On 15 October, the Spokespersons of the Rail Advisory Groups (RAGs) of the nine EU Rail Freight Corridors met a delegation of Infrastructure Managers (IMs) representing the Corridors’ Management Boards. The aim of the meeting was to find a pragmatic way forward and agree on an efficient cooperation to progress on key issues of harmonisation needed for the development of international rail freight.
In the context of the implementation of Regulation 913/2010, the need for harmonisation corridor “access” became increasingly pressing to Railway Undertakings (RUs) under pressure to implement productivity enhancements. RUs therefore asked UIC to facilitate and coordinate this process with the ECCO project (Efficient Cross Corridor Organisation).

A few months ago ECCO, which supports the spokespersons of the RAGs of the nine corridors, published the “Requirements of Railway Undertakings of the implementation of European Rail Freight Corridors”, which is a list of priority topics on which progress is needed. Key issues such as the definition and publication of pre-arranged paths (PAPs), construction works, cross-border interoperability, Corridor one stop shop (C-OSS), Path Coordination System (PCS) and performance management were discussed by both parties and a way forward was identified.

The IMs representing the Management Boards of the nine Corridors also took the opportunity to inform RUs of their initiative to set up the RFC Forum (Rail Freight Corridor) to ensure key measures be coordinated among the various corridors in order to enhance the competitiveness of rail freight.

Pleased with the concrete fruitful discussions held during the day, both parties agreed to meet again in six months.