In November 2022, strong concern spread, supported by facts, due to the suspicion that the European Union was modifying the regulations of the continent’s major railway axes with bad news: the Mediterranean corridor did not reach Ukraine. In fact, as Enric Juliana announced in this newspaper, they were working with the possibility that it would be cut off in Croatia, far from the wheat fields of Ukraine, and the ports of the Black Sea.
There were enough elements to assess that the European Commission was erasing the route of the Mediterranean corridor to connect Ukraine with the ports of the Baltic and the North Sea through Poland. It was a logical concern: the main ports of northern Europe emerged as leading actors in the reconstruction of Ukraine, to the detriment of the Mediterranean axis, especially the aforementioned port of Trieste.
However, yesterday it became known that Brussels has decided that the Mediterranean corridor not only reaches Ukraine, but also penetrates to Lviv (Lviv), a city located in western Ukraine. That is to say, the infrastructure recovers its original layout, a position that the Spanish Government has defended during the presidency of the EU and that was announced yesterday together with the agreement to approve the regulation of the Trans-European Transport Network.
For Josep Vicent Boira, Government commissioner for the development of the Mediterranean corridor, “the infrastructure is strengthened by the review of the regulations that define the trans-European Transport network. It becomes the only corridor that connects the continental west and east and also not only “not only reaches the border of Ukraine, but also goes deeper until it reaches Lviv, linking southern Europe with this country in a future reconstruction and integration process.”
He adds that with the EU decision “a great southwest-northeast vector is configured with a great logistical future for goods and great potential in the passenger railway field, uniting regions with important ports, tourist, industrial and service areas with railway gauge international”. And he concludes that the Mediterranean corridor “is a great achievement for Spain, but, as can be seen, also for the European Union, which finally recognizes what many of us have been defending for twenty years.”
The institutions of the European Union have reached an agreement to complete the core network of the Trans-European Transport Network in 2030. The agreement, which has yet to be formally ratified by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, also provides that the core network expanded to be completed in 2040, with the aim of advancing the completion of large-scale projects, mainly cross-border rail connections.
The European Union is currently contemplating nine strategic railway corridors, the works of which are the subject of community subsidies. Six corridors in a North-South direction (Atlantic, North Sea-Alpine, Scandinavian-Mediterranean, Baltic Sea-Adriatic Sea, Baltic Sea-Black Sea-Aegean Sea and Western Balkans), compared to three corridors with an East-West orientation (Baltic Sea -North Sea, Rhine-Danube and Mediterranean), the Mediterranean corridor being the most extensive in the East and West connection.
“Today’s agreement is a milestone for better and sustainable connectivity in Europe” and “will greatly contribute to strengthening EU cohesion and stimulating growth and jobs,” said Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente, in name of the Council, given that Spain holds the rotating presidency of the EU this semester.
The pact between the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission came at a time when Spain and France are negotiating when their high-speed rail interconnection should be completed. “Europe needs a transport network that addresses the mobility concerns of our citizens and businesses, that is sustainable and resilient, and that builds a bridge with our neighbors, in particular Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans,” said the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina V?lean.
The agreement also provides that passenger trains that circulate on the basic network do so at a minimum speed of 160 kilometers per hour and freight trains at 100 kilometers per hour in 2030 and that cross-border crossings be completed in less than 25 minutes from 2030.
