Page 39 - RFC Rhine-Alpine_Annual Report 2016

CORRIDOR RHINE-ALPINE – Annual Report 2016 Activities of the Executive Board 37
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Activities of the Executive Board
Opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, 1 June 2016
The major enhancement for the rail freight corridor in 2016 was definitely the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The opening event was on 1 June 2016 and com- mercial operations started in December 2016 with the timetable change.
For international rail freight the tunnel will lead to additional railway infrastructure capacity, reduced journey times (up to one hour) and reduced operational costs due to reduced traction power requirements for the RUs.
TEN-T Days, Rotterdam 21 June 20161, declaration of Ministers: “Rail freight corridors to boost international freight”
Under the Dutch EU presidency, an initiative was launched to support the further development of international rail freight. A Ministerial Declaration was adopted by all EU min- isters plus Switzerland and Norway. Complementing this Ministerial Declaration, a sector statement was adopted by European rail associations (CER, EIM, ERFA, UIP, UNIFE, ERTMS users group, UIRR, ESC, CLECAT + RNE) and sup- ported by the RFC’s chairs of the Management Boards. The strength of this ministerial statement is that both from a political and sector perspective, priority fields of action have been identified to be implemented in the short/medium term.
Also, the EU regulatory bodies adopted a cooperation state- ment on the rail freight corridors.
From the point of view of the ExB, the concerted effort of all players aimed at supporting the development of inter- national rail freight and consensus was reached to work together on the following main issues (Ministerial Declara- tion plus sector statement) addressing the attractiveness to railway customers/governance/operational efficiency/ capacity management including:
To enhance the digital exchange of data in the logistics chain, including data on Estimated Time of Arrival;
To work on noise reductions in a European context;
To enhance the governance of the rail freight corridors by setting up annual (high-level) strategic meetings with stakeholders;
To organize an annual rail freight conference with all rail freight corridors;
To adopt a set of common key performance indicators for rail freight corridors;
To address border crossing issues together with National Safety Authorities;
To work together with the TEN-T Core Network Corri- dors and address key projects benefitting the rail freight corridors;
To work together on a coordinated roll-out of ERTMS and the removal of national rules where appropriate; To work together on harmonised scheduling of con- struction works on the corridors;
To improve quality of supply of infrastructure capac- ity by the corridor one-stop shops and work towards a greater share of international freight capacity allocated by the corridor one-stop shops.
The Ministers concluded they would monitor the effects of the Ministerial Declaration in the next two years; by this statement, the ministers showed their willingness to
1 See also website http://www.tentdays.eu/2016/