Importance
Baltic-Adriatic Corridor & EU Integration
As one of Europe’s most important north-south transversal lines, the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor connects the Baltic Sea with the Adriatic. It runs through Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy and links Europe’s rising economic regions in three new member states, crossing Europe’s former line of separation. It is therefore one of the most significant trans-European railway corridors, both for passenger and freight traffic.
It will provide Europe with an additional trans-Alpine north-south connection, relieving other major traffic corridors.
The extension of this corridor will massively improve access to the economic areas of Austria and Northern Italy for the new EU member states of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Interoperability
Interoperability means the suitability of the trans-European railway system for safe and continuous rail transport. There are many national rail systems which have developed in different ways historically. The differing technical standards get in the way of uninterrupted cross-border rail transport. For this reason, the engine normally needs to be changed at the border station for international trains. In particularly difficult cases, passengers have to change trains or goods have to be loaded onto a new train. Complicated national approvals processes make it difficult to use multiple-system vehicles, which could run on multiple rail networks. The infrastructure, as well, has to be harmonised: for example, to cope with differing platform heights or traffic control or signalling systems. In the BMVIT study, the Koralmbahn line is already marked in as an interoperable high-speed line.
