The PLANET project completed

Source: PLANET project

The PLANET project https://www.planetproject.eu completed with highlighting key solutions for optimising the intercontinental rail freight connections between China, Russia and Europe (Belt and Road Initiative). The project started in June 2020 and all activities planned for the first two years had to be switched online due to the pandemic. However, the final project meeting held in Thessaloniki in March 2023 showed a series of accomplished deliverables and successful outcomes based on three Living Labs and strong partnerships. As part of final outputs, a short video showcasing the project has been produced:

PLANET addressed the challenges of assessing the impact of emerging global trade corridors on the TEN-T network and ensuring effective integration of the European to the Global Network. EGTC played a key role in Use Case 3 of Living Lab 2, led by Panteia. We organised two workshops in March and December 2022, and discussed the potential impact on the Rhine-Alpine (RALP) Corridor of handling an increasing volume of goods due to expanding Eurasian rail freight. For the effective impact assessment, three simulations (year 2019, 2030 and 2050) were developed in order to highlight the destinations of these flows and terminals facilitating inter-modal connections for first and last mile. As Principal Entry Points, three key ports (Rotterdam, Duisburg and Genoa) and five rail terminals (RT) (Duisburg, Tilburg, Ghent, Liege and Milan) were included in the modelling to assess possible impacts from the increase in Eurasian rail transport.

Source: EGTC Rhine-Alpine

Key findings from the discussion with EGTC stakeholders are centred around the future challenges and investment needs along the RALP Corridor as well as the ways to overcome capacity issues through digitalization, optimization and strategic corridor planning. There is the need for further corporation between terminals, consideration of the urban and spatial impact of increasing trade flows, and improvements to overall system of terminals. Key issues for future EGTC Corridor strategies are the search for alternative routes and options to overcome bottlenecks and ease congestion on the heavily congested RALP Corridor, including the impact on the Gotthard line due to a potential shift in TEU. Annual Reports of PLANET are available here and a detailed report for the Use Case 3 presenting EGTC’s contributions to PLANET will be available soon

Dr. Noriko Otsuka, PLANET Project Officer