Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 5 September 2018

Coordinator Grosch attended the conference organised by DB in the Representation of NRW (Germany) on Investment needs and CEF II.
In the second half of the afternoon, he met with MEP Marinescu to discuss the CEF II proposal from the European Commission.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 11 July 2018

Coordinator Grosch attended the conference organised by DB in the Representation of Bade-Wurtenberg on Railways and Digitalisation.
This conference was followed by a meeting with MEP Marinescu (TRAN co-rapporteur for the EC CEF II proposal).

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 20 June 2018

Morning: On the invitation of the Sachsen Office in Brussels, Coordinator Grosch has been invited to a meeting with ARL (Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung). ARL presented their position paper on the results of analysis done on the OEM Corridor concerning spatial and transport development in European Corridors.

Afternoon: Coordinator Grosch was invited as a speaker by the European Parliament TRAN Committee in the frame of the Interparliamentary Committee Meeting. Mr Grosch presented the views of a TEN-T Coordinator about his role, how he interacts with stakeholders, what has been achieved so far and what are the future expectations. In the Q&A session, he explained issues related to the interfaces between Core and Comprehensive Networks, links with the Western Balkans states and investment needs.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 19 June 2018

Coordinator Grosch has been invited by Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Economic Affairs and Transport of the Free State of Saxony, Mr Martin Dulig (DE) to an information event on the new railway line Dresden – Prague project. Coordinator Grosch made a keynote speech addressing the project and the potential financial support from CEF. A panel discussion followed with representatives from the European Committee of the Region, DB Netz and the Czech railways unit from the Transport Ministry. Future priorities and planning issues have been discussed.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 18 June 2018

Mr Grosch met Mr Dimitrios Dimitriou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Airport of Athens. The meeting focused on the effects of airports on the supply chain and the national/regional economies. The impact of traffic growth on the GDP and economy due to habits changes in tourism and business has been discussed. Coordinator Grosch proposed to integrate this reflexion in future discussions of the OEM Corridor Forum. This was welcomed by Professor Dimitriou.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Thessaloniki (Greece), 7 June 2018

Mr Grosch visited the Port of Thessaloniki located in the North of Greece. He met the new port management team in place and went for a look at the port infrastructure and recent investments. Exchanges took place about the current business positioning of the port and its near future perspectives in the light of its recent privatisation.

The visit to the port was followed by a visit to the construction site of the city metro of Thessaloniki centre. He met Prof Y.Mylopoulos as well as the persons in charge of the archaeological aspects of the excavation processes. The positive cooperation between the engineering aspects and the conservation of historical patrimony has been presented and highlighted in-situ.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to the construction site of the new railway line Domokos – Lianokladi (Greece), 6 June 2018

This important railway line located on the North-South axis of the OEM Corridor in Greece is financed by CEF and DG REGIO for its essential part.
A train trip was organised on the new line that will be open for commercial operations and services in the upcoming weeks. It allowed to discuss the technical issues linked to the construction, including several tunnels (including the “Kallidromo” 9km “double” longest railway tunnel in the Balkans).

A site visit has also been organised to the bridge 26, near to Domokos. This double track railway viaduct of 400m length above a valley of 75 m deep is narrowing its completion by end of 2018. Coordinator Grosch could exchange views with the project promoters and construction engineers about the difficulties of the project and its seismic resistance.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to the new OSE Railway Freight Centre of Thriasio (Attica Region, Greece), 5 June 2018

A visit of the new technical installations of the Freight Centre has been organised by the Greek Ministry for Transport. The infrastructure works are almost terminated (4 years of works) and private services are expected to start in the coming months, once the formal attribution procedure will have been finalised. The freight centre is located 17km from the port of Piraeus. This centre is an important element of the Greek transport strategy for the years to come.

After the visit, Coordinator Grosch was invited to participate to a conference “Combined Transport and the role of Greece”. The conference was attended by more than 150 people from the industrial and transport sector. It has been opened by Minister Spirtzis and Coordinator Grosch has been invited to give a keynote speech about TEN-T and its development in Greece.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Athens (Greece), 4 June 2018

The day started with a meeting between Coordinator Grosch,  the Greek Minister for Transport Mr Spirtzis and the Ministry Secretary General Mr Vourdas. It was the opportunity to review and draw conclusions of the TEN-T development activities that took place in Greece over the last 4 years. Coordinator Grosch expressed his great satisfaction about the way the Greek authorities managed the CEF funds and the respect of the infrastructure construction calendar. Minister Spirtzis expressed his gratitude for the support from the Commission services and more particularly the actions and role of Coordinator Grosch.

This meeting was followed by an exchange of ideas with infrastructure managers active in the field of road, rail, maritime, urban and aviation transport. Projects have been explained to the coordinator as well as the current situation regarding future potentials for development in logistics, intermodality and transport.

In the afternoon, Coordinator Grosch met the Greek Alternate Minister for Economy & development, Mr A. Charitsis and his Secretary General Mr Panagiotis Korkolis. Discussions focused on the next EU MFF and the successful applications of Greece in TEN-T CEF with a very high absorption rate of the available funds. They shared their views about the fact that beside the financial investments, the importance on the social cohesion of the regions, the creation of jobs and the increase of GDP are at stake. The Minister insisted on the need for Bulgaria and Romania to invest very rapidly in their railway alignment part of the OEM Corridor to avoid annihilating the Greek efforts to complete the corridor.
He asked Coordinator Grosch to help them in this sense. He insisted on the need to better integrate CEF and Cohesion fund policies and to streamline the investments in the Core and Comprehensive Networks following the two financing tools.

The end of the afternoon was devoted to a visit to the Terminal 2 and 3 of the Port of Piraeus owned by the Chinese COSCO. The latest modernisation investments since the latest visit of Coordinator Grosch have been showed. A meeting took place with Mr Tassos Vamvakidis, Commercial Manager of the Piraeus Container Terminal PCT.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 16 May 2018

Mr Grosch has been invited to participate to the 3rd meeting of the Network of Executive Boards of the EU Rail Freight Corridors (NEXBO-RFC). The aim of the meeting was to take stock of the progress made since the last meetings in the follow-up of the 2016 Rotterdam Declaration on Rail Freight. Discussions took place about the sector statements, the TEN-T Days rail freight session, recommendations on ETA, the Issues Log initiative of DG MOVE. The AT representative informed the audience about the future priorities for rail transport under the AT Presidency during the second half of 2018. Coordinator Grosch has been invited to make an intervention about the interactions between the role of the CNC Coordinators, the TEN-T KPI’s and the CEF allocations. The importance to act very quickly at the level of the interoperability quick wins has also been discussed.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Sofia, Bulgaria, 13 April 2018

Mr Grosch has been invited to participate the High Level Presidency Seminar organised by the Bulgarian Presidency and UNIFE. The theme of the conference was “EU support for the development of rail transport in Bulgaria and the Western Balkans”. Coordinator Grosch made a presentation in the session “Current and future investments for rail”. He presented the current situation in Bulgaria and the recent support brought under CEF funding along the OEM Core Network Corridor. He described the different projects and the state of play expected by 2030.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Budapest, 20 March 2018 - Meeting task force's leaders Progress Reports

Coordinator Grosch was invited by the RFC7 to an information meeting about the progress made by the task forces setup up along each of the railway borders of the OEM. This initiative launched in early 2016, was endorsed by an official declaration signed in June 2016 by 8 Transport Ministers along the OEM Corridor. The aim of this initiative launched by Coordinator Grosch is to reduce to maximum 2 hours each railway border crossing  along the OEM Corridor.
The meeting was attended by more than 25 people representing essentially the railway Infrastructure Managers and some Ministries.
After the welcome address made by Mr Gabor Kiss  and introductory remark made by State Secretary Mosoczi(by video) and by Mr Grosch, 12 reports have been presented summarising the situation on each border crossing.
The outcome and the content of the presentations were of an excellent quality and tailor made solutions have been presented for the different cases along the corridor.
Recurrent problems are in relation with "buffer wagons" diverging national rules, brakes tests rules, trusted handover issues, lack of loc's at the borders and absence of IT communication tools. In some cases, solutions are under development and may be ready by the deadline of 30 June 2018, others will need an open discussions with the national safety authorities and transport ministries to find suitable solutions.
Coordinator Grosch concluded the following: He insisted that the ministries need to support the efforts of the Infra Managers. This is important in the context of CEF 2 and the funding for railway infrastructure, it will allow to justify future investments. We expect to introduce conditionality linked to the disappearing of non-sense rules in the sector.
CNC and RFC's need to continue their joint work, barriers should not be artificial. There is also a need to motivate the Railway Undertakings to be more active in this field, one should all work towards this direction.
Mr Grosch proposed to organise a meeting on the typical topics like buffer wagons, break tests etc.. We need to find quickly pragmatic solutions.
He will invite around the same table the IM, the safety authorities, the involved Ministries including ERA and the specific Commission services.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch to Brussels, 13 March 2018 - CER Premises

Coordinator Grosch was invited together with Coordinator Karel Vinck to attend a meeting organised by the Dutch Ministry of Transport. The aim of the meeting was to analyse the best ways to improve cooperation between CNC's and RFC's in the future.
Coordinator Grosch explained to the participants about the need to consider  quick wins or breakthroughs to solve an important number of interoperability and efficiency issues on the RFC corridors.
He insisted that the time of big masterplans is over and that we must take action. He underlined the willingness of the Coordinators to support the action on the RFC Corridors
At the end of the meeting, Coordinator Vinck proposed three items which should be taken up by the participants and presented, by RFC corridor, before July 2018 with concrete solutions. These concerned:

1.  the 740m length: Each Corridor should come up with the actual and the forecasted situation on that issue. DG MOVE will participate in the harmonisation between the RFC proposals.
2. Before July 2018:
- Each Corridor should come up with the operational issues along the corridor, from the point of view of the users. We need the 3-4 most important issues.
- Each Corridor should come up with the strengths and weaknesses of the governance of the Corridor.
A meeting will be organised before July to discuss the conclusions of the analysis requested.
The participants agreed on this programme and are committed to come forward with the answers to the questions before July 2018.

