The Rhine – Danube Corridor

There are many landlocked countries in Europe.

Landlocked countries depend on rivers – and cooperation from other countries – to do most of their exporting.

The Rhine and the Danube are.... major rivers and close together in central Europe.

Here’s an idea: Since they come so close to each other, let’s connect them to make a waterway all the way across Europe!!!

Connecting the rivers where they were closest did not make sense. It was uphill and the rivers were narrow there. Rhine Danube

HOWEVER, there was a large tributary of the Rhine River that came close to the Danube on flatter land. Danube Rhine

€2.3 billion euros and 32 years later, Europe had a waterway across the continent.

The Rhine River is connected to the Danube by the Main Canal.

The canal is 106 miles long and was built to look as natural as possible.

An industrial corridor has grown up along the rivers. Danube-LNG-Masterplan-Gets-TEN-T-Funding.jpg

strategic-partnership-reducing-pollution-working-paper-1_1.jpg In some areas along the rivers, industrial pollution is a major problem. bela_szandelszky_kolontarhungary.jpg

The Danube River drainage basin has been hit especially hard with industrial pollution over the years.

Many of the Danube River drainage basin countries were controlled by the Soviet Union until

The Soviet Union was very interested in building their empire through industry. They were not, however, particularly concerned about the environment.

The European Union is working to help countries on the Rhine-Danube industrial corridor fix pollution problems. And much of the water route is so beautiful that thousands of tourists cruise the rivers every year. KatizCastle_478x345_tcm jpg