Rail Freight Corridor RHINE-ALPINE

The Rail Freight Corridor (RFC) Rhine-Alpine stretches from the sea ports of Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Vlissingen to the port of Genoa, right through the heart of the EU. This is the most heavily industrialised North-South route in Central Europe and connects Europe's prime economic regions such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Duisburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Basel, Zurich, Milan and Genoa. All these centres are served and connected by the corridor. The countries directly involved are The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

This outstanding position together with the resulting fact that this corridor carries by far the greatest transport volume in Europe makes the Corridor the pioneer for international rail freight transport in Europe.

The project is part of the European Commission’s promotion plan to improve the use of rail freight transport and to enhance sustainable mobility by encouraging the modal shift from road to rail. The coordination of this international programme is managed the EEIG Corridor Rhine-Alpine EWIV, a European entity founded by rail infrastructure managers and supported by the European Union.

In November 2013 the Rail Freight Corridor went operational as a continuation of the previously IQ-C and ERTMS Corridor A initiatives. The Corridor-One-Stop-Shop started operating for the time table period 2015 and reserve capacity for TT 2014.

In 2016 the Executive Board of the Corridor signed a decision stating that Vlissingen is officially integrated as Corridor line.