Mission report Coordinator Grosch to Brussels, Monday 26 February 2018 - TEN-T Coordinators hearing in the European Parliament – TRAN Committee

Coordinator Grosch attended the annual hearing with 8 other European Coordinators.
He informed the members of the European Parliament about the progress made on the Orient/East-Med Core Network Corridor, as well as the future perspectives.
Elements have been provided about the actions undertaken to overcome cross-border obstacles in railways and how to improve the operational efficiency of the services. He also provided elements on his third Work Plan, as well as key information related to the socio-economic effects of the infrastructure investments on the TEN-T corridors.The next MFF and the future of CEF were tackled, focusing on the main priorities and the project pipeline till 2030. Aspects linked to decarbonisation, jobs and growth were discussed.
The chair of the TRAN expressed her high appreciation of the work done so far and offered an open invitation to the Coordinators to be in contact with the European Parliament on a regular basis.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to  Brussels, 7 February 2018 - 1st Meeting on the TKABVR railway project linking Greece to Bulgaria and the Romanian border

The meeting, organised by Coordinator Grosch, was the first coordination meeting between the Member States involved. It was attended by 25 people representing: the Greek Ministry of Transport and the Ministry for Economy + the National railway company, the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and the National railway company, the Romanian Ministry of Transport, representatives from DG MOVE, DG REGIO, DG ENV, the Secretariat General and INEA, the EIB through the EIAH and JASPERS.

A MoU on the project was signed last September between Bulgaria and Greece. Romania is currently not part to the agreement. It will provide an attractive logistical service between the ports of the Black Sea and the Aegean/Med seas. It will propose a faster, secure and cheap railway alternative to the crossing of the Bosphorus strait. The project will integrate various aspects of transport including the seaports, inland ports and modal shift from the road as well as different modes of financing.

The proposed railway alignment was presented by Greece ad Bulgaria. In summary, it concerns 1080km of tracks (single geographical alignment) partially located on the OEM Core Network Corridor, the core network and the comprehensive corridors. The projects concerns a double track line, electrified and responding to the EU KPI’s including modern TSI’s and ERTMS. The line will be a mixed freight/passenger line. The on-going evaluation concerns also the improvements that have to be foreseen in the ports providing access to the trains and the movement of containers (full intermodal approach). A first phase of implementation can be expected around 2023 and the final by 2030
Thematic presentations and speeches about the existing cooperation/facilitation possibilities were made by DG REGIO, ENV, and the EIB (JAPSERS and EIAH).

Coordinator Mathieu Grosch concluded that:
- He noted the interest of Romania to learn more about the project.
- It has been agreed between Bulgaria/Greece and Romania to organise very soon a trilateral meeting to start open discussions.
- The results of the pre-study will be shared between all parties to the project and stakeholders.
- This project could be an added value for the OEM CNC, but he reminded the parties of the importance of the implementation of the OEM Corridor by 2030.
- He insisted on the fact that PPP’s are interesting, but that the need to finance a project should not jeopardise European standards (KPI’s) and the EU regulations on public markets etc.
- This project can be a demonstrator of the EU added value for key projects in cohesion countries (EU technical standards, transparency of the application of investments).
- He confirmed his assumption about the added value of the proposed action and he underlined the economical and geopolitical importance of this  South-Eastearn EU regional projects.
- He confirmed that he will continue his facilitation and coordination actions on these subjects between Commission services and the 3 Members States. He will keep President Juncker’s Cabinet updated of the situation.
- He will organise a second meeting before summer 2018 to analyse the outcomes of the pre-study.

 

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Brussels, 30-31 January 2018 – Meeting with Commissioners Bulc and Oettinger

On 30 January 2018 the TEN-T coordinators were invited by Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport and Günther Oettinger, Commissioner for Budget and Human Ressources to discuss issues related to the next MFF perspectives and infrastructure investments in the EU.
Commissioner Bulc invited the Coordinators to put the CEF in a broader European perspective of how infrastructure projects of European added value can be financed in the future with clear priorities and a successful governance model. The Coordinators exchanged with her on their views of how to improve the future CEF funding instrument. Commissioner Bulc pointed out that a good governance model is required to communicate better to European citizens on the results.

Commissioner Oettinger called upon the good contacts of the European Coordinators in the regional and national ministries. He underlined that the demonstration of the European added value will be the guiding principle for the debates on the next MFF. The European Coordinators made individual statements on the successful elements of the CEF instrument and Commissioner Oettinger very much appreciated their clear analysis. He asked the Coordinators to come up with ideas on the modernisation of the financial instruments and how to be even more efficient in the seven years to come. He proposed to meet all Coordinators again at the end of April in order to discuss further on various issues before the next MFF proposal comes out.

On 31 January 2018 the Coordinators have been invited by INEA for a working session on the outcome of the CEF projects and their adequate reporting. This was followed by a seminar between Coordinators to exchange views on CEF 2 and on the organisation of the Corridor meetings during the TEN-T Days in Ljubljana.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch, Brussels, 17 January 2018

Coordinator Grosch was invited to participate to the PRIME-Railways Undertaking  dialogue on "Contingency Planning and Interoperability".
The Platform of Railway Infrastructure Managers Europe has organised this meeting jointly with DG MOVE in order to analyse and make progress on a general contingency planning in the aftermath of the Rastatt accident in Germany.
Other aspects such as common operational language and OPE/TSI aspects have also been tackled during the very open discussions.
During the side-lines of the meeting, he met Ms E.Werner, Director DG MOVE for Land Transport.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to the European Rail Agency, Lille, 9 January 2018

Participants: Mr Doppelbauer (Executive Director) and Ms Maria Bueno [ERA], MM. Grosch and Vankerckhoven
The aim of this meeting was to inform ERA Executive Director about the initiatives taken by Coordinator Grosch along the OEM TEN-T Corridor related to cross-border issues in railways.
Mr Grosch explained the analysis and work process since the signature of the Ministerial Declaration on railway cross border issues by the 8 Ministers involved along the OEM CNC in June 2016 in Rotterdam.
The results of the analysis have been discussed and provided to ERA. The Coordinator explained the difficulties to make progress and to come with solutions as foreseen to reduce the crossing times to maximum 2h by June 2018.
The report of the CoA on rail freight transport has been discussed as well as the need to come with appropriate technical and administrative solutions.
The CNC and ERA have the same objective of making railway transport an efficient and safe mode of transport for passengers and goods.
Mr Doppelbauer recognised that the ongoing work on cross border crossing along the OEM is crucial for the efficiency improvements.
He presented the different progress made by ERA in the frame of the 4th railway package including the TSI/OPE interoperability issues which will have important consequences on the rail system efficiency.
As from June 2019, ERA will be in charge of extended duties and responsibilities that will lead to major benefits for rail transport efficiency.
It has been agreed that ERA will provide its technical expertise and assistance to support Coordinator Grosch in his activities to improve the OEM CNC efficiency.

Meeting of Coordinators Peijs, Vinck and Grosch with Deutsche Bahn Management Berlin, 7 December 2017

The meeting was attended by: MM Pofalla, Sennhenn, Miram, Sellnick and Bührsch from Deutsche Bahn, and by Mr Colson, Ms J. Bertrand and Mr Vankerckhoven from DG MOVE B1.

This meeting was organised at the joint initiative of Mr Pofalla (DB) and Coordinator Grosch and had as objective to review the current state of play of TEN-T railways implementation in Germany
Mr Pofalla explained that the HSL Berlin – Munchen, the biggest investment in railway infrastructure ever made in Germany, would be inaugurated on the 8th December 2017. 10 billion EUR were invested to bring the train journey to 4 hours between the two cities. The aim is to have a modal split increasing from 20% to 40% over the upcoming years.
Mr Pofalla confirmed that 2/3rd of the DB infrastructure investments in Germany are on the TEN-T alignments.
CEF is considered as an excellent tool and benefits to the modal shift. 'A Lobby' meeting for CEF between DB and Commissioner Oettinger took place.

