Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 of the European Parliament and the Council concerning a European rail network for competitive freight (hereinafter: Regulation) determines the rules for the establishment and organization of international rail corridors for competitive rail freight. It sets out the rules for the selection, organization, management and investment planning of rail freight corridors.
The Regulation requires Member States to establish international market-oriented RFCs in order to meet three main challenges:
- strengthening co-operation between IMs on key aspects such as the allocation of paths, deployment of interoperable systems and infrastructure development
- finding the right balance between freight and passenger traffic along the RFCs, giving adequate capacity for freight in line with market needs and ensuring that common punctuality targets for freight trains are met
- promoting intermodality between rail and other transport modes by integrating terminals into the corridor management process
The Regulation defines the routing of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine-Danube (RFC RD), as follows:
- Strasbourg-Mannheim-Frankfurt-Nürnberg-Wels
- Strasbourg-Stuttgart-München-Salzburg-Wels-Wien-Bratislava-Budapest-Arad-Brașov/Craiova-București-Constanța
- Čierna and Tisou (Slovak/ Ukrainian border)-Košice-Žilina-Horní Lideč-Praha-München/Nürnberg
The routing of RFC RD provides the main East-West link across Continental Europe.
The final routing will be defined by the Management Board based on the results of the Transport Market Study.