The RFC Rhine-Danube Team together with RFC Orient/East-Med is pleased to inform you about the publication of the Pre-Arranged Paths (PaPs) on RFC Rhine-Danube for Timetable 2026.

The PaP Catalogue contains PaPs from RFC 9 (Rhine-Danube) and RFC 7 (Orient/East-Med) because RFC 7 will be discontinued on 1 April. The new designed PaP Catalogue with a map, additional information on train parameters and distances and a common timetable will help you to find PaPs more easily.

The Pap Offer TT2026 is accessible via PCS  and ready for you to order from January 28th until April 14th, 2025.

The Pap Catalogue and all relevant information on the procedures for requesting and allocation capacity on the corridor (see especially the Corridor Information Document) is available on the common  Customer Information Platform (CIP) of the RFCs and on our Website

Please note that the offer can be subject to minor changes throughout the planned correction phase until end of January 2025. Updates will be communicated accordingly.

If you have any question, do not hesitate, and contact your C-OSS manager Bernd Wetzel from RFC Rhine-Danube () or József Ádám Balogh from RFC Orient/East-Med (). He will be available until end of March 2025.

We look forward to welcoming you on the RFC Rhine-Danube network !

We would like to inform our customers and potential customers that new Corridor Information Document (CID) for Timetable 2026 (Sections 1-4) has been published.

The CID provides key details about the RFC Rhine-Danube network, including infrastructure characteristics, access conditions, and rules for capacity allocation, traffic, and crisis management. Harmonized across all RFCs, it ensures consistency and ease of use for international rail freight operations. The CID for RFC Rhine-Danube specifically aligns with these standards to support users effectively.

The document is now available on our website: https://rfc-rhine-danube.eu/cid-books/

It can also be accessed via the CIP tool: https://info-cip.rne.eu/ and in the NCI tool: https://rne.eu/it/rne-applications/nci/

We are looking forward to welcoming you on the RFC Rhine-Danube network.

We would like to inform all interested stakeholders that the recently updated Transport Market Study of RFC Rhine-Danube (RFC RD) is now available. You can download it via https://rfc-rhine-danube.eu/documents/

The update of this study was conducted in a joint project involving all 11 RFCs, which has enabled a harmonised structure and a harmonised methodology across all RFCs. The key conclusions included in the RFC RD-specific parts of the joint study are the following ones:

• A large proportion of the rail freight transport passing through the RFC and its border-crossing points involves Munich, Linz, East Slovakia, West Hungary, and Budapest as the typical origins. Also, outside the current corridor area different zones can be found that contribute to freight traffic on the RFC, such as the rest of Germany (especially the Rhine-Ruhr area and Hamburg), France, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Greece, and Ukraine.
• As far as the destinations are concerned, numerous zones benefiting from RFC RD’s services fall outside the current corridor area, such as areas in the rest of Germany (Rhine-Ruhr, Hamburg), Italy (Veneto), Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
• The most important relation is between East Slovakia and Ostrava (Chechia). Other important relations are Landshut-Linz and Munich-Linz.
• On relations within the catchment area of RFC RD, rail freight transport has a share of 36% in the total amount of international freight transport. This is a volume of 94 million tonnes.
• The baseline scenario was the 2022 year. All three future scenarios (Reference, Projects and Sensitivity) show an increase in international freight transport along the RFC.

• Overall, the sensitivity scenario can be regarded as a potential maximum growth for rail, considering both economic developments and assuming that the network of RFC RD would fully comply with the mandatory TEN-T infrastructure standards by 2030.
• Finally, the results of the RAG/TAG survey conducted between September 2023 and January 2024 about the occurred and expected impact of the establishment of the RFCs are summarised in the study as well.

Our Management Board would like to take the opportunity to thank all respondents for their valuable input and time.

The Rail Freight Corridors, in close cooperation with RNE (RailNetEurope), are pleased to announce a number of PCS trainings scheduled in early 2025.               

The annual training focuses on the corridor specific functions in PCS, and provides you with valuable, practical insights needed for requesting Capacity on the Rail Freight Corridors for timetable 2026.

Moreover, the training enhances your knowledge by introducing you to (new) features and functions in PCS in general; informing you about the news for TT2026 and giving you the chance to practice live with individual and corridor-specific exercises. The trainings are held in English language.

If you would like to participate to the trainings, please register under one (or more) of the following links:

• 22^nd – 23^rd January in Frankfurt jointly organized by RFCs Rhine-Alpine, Scan-Med, Orient/East-Med, North Sea-Baltic and Rhine-Danube à Click here to register
• 28^th – 29^th January in Paris by jointly organized by RFCs North Sea-Med, Atlantic and Mediterranean à Click here to register
• 12^nd – 13^rd February in Tallinn jointly organized by RFCs North Sea-Baltic and Amber à Click here to register
• 18^th – 19^th February in Sopron jointly organized by RFCs Baltic-Adriatic, Orient/East-Med, Rhine-Danube, Alpine-Western Balkan, and Amber à Click here to register
• 25^th – 26^th February in Milano jointly organized by RFCs Scan-Med, Baltic-Adriatic and Mediterranean à Click here to register

Should you wish to refresh your PCS knowledge before the trainings, recordings from past year’s online sessions are available here.