The TEN-T Coordinators raised the following questions of a more technical nature:
1. Connection of the BBT with Munich and operational harmonisation aspects.
2. Rastatt accident and mitigation measures for the future.
3. Setting-up of a working group to analyse potential multi modal solutions to face future accessibility problems of railway section.
4. The upcoming process of the next MFF and CEF2 and the link with an efficient railway network all over the EU have been explained. There is a clear need on return on investments for the citizens. The new role of ERA as from 2019 has been discussed and the ways helping the railway sector to become more efficient.
5. Dresden – Prague: The next step - signature of a financial agreement with the German Federal Ministry - start the preparation end of 2018 for the planning phase. Federal funding needs to be secured.
6. Construction of Erdinger Ringschluß (Railway connection between Munich main station and Munich airport) are ongoing, finalisation could be envisaged around 2026.
7. ERTMS: a financial scheme for the OBU equipment is needed and the problem of additional frequencies of 3MHz for railways has to be solved all around the EU.
8. The issue of the extension of the TEN-T corridors in the framework of the TEN-T Core Network has been raised. Comments and proposals are welcome by mid-January 2018.

Mission Coordinator Mathieu Grosch, Brussels, 5 December 2017

1) Meeting Hungarian Minister Mosoczi (morning)

Coordinator Grosch met Mr Laszlo Mosoczi, Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for Transport (accompagnied by Ms Szilvia Mogyorósi) at the Hungarian Permanent Representation of Brussels. The meeting objective was to exchange views on the best ways to cooperate between the Core Network Corridor and Rail Freight Corridor structures with the aim to reach the objectives of the Ministerial Declaration of Rotterdam (June 2016) on improving railways cross border issues along the OEM Corridor. The Minister and the Coordinator agreed on the need to make clear progress and to come with clear solutions by March 2018 to solve the very important and unproductive dwelling times at railway borders crossings. Coordinator Grosch explained that the support of future CEF funding is at stake when considering the potential efficiency progress to be made in railway transport comparing to other modes of transport. This could become a funding condition when presenting new projects for EU funding. The Minister and the TEN-T Coordinator agreed that the RFC7 structure needs to keep the expected pace of the action plan signed in Rotterdam and that it should stick to the agreed deadlines to propose sets of operational solutions. The cross border task forces work results will also be monitored by the RFC7 organisation. It hasalso been agreed that the Minister and the TEN-T Coordinator will jointly work to make this a success and that this ongoing work could serve as a good example for all RFC's in the EU. Mr Grosch declared that he was very pleased by the clear support brought by the Minister. He confirmed that a series of high level meetings and reporting meetings will soon be setup between the involved parties in order to speed up the process and to monitor and take stock of progress made. Minister Mosoczi informed Mr Grosch about the change of the Head of the RFC 7 secretariat. Mr Grosch would be pleased to meet the new head in the very near future.
There is a joint view on the added value that ERA needs to bring into this process of improving railways efficiency.

2) Meeting at the EPP bureau (afternoon)

Mr Grosch was invited by the EPP bureau to report on the current state of play of CEF in the perspective of the preparation of the next MFF. He informed the bureau members on the very positive results of CEF Transport, the work and funding methodologies, the preparation and the existing pipeline of projects to meet the 2030 EU objectives in the field of the TEN-T Core Network Corridors.
The financial tools such as blending and the cooperation with the EIB for the EFSI were reviewed. The fundamental aspects of supporting infrastructure projects with public grants including inland navigation and the road network to be upgraded at acceptable safety levels were discussed.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to the European Parliament, Brussels, 23 November 2017

1) Coordinator Grosch has been invited to a meeting with the EPP Group to explain issues related to the functioning and the success of TEN-T and CEF Transport.
2) In the follow-up he met with MEP Liberatzki to be informed about contacts with the World Bank on financing transport infrastructure.
Coordinator Grosch has been invited to an information session about the World Bank financing and investment tools for transport.

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Brussels, 22 November 2017

Coordinator Grosch met Dr. Mangold (Saxon State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Transport), Mr Detemple and Lang from the Permanent Representation of Sachsen in Brussels.
The discussions objectives focused on the current state of play of the Dresden/Prague high speed line development. Exchanges took place about the current version of the German Federal BVWP and the ongoing discussions with DB AG about the project. A short review has been made on the cooperation with the Czech Republic and the existing studies for the first phase and the second phase of studies to be started very soon. Coordinator Grosch explained the added value to integrate already now in the studies the aspects related to the benefits brought to decarbonisation, the employment and the growth that could be generated by such an important transport infrastructure project.
The current cooperation structure between Sachsen and the Czech Republic is efficient as well as the ongoing discussions with DG Netz.
Coordinator Grosch informed Minister Mangold of his latest initiatives related to the navigability of the River Elbe and the needed cooperation between Germany and Czech Republic.

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Strasbourg, 14-15 November 2017

On 14 November Coordinator Grosch attended the TEN-T Coordinators Seminar organised in Strasbourg.
This seminar was the bi-annual opportunity to exchange views with DG MOVE management and the other Coordinators on different topics linked to the future development of the TEN-T corridors and their financing. The seminar was followed by an open discussion meeting with Commissioner Bulc on the short and medium term objectives of the actions to implement the TEN-T networks.

On 15 November Coordinator Grosch participated in an event organised in the framework of the Waterways and Ports dialogue.
In the follow-up, Mr Grosch participated during the whole afternoon as a panellist in the Investing to Connect Europe Conference organised by DG MOVE.

During his stay in Strasbourg, Coordinator Grosch had the opportunity to meet with Mr Martin Selmayer, head of President Juncker's Cabinet. He also met MEP's MM Böge, Fernadez, Deprez and Ms Grossetête to discuss the positive results of CEF and the future funding needs for CEF 2.

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Brussels, 18 and 19 October 2017

On 18  October Coordinator M.Grosch met Minister Kathrin Schneider, Ministerin für Infrastruktur und Landesplanung – Berlin Brandenburg

The discussions concerned the Elbe 4.0 initiative, the next generation of CEF and corridor cross border connections between the area of Berlin and Poland.

On 19 October Coordinator Grosch chaired in the morning the 11th OEM Core Network Corridor Forum with a special focus on the Elbe River status. INEA presented the results of the CEF 2016 call and the CEF 2017 blending call. The upcoming Work Plan III of the Coordinator and the current state of play of the second study on the OEM corridor have been discussed with the members.

In the afternoon, Coordinator Grosch chaired the 3rd OEM Working Group on cross-border issues in railways. Mr R.Schultze, President of the UIRR was invited as a key note speaker to present the UIRR members experience in the cross-border issues. The results of the OEM CNC survey amongst undertakings on the border crossing experience has been presented as well as the State of Implementation of the RFC7 Action programme on cross-border issues.

Coordinator Grosch initiated a new reflection on the "Commercial Transport Speed on the OEM CNC".

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Slovakia (Bratislava), 26 and 26 September 2017

Coordinator M. Grosch met Mr Arpad ERSEK, the Slovakian Minister for Transport and Construction on Monday 26 September 2017. The Minister was accompanied by J.Mery (Director General Project Management), Jan Farkas (Director General for railways), Pavol Bzan (Director programming and monitoring department), Stanislav Trcik (Director of department for transport infrastructure development) and other members of the Ministry staff.

The discussions were very open and constructive, reviewing the current situation of the CNC's in Slovakia and its role as an important transit country in the EU. Slovakia considers the cross-border issues, the elimination of bottlenecks and the digitalisation of transport as being the major elements for the financial support brought by CEF. The problems linked to strict criteria's for the public markets as well as the complete authorisation procedure are burdensome and leads to delays in the construction processes. Mr Ersek raised the fact that for small countries, small projects bring also a great added value in the functioning of the infrastructure. Slovakia is also starting to use PPP's as new financing instruments for road infrastructure (60 km highway around Bratislava). He nevertheless mentioned the limits of PPP's and the way to find the good financial partners.

On Tuesday 26 September a site visit was organised by the Ministry to the Slovakian /Czech border near the city of Kuty. The railway line linking Kuty (SK) to Lanzhot (CZ) is located on the OEM Corridor and crosses the border between the 2 countries on the Morava River. This railway section needs an upgrade to the TEN-T Network standards including the ERTMS. The bridge crossing the Morava River will also be replaced to accommodate more and heavier traffic.

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Bonn (DE), Ministry for Transport, Inland waterways division, 18 September 2017

Coordinator Grosch met the following persons: Mr R. Klingen, Director Inland Waterways Division Federal Ministry for Transport BMVI, Mr T. Rosenstein, Technical Director, Mr R. Nagelkrämer, Head of Division TEN-T investment programme BMVI

The aim of this meeting was to make the point about the current political situation in Germany concerning the River Elbe. An overall strategy for the Elbe (Gesamtkonzept Elbe "GKE") has been set up since several years to come to a joint vision of the different stakeholders like the Bund (Federation), the Länders (federal states), the local entities, the Protestant Church organisation as well as representatives of inland shipping and environmental organisations. An overall agreement has been reached during the first half of 2017 after almost 7 years of negotiations.  The reached consensus is not in line with the IWW KPI's defined by the TEN-T legislation and it will never be in the current context. Coordinator Grosch underlined that there is a need for stability in time for the navigability of the Elbe River.  The GKE agreement is very important for the OEM Corridor. The GKE has allowed all the parties around the table to reach a needed common understanding of the situation and objectives to be reached. It is fundamental that this agreement remains stable in time as a reliable commitment of and for all stakeholders. The respect of the GKE principles will allow reaching a better navigability of the Elbe River similar to the one applicable in CZ including a respect/improvement of the environmental aspects. Coordinator Grosch underlined the importance for Hamburg to use the River Elbe for its transport and logistic purposes and to create a "Hub Hinterland Port" near Magdeburg.

