A Brief Look at Corridor D

A 3 000 km high-performance rail service

Corridor D is a project aimed at promoting the creation of a strong rail freight corridor between Valencia, Lyon, Turin, Ljubljana and Budapest. The project includes two initiatives, both with the same objective - an improvement of rail services in the framework of the opening of the market.

The aim of the project is to develop an efficient trans-national corridor, more competitive, pursuing the objective of increasing rail traffic in Europe. The project was initiated and is being supported by the European Commission. The corridor structure was set up by the Member States and the infrastructure managers, in coordination with railway undertakings. An EEIG regrouping the concerned infrastructure managers was created in order to coordinate the investments on the corridor and to apply for European funds.

This corridor approach includes two initiatives:

• development of technical interoperability, with, in particular, the deployment of ERTMS
• improvement of quality by a standardisation of infrastructure parameters, harmonisation of operational rules, coordination of infrastructure investments