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”The Commission, Member States, infrastructure operators and all other parties in the railway sector must get down to work together to make competitive goods transport happen. Member States are – and will remain – free to suggest or sketch out these corridors themselves. Our proposal is intended to make the railway infrastructure a more attractive option for long-distance freight transport across Europe,“ said Antonio Tajani, European Commissioner for Transport.
The Commission’s objective is to improve the service provided by the infrastructure managers to international freight operators by extending, increasing and adding to existing initiatives in order to create an international rail network for competitive freight made up of corridors.
All in all, the Commission would like to act in four areas corresponding to the main problems: improving coordination between infrastructure managers, improving the conditions of access to infrastructure, guaranteeing freight trains adequate priority, and improving intermodality along the corridors. The idea of creating international freight corridors is already old. To date, however, few initiatives have been undertaken to carry out them. Certain stakeholders, extensively consulted by the Commission, judge that it is time for the Community to provide a stronger impetus so that such corridors finally materialize and so that trains can better compete with trucks. In addition, the Commission carried out an impact assessment showing that a legislative initiative would produce the most significant results. Lastly, similar legislative actions have already been carried out in the fields of electricity and air transport.