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, 4 July 2017

1. Coordinator Grosch has been invited by the EPP TRAN group to attend their coordination meeting during the EP session of the week of 3^rd July 2017.
   The theme of his presentation was oriented to the general aspects of the TEN-T and CEF and the current state of play of the corridors implementation.

   The general overview of the legislative aspects, the use of the budget including the cohesion countries, the identification of the future needs to complete the 9 CNC's by 2030 and the financial resources needed on the basis of the more urgent projects and priorities have been presented. Questions have been raised by the MEP's: Luis de Grandes, Markus Pieper, Marian Marinescu, Massimiliano Salini and Wim van de Camp. The questions raised concerned the revision of the maps and corridor alignments in the future, the interaction between CEF funding and national priorities, the future of the EU transport policy, the role of CEF vs EFSI and the efficiency of CEF in the cohesion countries.
   The meeting was a success and the interest shown by the MEP's was high.

2. Coordinator Grosch met with MEP Gesine Meissner (ALDE) to explain the current results of CEF and the use of the budget. Ms Meissner showed her interested in the results and considered this as a real success story with an important EU added value

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to the European Parliament, Brussels, 28 June 2017

1. Coordinator Grosch organized a meeting with MEP Ms Ayala Sender (PSOE) to discuss the current results of TEN-T/CEF as well as the future needs in transport investments across the EU. Ms Ayala Sender was very interested in the current success of CEF and in particular in the progress made in the implementation of the CNC's in the EU. She invited Coordinator Grosch to prepare some further elements that he could present to the EP Friends of the TEN-T.

2. Coordinator Grosch met MEP Dieter Koch (EPP) who was interested to know more about the preparation of the CEF2 and the upcoming budgetary discussions in the EP. Coordinator Grosch presented the current state of play of the CEF ad mid-term and the achieved results

Mission Coordinator M. Grosch to Brussels, 14 and 15 June 2017

1. Meeting with the EPP office in Brussels concerning CEF2 in the next MFF

2. Meeting with H.Ruijters, Director MOVE B on the relations with the EP and the next steps for the 3^rd Workplan of the Coordinators

3. Coordinator Grosch chaired the 10^th OEM Corridor Forum with representatives of the Members States, regions and stakeholders.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to European Parliament, Brussels, 6 June 2017

1. Coordinator Grosch had a meeting with MEP D.Riquet (ALDE) from TRAN and BUDG Committees to discuss the future of the TEN-T and its financing tool CEF. The current results have been explained to Mr Riquet as well as the future needs to realise the TEN-T Core network by 2030. Mr Riquet invited Mr Grosch to attend internal meetings of the EP BUDG in order to explain to concerned MEP's the future investment needs.

2. Coordinator Grosch met MEP Wim van de Camp (PPE) concerning the position of the PPE towards the next MFF and the expected planning of discussions. The importance of CEFII in the next European budget has been discussed.

3. Coordinator Grosch was invited by Mr Tillich Minister President of Sachsen to review the current situation of the HSL project between Dresden and Prague as well as the political situation concerning the navigability improvement of the River Elbe. This was followed by a conference of President Tillich in the Konrad Adenauer foundation in Brussels.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to ITF in Leipzig:  31 May – 1 June 2017

31/5/2017: Coordinator Grosch attended the ministerial diner in the Leipzig Westin hotel. He had a meeting with DE Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt and Minister President of Sachsen Tillich concerning the Dresden/Prague HSL link. Minister Dobrindt expressed his interest in the opportunity to develop the idea of this important cross-border link between DE and CZ. It could be raised to a formal priority in the BVWP in the coming months.

1/6/2017 am: ITF Panel session on Governance of Gateways and Corridors, exploring good practices.

The panel was composed by Coordinator Grosch, Mr A.Nagy from the Suez Canal Authority, Mr. Christides Secretary General of the Black Sea economic cooperation, Mr. Davenne from OTIF and Mr Baolin Shi president of the China Academy of, transport. The moderator was Joshue Posaner from Politico. The panel members have been invited to make a short 5 minutes statement. This was followed by a debate animated by the moderator and questions from the audience.

Coordinator Grosch has presented the governance structure of the TEN-T priorities and its financing tool CEF.  The linked socio-economic developments as well as the climate change mitigation have been highlighted.  The close cooperation with Member States, and all involved stakeholders (regions, operators, project promoters) along the TEN-T corridors has been put forward as a key principle of the current success. The excellent know-how on the status of each corridor and the clearly identified needs by 2030 has been explained.

The audience was very satisfied by the TEN-T corridors approach and several questions came about consultation principles and the top/down – bottom/up approach used. Coordinator Grosch explained the need to make railway transport more efficient and presented shortly his initiative on the cross-border issues along the OEM corridor and the Rotterdam declaration signed by the 8 Ministers endorsing the objectives to be achieved by mid-2018. He insisted on the need to combine public EU funding/financing with effective improvements of the railway system/service efficiency.

1/6/2017 pm: Bilateral meetings

Coordinator Grosch participation in this panel was followed by bilateral meetings with the following organisations:

1. Mr Kluge of the Federation of German Inland Ports discussed issues related to the River Elbe political situation
2. Mr Citroën from UNIFE concerning the corridor situation in Romania and Bulgaria.
3. Mr Rohrs of the Sachsen Anhalt office in Brussels concerning the River Elbe navigability and maintenance.
4. Mr Christidis of BSEC who was interested by the governance structure of the TEN-T corridors and the best way to learn the best practices that could be used for the Black Sea Road Ring.
5. Belgian Minister Belot on CEF calls and the 740m sidings/ETCS funding possibilities including the need to coordinate national investment planning with the neighbours.

Mission Coordinator M.Grosch to Cyprus: 23 to 24 May 2017

23 May- Nicosia: Stakeholders meeting organised by the ministry of transport.

Presentations made by Coordinator Grosch and representatives of the Ministry for Transport on the TEN-T in Cyprus, on the role of the terminal 1&2 of the port of Limassol, on the greening of the TEN-T in Cyprus and the upgrade of the South orbital motorway of Nicosia. Presentations have been made on the role of the port authority in the management of the ports and by the manager of the Larnaca international airport. The conference allowed for a better understanding of the CY objectives and TEN-T management as well as the public-private management of the ports and airports. The problems with TK have been explained including the TK embargo on all ships calling CY ports.

23 May – Nicosia evening: Meeting with Minister Demetriades.

An interesting exchange of views took place about the TEN-T investments in CY and the participation of the country to CEF funding opportunities.

24 May - Limassol terminals

Visit of the site of the terminal 2 of the port of Limassol, located at the east side of the city. The port is currently under development and essentially used for two purposes: Loading/unloading of cement and raw material to make cement and also delivery of petroleum for the Electrical power plant located next to the port. There are plans to develop the port in an important energy centre in the very near future. Some environmental elements have to be resolved before real investments could start. Further studies are on-going for the next 1 to 2 years. Visit of the port terminal 1 located west of the city of Limassol (26km from T2), is managed by Dubai ports for general cargo, P&O services for ship handling and Eurogate for the container terminal. This was followed by a visit of the command centre of the Limassol port.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Vienna: 5 and 6 April 2017

1. OEM CNC Working group on cross border issues in railways.
   
   Coordinator Grosch chaired the meeting of the meeting group in charge of making the analysis of the current situation along the OEM CNC about the border crossings waiting time. The meeting allowed for a review of the state of play of the actions foreseen under the Rotterdam ministerial declaration on reducing border crossing times to maximum 2h by mid-2018. Coordinator Grosch took stock of the progress made and reminded the audience of the need to enhance progress in order to meet the target of mid 2018.
    
2. OEM CNC high level meeting on cross border issues in railways.
    

Coordinator Grosch invited high level representatives of the OEM CNC transport ministries and their infra managers to analyse the progress made by the CNC working group. Participants made very interesting presentations about the use of decision tools aiming to make the network more efficient as well as the other actions aiming at operational improvements of the railway networks on the CNC's.

Coordinator Grosch insisted on the need to give the necessary support to the departments in charge of preparing the actions needed to meet the Rotterdam objectives.

Mission  Coordinator Grosch to Brussels, 31 March 2017

Meeting between Coordinator Grosch and PPE leader Joseph Daul to provide information about CEF 2 and the next MFF conditions for TEN-T

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Brussels, 16 March 2017

• Meeting with Mr Johann METZNER, the new representative of DB in Brussels.

Coordinator Grosch introduced himself to Mr Metzner and discussions went on the Coordinator's initiative on cross-border issues in rail on the OEM corridor and the foreseen meetings in Vienna

• Permanent representation of Sachsen Anhalt in Brussels, participation of Coordinator Grosch to the Conference on IWW on the Elbe and Oder. Priorities and difficulties encountered to improve navigability of the 2 rivers have been raised and discussed including environmental and financial aspects.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Brussels, 3 May 2017

• Meeting at the European Parliament with MEP's Darimont and Marinescu about the next MFF and budgets needed for CEF 2 TEN-T. Coordinator Grosch explained the current state of play of TEN-T implementation and the functioning of the funding systems existing.
• Conference organised by CER on noise in railways. The conference was attended by more than 120 experts and politicians. Interesting debates concerning the different national approaches and priorities, funding needs to replace brakes of railway wagons, public acceptance etc..

