{"id":2306,"date":"2017-02-07T14:20:14","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T13:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=2306"},"modified":"2017-02-14T17:02:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T16:02:32","slug":"connection-with-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/connection-with-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Connection with Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
Improvement of transport routes has been, since ancient times, a constant quest for the survival, wealth and development of peoples. With the creation of the European single market, having an interoperable transport network became one of the basic foundations to make economic relations between member states possible. The aim was to have modern infrastructure for the transportation of passengers and goods, held together by common legislation and technology that would exceed the simple juxtaposition of national roads. Thus began the trans-European transport routes, called TEN-T corridors, which comprise transport by road and railway, including waterways and seaports, as well as the airport network. Also in this category are smart transport management systems, like Galileo, the European system of satellite radionavigation, or the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).<\/p>\n
In the 1980s, the EU began to establish which priority routes where greatest management and financial efforts would be directed, with the aim of facilitating communications, mainly between the main seaports and the large industrial areas and logistics centres of EU countries. On the basis of the studies conducted came the nine major Core Network Corridors (CNC) which structure Europe. Due to Spain\u2019s outlying geography within the European continent, two of the nine corridors run through it: the Atlantic Corridor and the Mediterranean Corridor.
\nSubsequently, European Union Regulation N.\u00ba 1315\/2013 established the specific alignments and nodes that make up each corridor, as well as the technical requirements necessary to have a solidly structured, homogenous, multimodal network that provides the backbone of European mobility in place by 2030.<\/p>\n
The studies on the Core Network Corridors, conducted by consortia of consulting companies in the Member States, include analysis of demand, traffic forecasts, identification of improvements to transport networks and services, environmental impact analysis, innovation methods, etc. The analyses of these studies enable the projects and means necessary to meet the technical requirements set out in European law to be established. This must be implemented by Member States under the supervision of the European Commission.<\/p>\n
In 2014, a total of 265 projects were identified for the Atlantic Corridor, of which approximately 40% were railway projects, 24% were ports and 23% intermodal. In the case of the Mediterranean Corridor, in the 2014 study, 300 projects were identified, of which 44% were railway projects and 20% involved ports.<\/p>\n
Since 2015, the EU has promoted the preparation and implementation of new work plans with specific actions to give impetus to the Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors, two projects considered to be top priority, in which Ineco has participated very actively since the origins. Proof of this is to be found in the previous studies on the EU corridors, as well as studies of the Vitoria-Dax, San Sebasti\u00e1n-Bayonne and Figueres-Perpignan railway connections, and the current studies of the Atlantic Corridor and the Mediterranean Corridor up until the end of 2017.<\/p>\n
When the lists of projects and methods of each corridor are drawn up and the targets set out by the European Commission are met, they must be put up for political consensus among the various Member States, central governments and the regions, as well as cooperation and understanding between the various state and private agents involved. This is why the Corridor Fora and Working Groups, regular meetings that take place at the European Commission\u2019s headquarters in Brussels, to which all stakeholders are invited, are very important. In the Corridor Fora, the consultants present the main progress from the corridor studies and open debate is held on the most important issues, offering attendees the possibility to respond or make comments. In the case of the Working Groups, specific technical issues are discussed, for example border matters, aspects relating to urban nodes, ports, logistics terminals, etc. in sessions with fewer participants, directed solely to the agents involved in each case. Both in the Corridor Fora and the Working Groups, the role of the consulting teams is fundamental, as they are coordinators and integrators to ensure that the studies are conducted holistically, prioritising the objectives of the corridor over individual interests.<\/p>\n
The projects selected for each corridor and the European subsidies awarded to them are decisions of key importance both for the actors involved in international trade \u2013infrastructure managers, shippers and logistics operators\u2013 and for the economic development of the Member States. Good evidence of the interest surrounding this is provided by the 2,800 transport companies and the 22 European ministers who attended the TEN-T Days 2016 conference, held in Rotterdam in June. The European Commission\u2019s actions have objectives in the short (2020), medium (2030) and long term (2050), and 2050 is the final year of development, by which goods transported by land are projected to increase more than 50%.<\/p>\n
Both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea have enabled distances to other continents to be shortened thanks to their sea routes, made possible by large engineering works such as the Panama and Suez Canals. The European ports of both port fronts compete to have the infrastructure and logistics terminals necessary to assume the load of the Panamax and Post Panamax vessels which transport goods containers from Asia, Africa and America.
\nTo manage this entire potential load, the ports require installations, technology and the land connections necessary for its rapid distribution to the population and industrial centres in the interior. At the same time, the EU created the concept of \u201chighways of the sea\u201d, short-distance maritime routes between ports that assist in decongesting roads. Finally, the corridor work plans seeks to gradually implement the use of clean energies and fuels that enable pollutant gas emissions to the atmosphere to be reduced.<\/p>\n