Tuesday 10 November marked the opening of the longest of the nine rail freight corridors that have been set up in the European Rail Network. The corridor extends from Stockholm/Oslo to Palermo. The purpose is to facilitate cross-border rail transport.

The corridor runs from Oslo/Stockholm to Palermo on the island of Sicily, Italy. One of the greatest advantages of the ScanMed RFC (Scandinavian-Mediterranean Rail Freight Corridor) is that it will be much easier to operate freight services on the international rail networks. Applicants will only need to apply for capacity once in the freight corridor’s One Stop Shop (C-OSS), – unlike the situation is today, where applications have to be made in all countries through which the freight passes.

The management board on the freight corridors consisted of representatives of infrastructure managers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Italy. The Managing Director of the corridor is Lars Stenegard from the Swedish Transport Administration.

“The initiative for the freight corridors is based on an EU Regulation. The purpose is to increase the attraction and efficiency of international rail transport, so that the railways can continue to increase their share of the international transport market,” said Hans Dahlberg, Business Unit Manager Service Administration at the Swedish Transport Administration.

(Source: Trafikverket)