Mission Coordinator Grosch to the Brenner Basis Tunnel, 22-24 March 2017

Coordinator M.Grosch has been invited to accompany the official mission of CZ Transport minister Tok (replaced last minute by Vice-Miniter Rudolecky) and Sachsen Transport minister Dulig to the BB Tunnel visit. The general aim of the visit was to exchange views and share experiences about planning and building of such an important TEN-T project and to look into the possibilities to go ahead for the Dresden-Prague HSL. Day 1 took place in Bolzano with very fruitful exchanges of views with the Landeshauptman Kompatscher and his team about the difficulties to start such a project including public acceptance and financing. After the meeting the delegation proceeded to Franzensfeste for further technical explanation in the presence of Dr Ausserdorfer and the tunnel visit was organised in the follow-up to discover the on-going works from the Italian side of the tunnel. Day 2 took place in the area of Innsbruck where a meeting with Governor G.Platter took place in the presence of professor K.Bergmeister (CEO of the BBT board). The experience in Austria was shared with the ministers and the coordinator in a very open atmosphere. A technical visit to the Austrian side of the tunnel (Ahrental) has been organised, including a life explosive blast of a new portion of the tunnel. This mission allowed for fruitful exchanges of views and experiences with the ministers and the coordinator thanks to the openness of all the parties involved.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Brussels European Parliament, 28 February 2017

The European Coordinator presented his on-going work and objectives during a hearing at the TRAN committee of the European Parliament. This was a joint hearing with the Coordinators of the Rhine/Alpine and the MED Corridors.

Mission Coordinator Grosch to Düsseldorf – Offices of DB,NRW, 17 February 2017

Coordinator Grosch met Mr Lübberink from DB NRW to discuss issues related to "Noise reduction measures" in railway in Germany. A huge programme to replace the current brake systems from freight wagons is ongoing (60.000 wagons). Concerning the noise protection along the tracks, a first programme of protection for 4000km is ongoing. With the new norms of 49db (night) and 57db (day), the programme will be extended to more than 6000km tracks.  Mr Andreas RIMKUS, SPD member of the DE Bundestages joined the meeting as a member of the region NRW. Mr Rimkus explained that the area of Düsseldorf and the Rhine valley are the most industrialised areas of Germany. The increasing needs for transport of freight between Düsseldorf and Duisburg imposes the refurbishment and extension of the railway lines to 6 tracks. The near future traffic on this line will be around 1000 trains/day (35% freight, 65% passengers).The discussions went on about the future of CEF2 and the need for an increased efficiency of the TEN-T corridors after 2020.

Mission coordinator Grosch to Luxembourg (EIB Premises), 18 January 2017

Coordinator Grosch attended the seminar between the EIB and DG MOVE together with the other TEN-T coordinators. The main exchanges concerned the new "Funding and Blending" approach including the upcoming call and investments perspectives. This meeting was followed by a corridor specific meeting with the team of the EIB, INEA and the external consultant in order to exchange notes about investment projects that may be considered for financial blending.

Meeting with Mr Finck from the Oder/Elbe KamerUnion, 4 November 2016, Brussels

The aim of the meeting was to exchange views about the progress made in Germany between the different stakeholders concerned by the navigability and environmental issues linked to the River Elbe.

Mr Finck informed Mr Grosch about the recent progress made and the consensus reached at federal level with environmental groups on the best way to improve the Elbe status related to stopping erosion by mid-water levels. 41 measures have been identified to improve the Elbe status. Further discussions will be needed between the Federal level and the local level with NGO's.

The transport of oversized freight over the Elbe and the side canals has also been discussed including the problem of the height of the bridges on the side canals.

For memoria: before the floods of 2002, the average transport of freight on the Elbe River was around 100 thousand of TEU's/year. This represented around 75.000 trucks taken away from the roads.

Mr Finck informed Coordinator Grosch about a special session of the German Federal Parliament concerning the Elbe on the 17^th of January 2017.

Meeting with Cssr Bulc, 27 October 2016, Brussels

Cssr Bulc invited the 11 TEN-T coordinators for an exchange of views regarding cooperation with Member States and the implementation status of the 9 Corridors + MoS and ERTMS

Meeting with Mr Quispel from STC Nestra, 27 October 2016, Brussels

The contractor of the study concerning the "Good Navigation Status" gave a brief overview of the aim of the study financed by DG MOVE and the state of play of the analysis. Potential outcomes for the Elbe River have been discussed.

Meeting with Mr Gert Pauwels, CEO of B-Logistics, 27 October 2016, Brussels

Mr Grosch, together with coordinator K.Vinck, had a meeting with Mr Gert Pauwels, CEO of B-Logistics, and his management staff. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the evolution of the rail freight transport market and its connections via the RFC's. This very interesting meeting will be followed by another, more specifically oriented to the user's view of the railway cross-border issues along the OEM corridor

Permanent representation of the Hanse Office, 12 October 2016, Brussels

1. Coordinator Grosch participated in a high level event organised by the port of Hamburg with a presentation by Mr Jens Meier, CEO of the port of Hamburg. The main objective of this event was to listen and interact with CEO Meier regarding the progress made by the port in the fields of new technologies and greening the port under the umbrella of the Smart Port Hamburg initiative.
2. Coordinator Grosch met "Hanse State Secretary" for foreign affairs Wolfgang Schmidt to discuss several issues linked to the Orient/East Med corridor implementation around the port and the city of Hamburg

8^th OEM Corridor Forum, 29 September 2016, Brussels

 Coordinator M.Grosch chaired the 8^th meeting of the Orient/East Med Corridor Forum. He also chaired the "restricted meeting" organised with the representatives of the Member States

Mission to Bulgaria, 19 – 21 September 2016

1. Monday 19/9/2016, 4:30pm: Meeting with Minister for Transport Moskovski. The meeting took place in an open and frank atmosphere. The following items have been raised:
   
   1. Call 2016 and last opportunity for Bulgaria to benefit from its national envelope under the cohesion fund. BU will present a new set of proposals during the next call and hopes to be successful. A map of on-going railway projects has been presented to Coordinator Grosch. Mr Grosch noted that all projects are based on the east-west axis between Sofia and Bourgas + TK border.
   2. Connections to the WB6 and the indicative corridor alignment. Coordinator Grosch explained that the maps for the comprehensive and the core networks in the WB6 are official and have been adopted at EU level after the WB6 Summit in Vienna in August 2015.
2. Monday 19/9/2016, 6pm – 7:15pm: Meeting with BU Railway operators and Infra Managers.
   
   1. Coordinator Grosch introduced himself and explained his role for the OEM corridor. He also informed the audience of the Political Declaration on railway cross border issues signed in Rotterdam last June.
   2. Questions have been raised by operators on the extension of the OEM Corridor to the WB6, the priorities to unify technical and administrative standards. The difficulties to use the line between the BU border at Vidin and Timisoara (RO) is at stake and it is considered as the weakest railway link along the OEM corridor.
   3. A general request came to the Coordinator to influence RO and GR to improve their cross border links in order to remove all technical problems and to activate really the OEM corridor in the south eastern part of it. This was also valid for the links on the Rhine-Danube corridor for the bridge of Vidin and the RO port of Constanta.
3. Tuesday 20/9/2016 Official visit of the Port of Bourgas. (11am – 8pm). This part of the mission was done together with MoS Coordinator Simpson.
   
   1. The CEO of the Port of Bourgas, Mr Anguel Zabourtov presented his team and the characteristics of the port of Bourgas
   2. The main businesses for the port are the freight traffic with the Black Sea surrounding countries with expected increase with Iran and the Caucasus. The port authorities act as a landlord; all operations are managed by private terminal companies having a 35 years contract. A digital port information system is under development.
   3. The port is very well connected to the railway network and is for the moment not suffering of capacity problems. 10 MT/y for petroleum products and 5MT/y for general cargo (steel, copper scrap, grains ..). Approximately 1550 ships enter the port every year.
   4. No LNG fuel for ships is available in the port, TK prohibiting the transfer of gas delivery ships through the Bosphorus.
   5. In the afternoon, a visit to the terminals of the company BMF port Bourgas has been organised with a technical presentation and a site visit of terminals.
   6. BMF is handling more than 80% of all freight in the port via 2 terminals. They have a concession for 35 years with the obligation to invest 100M€ over the period. Since the start in January 2012, over 50M€ have been invested (new silos, container terminal, terminal extensions etc..).
   7. Beside the transport of sulphuric acid, copper ore and copper cathodes, LPG from Azerbadjan is also transported.
   8. All bulk material is transported by train and grain by trucks (in the season, around 200 trucks in/out the port per day). The exact modal split was not known by the operators during the meeting.

Meetings with MEPs, European Parliament, 6 - 7 July 2016, Strasbourg

Coordinator Grosch met with MEP Arimont (BE) and 2 staff members of EUROSTAT (Mr Luca Ascoli and Ms Lourdes Prado Urena) about the methodology for public debts in PPP projects. A discussion took place about the role of public banks in financing projects and the role of the State as key player in some PPP projects.

