Atlantic Corridor TrendLine

Objective

The corridor has an outstanding maritime dimension with a parallel connection of the inland modes as well as with seaports, ensuring thus the access to world trade routes. Furthermore,there are five core network branches, which provide connectivity between the Corridor and the Atlantic coastlines (Nantes–Saint Nazaire and North West Spain–Gijon/A Coruña), Inner Portugal (Douro), the Atlantic Ocean with worldwide routes (Canary Islands) and complements the Inland Waterways Network(Seine branch South of Paris). In order to be competitive with other modes of transport, international and national rail freight services, which have been opened up to competition since 1st January2007, must be able to benefit from a good quality and sufficiently financed railway infrastructure, namely, one which allows freight transport services to be provided under good conditions in terms of commercial speed and journey times and to be reliable, namely, that the service it provides actually corresponds to the contractual agreements entered into with the railway undertakings (RUs). In this context, the establishment of international rail corridors for a European rail network for competitive freight on which freight trains can run under good conditions and easily pass from one national network to another would allow for improvements in the conditions of use of the infrastructure.The implementation of international rail freight corridors forming a European rail network for competitive freight should be conducted in a manner consistent with the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and/or the European Railway Traffic Management System(ERTMS) corridors

Description

The Atlantic Corridor stretches from the ports of the Iberian Peninsula to the port of Le Havre in Northern France, and cities of Strasbourg and Mannheim on the French/German border. The corridor’s railway component will feature new high-speed rail links and parallel conventional lines, providing for cross-border continuity between Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Strasbourg, Mannheim and Le Havre. The corridor has strong multimodal dimensions, utilising rail, road, inland waterway and maritime routes. Key projects for the corridor include the Basque Y rail connection and a new high-speed rail link between Bordeaux and Tours.The existing alignment of the Atlantic Corridor, as established in EU Regulations 1315/2013and 2021/1153, connects Europe’s south-western regions towards the centre of the EU,linking the Iberian Peninsula ports of Algeciras, Sines, Lisboa, Leixões (Porto) and Bilbao through Western France to Paris and Normandy and further east to Strasbourg and Mannheim in Germany.

Finance