Mediterranean

In particular, as regard rail, proper connections with hinterland are the most relevant
critical issue. Rail connection should be addressed in terms of: (1) developments inside
the port in order to connect the different terminals with the port rail access; (2)
connection between port and rail network (i.e. “last mail connection”); (3) long distance
connections because of their bottlenecks and missing sections affect the development of
services with origin and destination in the port.
Inland waterways improvements
Ensuring full reliability of IWW
Full reliability for inland waterways sections is very important for Corridor
implementation, both in terms of 365 day navigability and absence of physical
constraints. Furthermore, the considerations presented for ports full connectivity can be
extended to inland ports.
Airport intermodality improvements
Increasing rail connections to the airport
The development of heavy rail connection to the airports shall be set as primary
objective for airport intermodality, both for passenger and freight. Specific projects
presented in the Mediterranean Project list go to that direction (e.g. rail connection to
Venice airport, People Mover construction in Bologna airport and Rail connection to T1
Terminal of Barcelona airport).
Road projects improvements
Reaching the TEN-t targets
Road network needs to be fully compliant with the criteria set by the Regulation (EU) No
1315/2013 both for the establishment of express road or motorway and the availability
of clean fuels along the Corridor. This is very important in cross-border sections.
In this respect, the project Vásárosnamény - Beregdaróc (HU-UA border) will permit to
upgrade the Eastern road section of the Corridor to the desired standards. Similar road
projects exist (e.g. IT-SI road cross border section) and others shall be supported.
Urban node projects improvements
Development of urban nodes
It became quite apparent in the Corridor Study that the main urban areas along the
Corridor constitute sometimes serious bottlenecks for rail hampering not only local and
regional traffic but also restricting severely international traffic. Attention must not only
be given to passenger services but equal treatment should be given to freight services
using the same infrastructure. While the general problem is similar in all urban nodes,
the specific situations of the various urban nodes differ and need to be studied
individually.
Particular attention needs to be paid to urban nodes which form the crossing points with
other core network Corridors, in order to allow a seamless flow of high-speed passengers
and freight flows. This concerns first of all the major nodes like Madrid, Lyon and Milan,
but also Verona, Venice and Budapest.
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