Please feel free to share this invitation with other colleagues.

To learn the evolution of the level of satisfaction of our customers with the products and services of the RFC, we conducted our fourth annual user satisfication survey in 2024 jointly and in a harmonised way with the other ten RFCs like in the previous years. The summary of the results specific for RFC Rhine-Danube can be downloaded here. We would like to thank everyone who filled it in for the valuable feedback and time. The Infrastructure Managers in the Management Board of the RFC will take a deeper look into the results in order to define concrete actions for improvement with a focus on the topics with which the respondents were the least satisfied.

We are looking forward to exchange views on the results and proposed improvement actions with our customers in the next meeting between the Railway Undertaking and the Terminal Advisory Groups with the Management Board and the Executive Board in May 2025.

The application of the quieter routes shall start on 8th December 2024 in the first group of implementing Member States.

Quieter routes are those, in which there is a high level of freight trains operated during night. More precisely, quieter routes are ‘part of the railway infrastructure with a minimum length of 20 km on which the average number of daily operated freight trains during the nigh-time as defined in national legislation transposing Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council was higher than 12.’

Only wagons compliant with the Noise TSI are allowed to operate on quieter routes from 8th December 2024.

Rail Freight Corridors Rhine-Danube and Orient / East-Med would like to give their customers an overview of the designated quieter routes here: https://rfc-rhine-danube.eu/quiter-routes/

We are pleased to invite you to the RNE RFC Session 2024, taking place online on October 30, 2024, from 10:00 to 12:00 (CET). This special event will highlight the main functionalities of several key RNE IT tools, including:

• Path Coordination System (PCS) and its new Capacity Broker (PCS CB)
• Customer Information Platform (CIP)
• Rail Facilities Portal (RFP)
• Train Information System (TIS)

During the session, we will offer detailed presentations and guidance on these tools, helping participants to better understand their features and the benefits they bring to the railway sector.

The session will be co-organized by the RFC Network and the RNE Team, and each tool will have a dedicated 30-minute slot, including time for questions and answers.

The session will be recorded and published on the RFC Network YouTube channel for later viewing. The event will be held in English language.

If you are interested don’t hesitate to ask your questions directly to the experts. We are looking forward to your participation!

On SZCZ network, the overall situation is coming back to the normal activities. Full operation of Chalupki-Bohumin border point is envisaged on 12 October in the evening, for both passenger and freight trains. All  Corridors lines will be fully operational.

ÖBB-I: the situation has improved and gradually returned to normal activities. Since 10 October the Old Western Line has both tracks with max speed 100 Km/h open. Currently there are 3 out of 5 tracks on the East-West Corridor available.

• 85 – 100 % of capacity for freight trains is available on the West Line and on the rerouting line via Herzogenburg possible
• 15 % has to be rerouted via the South Line
• ÖBB-I adapted schedules (with some restrictions for the passanger trains) in order to gain capacity for freight trains
• the New West Line will be temporary repaired by December 14th 2024; a second phase repair will be needed in Summer 2025 for 4 weeks

• On SZCZ network, the situation is gradually coming back to the normal activities. Bohumin Vrbice-Chalupki border point will be opened today 4th October at 16.00. Full operation of Chalupki-Bohumin is envisaged on 10 October, where also related local lines will be reopened. All Corridors lines will be fully operational as from next week. For freight trains, there will be no need for rerouting. As for international passenger trains, reopening of specific traffics are also according to RUs needs and
• For traffic to Slovakia from the Chech network, all border lines are operational.
• ÖBB-I network: criticalities remain on the West line Wien-St.Pölten. In the normal case East-/West Corridor has 5 tracks. Since September 28^th  it is possible to use just 2 of them. As for the Old Westline, efforts to increase capacity are ongoing, namely:
• on October 10th the Old Western line will have no longer single track sections and a new schedule will be offered, then it will be possible to use 3 of 5 tracks on the East- / West Corridor
• as from October 1st, 00:00 until Monday 14th, 24:00,  on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday there is only 75 % capacity available;
• on October 14th capacity will be increased up to 100 %
• The rerouting option via Tulln and Herzogenburg is open since September 28th, with some restrictions up to October 10th.
• As for the New West Line, tunnels and train station Tullnerfeld were under water with big damages. No precise forecasts for reopening are possible at the moment.
• Impact on DB InfraGO network: DB InfraGo mentioned that with regard to situation related to transit trains parked (i.e. Germany- Austria border via Passau), the overall framework improved as from last Saturday, when additional capacity was released. Situation is coming back to normal activities.

We will keep our stakeholders informed about the further proceedings.