Coordinator Grosch participated in the second session of the APP working group "investing in jobs and growth, maximising the contribution of the European Structural Funds"
Coordinator Grosch was invited by the Chairman MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij (NL) to intervene on the impact of ESA 2010 on regional and local authorities co-funding of projects.
Mr Grosch explained the functioning of the CEF funding system and its articulation with EFSI and the regional funds. The problem of national public debts and its impact on the investment capacities of local/regional public entities has been raised.

Meeting with MEP Riquet (FR) about the EP intergroup on long term investments.The need for a better blending mechanism between financing and funding is clearly becoming a priority. A coordinated approach is necessary. Coordinator Grosch made a point about the last CEF call results and its important success, showing as such by the oversubscription the need to attribute more financial means to a mechanism like CEF.

TEN-T Days 2016, 20 to 22 June 2016, Rotterdam

Coordinator Grosch participated on the first day to the Grand opening ceremony and the Interinstitutional session with the EU transport ministers and Transport Commissioner Bulc. The task of Coordinator Grosch was to initiate a ministerial debate about digitalisation and automation of freight transport. During the margins of the meeting he had exchanges with MEP Riquet, Ministers Tok (CZ), Belot (BE), Barthle (DE) and Cssr Bulc.
Coordinator Grosch met Minister Demetriades (CY) about the OEM corridor works in Cyprus and the remaining CEF budget for CY. The Minister invited Mr Grosch for an official visit to CY to take place either in October 2016 or spring 2017.

In the morning of the 21st, Mr Grosch chaired the signature Ceremony of the "Political declaration on reducing cross-border crossing times for railway on the OEM Corridor". All Ministers were satisfied by the initiative and engaged to support the objectives identified. The same day, Coordinator Grosch had a meeting with MEP Andor Deli (EPP) Hungary. Exchanges took place about the role and integration of the transport network of the WB6. MEP Deli was interested in the mandate extension of the 3 coordinators involved in the WB6.

In the afternoon of the 21st June, Coordinator Grosch chaired the OEM corridor meeting, opened to the public not participating to the Forum.  Approx. 150 participants attended. The invited panel members contributed in an efficient way to the debates. The panel members were: MEP Riquet (France) , MEP Novakov (Bulgaria), Director Logothetis (Greek Ministry of Transport), Ms Petra Held (Ministry of Transport Sachsen DE). The state of play of the OEM work plan II has been presented as well as the results of the ongoing review study and the OEM corridor maps projection by 2030. The main bottleneck and missing links issues have been presented and discussed with the participants.

In the late afternoon, coordinator Grosch participated in the Urban Nodes session. Mr Grosch was invited together with Coordinator Ms Trautmann to intervene and conclude about the discussions and presentations made during this event.

Participation in an information event about the Decin Locks, 15 June 2016, Brussels

Coordinator Grosch has been invited by the Czech Minister for Transport to participate in an information event about the Decin Locks forecasted works in the Czech Republic (on the OEM Corridor). This event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Transport and of the Environment.  The information provided where very interesting and showed transparency in the on-going process for authorisation and public consultation. Mr Grosch welcomed the event and congratulated both Czech ministries for their efforts to come to a better management of the process. He insisted on the need to better coordinate with the different decision levels in Germany. He proposed to act as a facilitator between Germany and Czech Republic.

Participation in the event, "Presentation of the outcome of the study on the high speed line Dresden–Prague", Usti nad Labem, 29 April 2016, Czech Republic

Coordinator Grosch participated in this conference, which was organised jointly by the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic and by the Ministry of Transport of Sachsen (DE).

Ministers Tok (CZ) and Dullig (Sachsen DE) organised the "Presentation of the outcome of the study on the high speed line Dresden – Prague". This high level event has been attended by more than 80 people essentially coming from Germany and Czech Republic, including national and regional authorities, stakeholders and railway infra managers. Mr Grosch has been invited as a key note speaker with the 2 ministers and he participated to the press conference hold at the end of the event. Beside the political interventions to support the project, the detailed version of the new proposed alignment has been presented by the consultancy offices in charge of the study (co-financed by TEN-T budget). It is fully located on the Orient East Med Corridor and is considered as a near future important bottleneck between the German ports of the north and the central European markets. It will reduce the railway traffic in the Elbe Valley and improve inter modal transport for freight and passengers. The event has been concluded by the signature of an EGTC between Sachsen and Czech and the local/regional authorities. Mr Grosch has been invited as a key note speaker with the 2 ministers and he participated to the press conference hold at the end of the event. His support and involvement has been several times officially recognised and appreciated by the ministers.

7th Meeting of the Corridor Forum Orient/East Med, 14 March 2016, Brussels

Mr Grosch chaired the 7th Meeting of the Corridor Forum Orient East Med in the Centre Borschette as well as the restricted meeting with the MS representatives.

Participation to the TEN-T coordinators seminar, 2 - 3 March 2016, Brussels

Mr Grosch attended the TEN-T Coordinators seminar in Albert Borschette Conference Centre, Brussels. With this occasion, the OEM Coordinator also attended the meeting between Commission DG MOVE staff and Coordinator Catherine Trautmann on drafting progress for the Urban Nodes Issues paper.

On 3rd March, Mr Grosch participated in the joint meeting between the TEN-T coordinators and the Brussels transport organisation representatives.

 

Meeting with MEP Gesine Meissner (ALDE), 2 March 2016, Brussels

Coordinator Grosch met MEP Gesine Meissner (ALDE) at the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels. The objective of this meeting was to make a point about CEF funding results and EFSI prospects. The Elbe situation as well as HSL Dresden/Prague has been discussed, including the position of the different Länder. Ms Meissner invited Coordinator Grosch to join later this year an official visit of the European Parliament to Czech Republic and Germany.

 

Meeting with the State Secretaries of Sachsen Anhalt, 25 February 2016, Brussels

Mr Grosch met the State Secretaries MM Klang (Transport and development) and Richter (Finance) from the State of Sachsen Anhalt (Germany).  The scope of the meeting was to have an open discussion about transport-related issues for the OEM corridor in their Länder. The Ministers confirmed that they have signed a cooperation agreement with Brandenburg and Hamburg concerning the need to improve the Elbe navigability and its inclusion in the BVWP. The economic development and employment issues are at stake in parallel with the Elbe best use. Mr Grosch encouraged them to go ahead and to present a common cooperation line to the Federal Ministry. He proposed if considered useful to facilitate the setting-up of an Elbe conference in 2017.

 

Meeting with representatives of the Parliament of the Länder of Sachsen, 24 February 2016, Brussels

Mr Grosch was invited by DG MOVE Director O.Onidi to join a meeting with representatives of the Parliament of the Länder of Sachsen. The aim of this meeting was essentially to discuss the two main transport projects connecting Sachsen with the Czech Republic. The HSL Dresden-Prague and the improvement of the navigability of the Elbe: Mr Grosch presented his priorities in this field as well as the actions he undertook by meeting the ministers at federal level in Germany and Czech Republic. He also referred to his regular meetings with the Minister President Tillich and with Transport Minister Dulig. He encouraged the MP to act towards an inclusion of these two priorities in the Federal BVWP as soon as possible.

 

Technical visit to Locks of Lanaye, province of Liège, 3 February 2016, Belgium

Mr Grosch organised a technical visit to the locks of Lanaye for a Czech delegation together with the Public service of Wallonia. The aim of this meeting was to exchange with Czech representatives of the Transport Ministry, the Environment Ministry and the Environmental Agency, the experiences of the EIA in the construction of the new locks on the Meuse River in Wallonia. The setting-up of a new intermodal logistical centre Trilogiport has also been discussed from the point of view of the environmental legislation. The exchanges were very fruitful and focusing on practical matters aiming at obtaining all licences and authorisations required.

 

Meeting with Mr Ruijters to discuss cross-border investments, 13 January 2016, Brussels

On 13 January 2016, Mr Grosch met with Mr Ruijters to discuss cross-border investments. He also met with Mr Ouaki to discuss PPP investments in the corridor, and the EUROSTAT and DG ECFIN public debt policy for EFSI investments. It was agreed that the cabinet of Cssr Thyssen should be consulted for its views on the EUROSTAT interpretation issues. Mr Grosch also attended a meeting at DG NEAR with the Western Balkans Team to take stock of the current situation as well as the investment procedures linking different worldwide players. The importance of soft measures was highlighted. Participation in the upcoming WB6 ministerial meeting in Brussels and the WB6 transport summit in Paris, early in July, was also discussed.

 

6th OEM Corridor meeting, 7 December 2015, Brussels

In his capacity of TEN-T Coordinator, Mr Grosch chaired the 6th OEM Corridor meeting in the Centre Borschette as well as the meeting with representatives of Ministries of Transport

 

 

Western Balkans 6. SEETO Annual Ministerial Meeting + preparatory meetings, 2 - 3 December 2015, Tirana

Six Transport ministers of the Western Balkans attended. The Commission was represented by O. Onidi (Dir MOVE B), C. Wendt (acting Dir NEAR D), Coordinators C. Peijs and  M. Grosch (TEN-T Core Network coordinators

The Ministers' speeches covered mainly national investments plans and achievements. References to TEN-T extension, WB6 summit conclusions (and commitments) and need to strengthen the regional approach. 

