RBGC First Transnational Roundtable Vilnius 24th November 2011 « Core Corridors and the « Rail Baltica » James Pond DG MOVE European Commission

The patchwork today

New TEN-T Policy Package announced 19th October Followed extensive consultation over two years with the 27 MS and other stakeholders The existing patchwork of priority projects will be replaced by a single European Core network At the national level there will be a comprehensive network as defined by the MS themselves to ensure accessibility and common standards At the Europe wide level there will be a Core network linking all MS and all corners of the EU along the most important axes It will be implemented by a network of 10 key Core network Corridors

Corridor No. 1 “Baltic-Adriatic” Corridor Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga-Kaunas-Warszawa-Katowice Gdynia-Katowice Katowice-Ostrava-Brno-Wien Katowice-Zilina-Bratislava-Wien Wien-Graz-Klagenfurt-Villach-Udine-Venezia- Bologna-Ravenna

Finance – The « Connecting Europe Facility » The Core network should be completed by 2030 EU support of € 50 billion for the CEF of which € 31,7 billion for transport infrastructure Of this € 31,7 billion € 10 billion reserved for 14 Cohesion countries and € 21,7 billion for TEN-T (27 countries) Also € 24 billion general Cohesion funding for transport Rates of EU support will be around 80% for Cohesion spending but only 40% for general TEN-T support Financing will be project led requiring a detailed project pipeline from the MS

The new 1435mm « Rail Baltic» project Tallinn via Pärnu, Riga, Kaunas to the LT/PL border with a corresponding extension of new 1435 mm track from the LT /PL border to Ełk Feasibility Study figures: – € billion investment cost but spread over two MFF – line would be mixed use = freight/passenger – length of track 728 km (not including the Polish section) – route would be twin track elctrified – design speed 240 kph maximum – journey times Tallinn – LT/PL border passenger = 4.13 hours, freight = 10,38 hours

Decision Time Joint Statement by the three Baltic Prime Ministers, Tallinn, 10 November 2011 Welcomed the conclusions of the Final report of the Feasibility Study Important to start construction of the new line by 2020 Agreed to establish a joint venture by the end of 2012 at the latest to implement the project Authorize the three transport ministers to agree a memorandum of mutual understanding at their meeting next month including the establishment of the joint venture and report on progress made before the end of 2012