Passenger and freight transport on the Baltic Sea region's Rail Baltica (RB) route has been enhanced by the Rail Baltica Growth Corridor (RBGC) project. By creating a platform to observe the needs of the sector and its customers, RBGC has helped to strengthen transport links and collaboration between Baltic cities and regions, and improve their competitiveness and accessibility.
- 17 December 2015
It should be remembered that Rail Baltica is much more than only a railway. It is a way to connect cities to each other, promote accessibility of people and create opportunities for business along the chain. This is one of the most effective tools to create wealth and competitiveness along the Eastern side of the Baltic Sea.
The partners undertook research into public- and private-sector transport and regional-development stakeholders and decision-makers including evaluation of stakeholder views of RB, need for RB and decision-making processes in the countries concerned. The research formed the basis for RBGC's efforts to improve conditions for multimodal transport in the region and led to production of two studies on public- and private-sector decision-making processes.
Connectivity and logistics pilot projects were carried out for passenger and freight transport. The connectivity pilot aimed to enlarge EU-Spirit, a multimodal travel planner, by introducing new countries to the system. The logistics pilot created a chain of logistics centres along the RB corridor, based on investigation and prioritisation of interoperability and multimodality criteria.
Project research supports several actions
The research supported the development of the Travel Information Network, a service based on EU-Spirit, creation of partnerships between logistics centres and transnational round tables held as part of work towards a joint RB Growth Strategy. RBGC published a mobility guide with maps and information on public transport in the Eastern Baltic region and a demo server with information on connections with the St. Petersburg region was set up.
The project's visibility was enhanced through participation at Baltic- and Europe-wide events while the final project event, in Berlin in June 2013, saw a presentation of the Rail Baltica Growth Strategy, a policy-making instrument to contribute to economic growth in the Eastern Baltic region. Knowledge gained from the research and pilot projects fed into the Strategy, which is the project's key statement.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Rail Baltica Growth Corridor” is EUR 3 587 090, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing EUR 2 836 000 from the Operational Programme “Baltic Sea Region” for the 2007 to 2013 programming period.