The TEN-T core-network coordinators explained their mandate and what added value they can bring to the Western Balkans. They will be there to overcome non-physical barriers between the countries. They can advise on what needs to be achieved. They reminded the need for sustainable infrastructure planning, taking into account budget and future maintenance.

They outlined how they will involve the WB countries in their corridor work plan including implementing common technical standards and signalling systems including through technical working groups and fora meetings. They urged careful budgeting including provisions for maintenance.

Locks of Lanaye and Trilogiport logistical centre, 13 November 2015, Belgium

Mr Grosch has been invited to this official inauguration event.

The first part concerned the new lock of Lanaye located north of Liège near to the Dutch border giving access to the Maas River and the Albert Canal.

The ceremony started in presence of the King of Belgium and several Belgian ministers (mainly regional) and the Dutch Minister of Transport Melanie Schultz van Hagen.

This new lock removes a bottleneck between the ports of Rotterdam/Antwerp on the Maas river/Albert canal giving access to 9000 Tons ships.

The Trilogiport inauguration consisted in the putting in service of a new road bridge over the Maas River to connect easier to Germany, a new railway link to connect Trilogiport to the Belgian railway network and the opening of a multimodal logistical platform area where new service providers will soon start to build their centres.

The inauguration was followed by an academic session. The event was a success and the forecast about the use of these new infrastructures very positive.

Meeting with representatives of Deutsche Bahn AG and European Coordinators about cross-border connectivity and ERTMS, 5 November 2015, Brussels

Mr Sennhenn, Chairman of the Executive Board, DB Netz AG and Mr Sellnick (Vice President European Corridor Management at DB Netz AG) gave a presentation, addressing multiple issues like Facts and Figures of DB AG, Project prioritization, Cooperation between Rail Freight Corridors and Core Network Corridors, ERTMS Deployment on the German network, the Bundesverkehrwegeplan and future steps. All representatives from DB Netz were very grateful for the European support, in terms of CEF-contribution and the cooperation with the different physical Corridors and ERTMS.

The Coordinators encouraged using the same methodology for the Corridor studies and working plan. Sennhenn agreed on exchanging data, in order to ensure coherence and pertinence between DB, CNCs, RFCs and Ministries of Transport.

Regarding innovative solutions, Sennhenn presented several good practises.

Mr Sellnick shared that the 6 Corridors crossing Germany will impose an investment of roughly 50 billion EUR for its rail network. DB Netz is very supportive to ERTMS as a backbone to automation; it fully supports the deployment plan as proposed. This resulted that firstly, 2.750km of railways will be equipped by ERTMS, giving priority to the Rhine-Alpine Corridor (1.450km) and 7 cross-border sections. In April 2016, a plan for ERTMS-deployment on the other sections will be published.

Concerning Rail Freight Corridors (RFC), DB Netz is interested to contribute to reinforce efficiency. The Coordinators encouraged a close cooperation between the RFCs and CNCs.

DB also showed interest to use the Corridors to help developing positive framework conditions on issues that will not easily or swiftly be addressed by legislation; for example permitting and administrative obstacles, technical and operational requirements and accompanying measures. This view was welcomed by the Coordinators.

High level Conference on boosting CEF investment, 22 October 2015, Brussels,

Coordinator Grosch has attended the above mentioned conference in order to receive additional information about the implementation of EFSI and the best practices of the EIB and private investors. It gave him the opportunity to exchange views with other Corridor Coordinators and the hierarchy of DG MOVE.

Joint meeting of the EP TRAN committee, 13 October 2015, Brussels

Participation of Mr Grosch to the joint meeting of the EP TRAN committee with representatives of the MS parliaments. Mr Grosch made a presentation about the TEN-T networks and CEF as well as about the role of the corridor coordinators

Meeting with CZ Ministers Tok (Transport) and Brabec (Environment), 6 October 2015, Prague

Mr Grosch met together CZ Ministers Tok (Transport) and Brabec (Environment).This meeting took place at the initiative of Coordinator Grosch in order to make a joint situation point about the Elbe and the Decin locks project. The meeting took place in a very positive and constructive atmosphere

Mr Tok is very thankful to the coordinator for his efforts and involvement to support a positive dialogue between all parties.

Minister Brabec underlined the crucial aspect of a good cooperation between both ministries to prepare the EIA for Decin and the strategy. He mentioned that things become more and more challenging due to the increasing diversity of EU rules to be applied like the EIA, the water framework Directive, Habitat Directive, Natura 2000 etc..

Minister Brabec confirmed that the current EIA legislation is in line with EC.

The current cost estimates for the complete Decin locks works is estimated at 130M€ including 37M€ for fish migration, compensation and anti-flood measures.

Coordinator Grosch proposed to organise a visit of CZ stakeholders to the Lock of Lanaye on the Belgian/Dutch border on the Maas River and to Trilogiport (logistical platform) near to Liège (BE). Both projects faced similar environmental acceptance problems and those have been resolved. It would be an opportunity to show a success story and one potential way to handle EIA cases.

 

Key note speech, 5 October 2015, Prague

Mr Grosch participated as key note speaker to the conference "Die Elbe und die Oder als Zugangswege der Tschechischen Republik zu den Weltmärkten – Transportbeziehungen zwischen det CZ Republic, Polen und Deutschland".

This conference attended by over 100 decision makers coming from CZ, DE and PL (Politicians, elected members, stakeholders of the Industry and organisations) took place in the CZ Senat.

All interventions where of a high level, mainly confronting political opinions and economics about navigability improvements on the Elbe in DE and CZ.

Mr Grosch made a clear and unambiguous speech about the current situation and the absence of clear progress since 15 years.

He declared that the future of the Elbe River navigability improvements should be included now in the on-going revision of the Bundesverkehrswegeplan (BVWP) . If this would not be the case, nothing will happen for the next 15 years.

After the conference he had the opportunity to exchange views with several participants and more particularly to seek views about the political situation in DE with MP Enak Ferlemann and MP Ms Dagmar Ziegler.

Its inclusion in the BVWP is considered as a must by almost all Länder concerned in order to have the financial means to improve the quality of the navigability with objectives of 1,6m water height for 350 days/y.

Others consider that use should be made of the existing Elbe maintenance budget to keep the Elbe in its current situation. This approach about "keeping the Elbe in its current conditions might be unsatisfactory due to the very poor or even absence of maintenance of river navigability the last years that has worsened the situation.

In CZ, the problem is more about the need to have a clearly identified strategy for the Elbe and the prospects about Decin locks.

5th OEM Corridor meeting, 2 October 2016, Brussels

In his capacity of TEN-T Coordinator, Mr Grosch chaired the 5th OEM Corridor meeting in the Centre Borschette as well as the meeting with representatives of Ministries of Transport

1 October 2015, Brussels

Mr Grosch attended a presentation at the CZ permanent representation about the transport infrastructure projects for the period 2015-2020.

Exchange with the Port Authority of the Port of Rostock and representatives from DB Schenker and DB Netz regional management, 17 September 2015, Port of Rostock

The technical and economic development of the port has been presented.

The importance of the port hinterland connections has been raised. The port is well connected by motorway and railway lines to Berlin. The access to south of DE and CZ is very important for the port.

The railway line between Rostock and Berlin is fully electrified.

Discussions took place with DB Netz about ERTMS implementation on this part of the OEM corridor.  No date for ETCS implementation can be fixed by today. ***

17/09/2015, 11-13:30 am: Tour of Rostock Port

Port ferry terminal giving access to the Baltic shipping lines as well as the intermodal platform where approx. 70.000 truck trailers are loaded on railway wagons to reach southern destinations in the EU. The load/unloading systems and practices have been shown to the coordinator.

The new loading platforms for Ro-Ro ships (financed by EU) have been visited as well as the freight terminal for heavy material (like new windmills).

At the end of the visit one could observe the flows of Syrian refugees waiting in the port to board ferry boats going to Sweden (several hundred per day arrive at the port). They are receiving some humanitarian assistance when waiting for boarding.

Talk with the Committee for Energy and Transportation, State Parliament Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 16 September 2015, Rostock

Exchanges of views took place with the fraction leaders of the Committee for Energy and Transport of the Land. Minister Pegel attended the meeting.

Mr Grosch presented the objectives and a short outcome of his work plan for the OEM.

Members raised questions about the development of the navigability of the Elbe River and the railway connections to CZ.

They raised the need for a good connection of MV and more particularly the port of Rostock towards the south of DE and Central EU States as well as towards the different ports of north DE

This was followed by an informal lunch with Minister Pegel and some party committee leaders.

 4-6:30pm

Visit of the port of Warnemünde and its passenger's terminal + cruise ship "Norwegian Star"

16/9/2015, 7-11pm: Meeting with CEOs of Hafentwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock

Meeting with MM Jens SCHARNER  (Commercial Managing Director) and Dr. Gernot TESCH (Managing Director operations). Both CEO's of HERO.

Meeting with State Secretary Katrin LANGE Länder Berlin-Brandenburg, 15 September2015, Potsdam

This meeting was preceded by a short visit to the Hbf Berlin, and the link to Potsdam organised by Mr Sauer.

The meeting with Ms Lange was very interesting and good exchanges about the role and positioning of the Land of Brandenburg and Berlin in the OEM network. The importance of a good connection between the northern DE ports and the south of DE including access to CZ was raised. A good railway link for transporting goods as well as the development of the Elbe River is considered as very important for the Land and supported by the Land Ministry.

