure, in which the different infrastructure managers are represented.

Since the entry into force of EU Regulation (2013), RFI has played a leading role in the governanceof the European Rail Freight Corridors. Currently, three of the five corridors involving Italy are headed by a Managing Director appointed by RFI.

North Sea - Rhine - Mediterranean Corridor

SCANDINAVIAN-MEDITERRANEAN CORRIDOR

BALTIC-ADRIATIC CORRIDOR

MEDITERRANEAN CORRIDOR

EU Regulation 913/2010 establishes the rules for creating and organising international rail corridors for competitive freight transportation in view of developing a single European railway network.

The main measures introduced by the Regulation can be summarised as follows:

1) Governance: establishment of Management Boards (consisting of Infrastructure Managers and capacity allocation bodies belonging to the Corridor) for creating and operating the Freight Corridors; establishment of Executive Boards (consisting of representatives of the Member States belonging to the Corridor) for supervising the activities of the Freight Corridors;

2) Implementation Plan: drafting of the document containing the measures for setting up and operating the Corridor;

3) Corridor One Stop Shop: establishment and management of the Corridor One Stop Shop for internationally standardised capacity allocation;

4) Planned disruptions: publication of planned disruptions to the railway infrastructure belonging to the corridor and measures for their international coordination;

5) Stakeholder consultation: creation and management of the consultation groups for the Railway Undertakings which use the Corridor and the Terminals belonging to the Corridor;

6) Performance: implementation of the measures for monitoring corridor performance and for conducting a customer satisfaction survey;

7) Traffic Management: measures for standardising international freight traffic.

General information on the performance of the freight corridors

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General information on the characteristics of the freight corridors

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Governance of the corridors is ensured by the Executive Board, the Management Board and the Consultative Committees comprising the representatives from the Terminals and Railway Undertakings involved in operating the corridor.

More specifically, the Executive Board consists of the representatives from the Ministries for Transport and has the role of:

establishing the corridor's general aims,
providing an opinion when requested by one of the consultative committees in order to help settle disputes with the Management Board,
approving the implementation plan and the investment plan,
adopting a framework agreement for infrastructure capacity allocation along the corridor,
informing the European Commission every two years on the progress made on the Implementation Plan.

The Management Committee, comprising representatives from the Infrastructure Managers and capacity allocation bodies, instead has the role of:

establishing two consultative committees comprising the Terminals linked to the corridor and the Railway Committees that operate there, respectively,
coordinating the use of IT applications for managing the requests for international paths along the corridor,
drawing up and delivering the Implementation Plan,
devising and adopting the following measures:
- Definition of processes for consulting those requesting infrastructure capacity.
- Delivery of an investment plan.
- Definition of coordinated processes for providing information on the work scheduled along the corridor.
- Establishment of a Corridor One Stop Shop for allocating capacity.
- Definition of pre-constructed international rail paths and reserve capacity.
- Definition of corridor traffic management procedures.

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Consultative groups comprising representatives from the Terminals and Railway Undertakings involved in the corridor's operation.