RBGC First Transnational Roundtable Vilnius  24th November 2011

« Core Corridors and the « Rail Baltica »James Pond DG MOVEEuropean Commission

The patchwork today

New TEN-T Policy Package announced 19th October

• Followed extensive consultation over two years with the 27 MS and other stakeholders

• The existing patchwork of priority projects will be replaced by a single European Core network

• At the national level there will be a comprehensive network as defined by the MS themselves to ensure accessibility and common standards

• At the Europe wide level there will be a Core network linking all MS and all corners of the EU along the most important axes

• It will be implemented by a network of 10 key Core network Corridors

Corridor No. 1 “Baltic-Adriatic” Corridor

Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga-Kaunas-Warszawa-Katowice Gdynia-Katowice

Katowice-Ostrava-Brno-Wien Katowice-Zilina-Bratislava-Wien Wien-Graz-Klagenfurt-Villach-Udine-Venezia-Bologna-

Ravenna

Finance – The « Connecting Europe Facility »

• The Core network should be completed by 2030• EU support of € 50 billion for the CEF of which € 31,7 billion for transport

infrastructure• Of this € 31,7 billion € 10 billion reserved for 14 Cohesion countries and €

21,7 billion for TEN-T (27 countries)• Also € 24 billion general Cohesion funding for transport• Rates of EU support will be around 80% for Cohesion spending but only

40% for general TEN-T support• Financing will be project led requiring a detailed project pipeline from the

MS

The new 1435mm « Rail Baltic» project

• Tallinn via Pärnu, Riga, Kaunas to the LT/PL border with a corresponding extension of new 1435 mm track from the LT /PL border to Ełk

• Feasibility Study figures:– € 3 678 billion investment cost but spread over two MFF– line would be mixed use = freight/passenger– length of track 728 km (not including the Polish section)– route would be twin track elctrified– design speed 240 kph maximum– journey times Tallinn – LT/PL border passenger = 4.13 hours, freight = 10,38 hours

Decision Time • Joint Statement by the three Baltic Prime Ministers, Tallinn, 10

November 2011

• Welcomed the conclusions of the Final report of the Feasibility Study• Important to start construction of the new line by 2020• Agreed to establish a joint venture by the end of 2012 at the latest to 

implement the project• Authorize the three transport ministers to agree a memorandum of mutual 

understanding at their meeting next month including the establishment of the joint venture and report on progress made before the end of 2012