11:30-1pm: City of Grossbeeren/Freight Village (OEM CNC Terminal) visit of Terminal + welcome by Major of Grossbeeren

GVZ Berlin South Grossbeeren is an important logistic platform located south of Berlin with access to the OEM corridor.  Good road and railway connections exist to the north and south of DE.

Exchanges of views took place with the Major and the representatives of DB Schenker managing the site.

Meeting with Reinhard KLINGEN, Director General for waterways and shipping (Federal Ministry of Transport)  and experts from the Federal Infrastructure plan and the rail line Dresden-Prague and Dr. Steinle (Director General Environmental Policy and Infrastructure, Department Political Issues), + future counterpart for the OEM, Stefanie Reincke, 14 September 2015, Berlin

Mr Klingen informed that there is no official request to include the Elbe in the BVWP and that several Landen are against. He confirmed that the Elbe roundtable for the "Gezamtkonzept Elbe" progressed very slowly and that there is no outcome for the moment

Mr Klingen and team consider that there is currently no saturation of the existing line and that there is still an important margin to go. It may also not be included in the BVWP.

Strasbourg EP, 7 July 2015                                   

10.00 - 11.00: Meeting with Judet Arnaud and Jérome Lejeune

                          Difficultés des concessions et soumission en   Roumanie, Bulgarie

11.00. - 12.00: Meeting with MEP Meisner Call  2014 évaluation, suite à la

                          présentation de la Commissaire

14.30 - 15.30: Meeting with MEP van de Camp  Call  2014

16.30 - 17.30: Meeting with Martin Henze: « Lebensadern Norddeutschland) Transportwege

Working session with MEP Böge, Strasbourg EP, 6 July 2015                                   

TEN-T Days, 22-23 June 2015, Riga

Summary of bilateral meetings:

Meeting with Mr Ludek Sosna (and staff), Director of the strategy department of the Ministry of Transport CZ (items raised):

a.            Difficulties for CZ to participate in the DE discussions Gezamtkonzept Elbe.

b.           The recent agreement between DE and Poland on the Oder River, could become a good model to be followed for the Elbe

c.            Decin Locks, the final documentation of the EIA is under preparation and discussions are ongoing with the ministry of environment. Hope to start public consultation end of summer 2015.

d.           The termination works on the A8 motorway has been a subject of discussion with Ms Merkel recently. The objective is to finalise works by en 2016.

e.           Recent discussions between CZ and DE on HSL Dresden / Prague.

f.            Coordinator Grosch recalled his proposal to analyse the global mobility needs including IWW in the discussions. Separating different transport modes is at high risk.

g.            CZ confirmed that the railway link between Prague and Usti nad Labem is almost saturated for freight. A 26% increase of traffic during the last 5 years.

Meeting with Ms Petra Held of the Sachsen ministry of Transport:

a.            New initiative about urban nodes and land planning in Berlin

b.           M.G reminded to avoid duplication of efforts. The corridor forums are a good place to exchange.

c.            MG proposed this working group to address the interactions of Habitat/Tourism/Environment and Industry

d.           He encouraged the good cooperation and open discussion between Sachsen and CZ in the field of transport initiatives.

Meeting with EBU (Ms Hacksteiner), INE (Ms De Schepper) and the director of IWW of the CZ Ministry of Transport, Mr Fojtu (and staff)

a.            The Elbe river environmental impact assessment after approval by the Ministry of Environment will go to public consultation end of summer 2015.

b.           The report will also be translated in DE for cross-border consultation with DE.

c.            DE will again be consulted for the final package

d.           MG insisted on the open discussion and consultation with all stakeholders including environmental NGO's and transport operators.

Meeting with representatives of the Executive and the Management boards of the Rail Freight Corridor 7 (RFC7).

a.            ExBo and MaBo members very satisfied of this meeting in Riga and pleased to meet the coordinator

b.           MG insisted on the fact that cooperation is needed.

c.            RFC7 is already invited to the CNC forums since the beginning and that he expects to receive inputs and information by their organisation.

d.           RFC'7 representative confirmed their willingness to work in-line with the CNC and to provide information and invitations to attend their meetings.

e.           The good cooperation with the consultant updating the corridor study has been highlighted by MG. This was acknowledged by RFC7.

Visit to the joint CZ/Sachsen exhibition on the HSL Dresden/Prague.

a.            Explanations have been provided by the representatives of the involved transport ministries concerning the different possible alignments.

b.           The on-going feasibility and CBA study will be finalised by end 2015. The specific CBA analysis is currently on-going.

c.            Results of the study will be shared asap with all involved parties and the federal level in Germany. The importance of the inclusion in the BVWP is well understood by all.

d.           The results of this new study will have to be compared on the basis of new scenarios developed with the once of the DE federal level study of 2011,.

 

Orient East Med corridor meeting

a.            The coordinator has presented the content of his corridor work plan in front of more than 80 people.

b.           The identified critical issues have been presented as well as the investments needed.

c.            Corridor priorities have been presented for all modes as well as the next steps including the objectives of the new study to be started in 09/2015 for 2,5 years

d.           The presentation was followed by a Q&A session

New Corridors in the Western Balkans

a.            The conclusions of the discussions in Riga between Commissioner Bulc and the transport Ministers of the Western Balkans on the definition of the corridor alignments and new maps will have an impact on the role of the coordinators involved.

b.           MG discussed the matter with representatives of DG NEAR in order to request some clarifications.

c.            Internal follow-up discussions have been decided between DG MOVE and DG NEAR.

Presentation by Mr Grosch of the EFSI programme during a conference organised by the Perm Rep of Sachsen Anhalt, 2 June 2015, Brussels

Meeting with Coordinator Secchi and MOVE B1 staff to discuss the outcome of the EFSI discussions between the Cion and the EP, 28 May 2015, Brussels

4pm – 6:30pm: Hearing at the EP (TRAN committee) where Mr Grosch was invited to present his work plan for the Orient East Med Corridor. His presentation followed by a Q&A session has been a success and has been very well appreciated by the MEP's present.

Wilhelmshaven JadeWeserPort (JWP), 21 May 2015   

Holger Banik, Managing Director JWP, Andreas Bullwinkel, Managing Director JWP

This New container vessel port is operational since 2012. It is already ready to accommodate 20.000 TEU ships and has a very important storage capacity for containers. It has a current capacity of 2,7 million TEU/year. The hinterland connection via railway has to be improved to avoid contributing to the congestion of the bottleneck of the railway station of Bremen City. 

The Hannover bottleneck has also a negative influence on the railway hinterland of the port. This could be discussed with the coordinators Cox and Trautmann in Riga.

The Ausbau der Eisenbahnstrecke Wilhemshaven-Oldenburg has been presented as a CEF project to the current call.

City of Bremen, port of Bremerhaven Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, 20 May 2015

Visit of the main railway station of Bremen which is identified as one of the main bottlenecks of the OEM corridor.  On average, 130 trains per day are crossing the main station coming from the ports of Bremerhaven and Bremen and in addition around 50 container trains per day are crossing from Wilhemshaven. On average the trains have a length of max 750 m and 90 to 95 TEU per convoy.

It is expected that the cargo flows will double by 2030 (over 1000 trains/week)

Meeting with DB Netz and local port authorities:  Railknot Bremen, bottleneck Central Station, new challenges due to the expected transport volumes of the new Jade Weser Port. DB Netz: Detlef Barner, Marcus Kuhn.

The railway station of Bremen is very near to a complete saturation and solutions need to be found in the near future. The inclusion of this bottleneck would need to be included in the German BVWP.

Bremerhaven

The port is much specialised in the transport and logistics management of new build cars (43%).

On average, 2,3 million new vehicles are transiting by the port of Bremerhaven making use of 580 trains a week with peaks at 650 trains a week.

85,36% of the cars are transported by rail and 14,6% by trucks. There are on average 65.000 new cars in the secured parking lots. There are operating and storage areas for 120,000 cars, including covered storage for 45,000 vehicles. The port of Bremerhaven is EU nr 1 for car transport.

Approx.. 1000 cars and are loaded/unloaded per work shift of 8 hours with a crew of 40 people.

The number of containers is around 6 million TEU/year with approx. de 50/50 import/export.

The modal split of the freight I/O Hinterland is 50% for road, 47% for railways and 3% IWW.  The inland navigation takes place via the Weser River.

Directly at the mouth of the river Weser where the water is deep enough for sea going ships, Bremerhaven offers ideal conditions for handling containers. The maritime city is one of Europe’s leading car hubs and is also turning onto a key port for the offshore wind industry. The world’s longest coherent riverside quay now has 14 berths for mega-container vessels. As the fourth-largest container terminal in Europe, Bremerhaven is one of the leading transhipment hubs for intermodal import and export traffic.

Terminals / port railway infrastructure / discussions with stakeholder

The port internal railway network is very heavily used and continuous investments are done to allow accommodating the increasing traffic. A new shunting yard is under preparation and has been presented for CEF funding under the current call.

Container terminal: Wolfgang Schiemann, Managing Director, EUROGATE Container Terminal Bremerhaven

Automobile terminal: Sven Großmann, Managing Director, BLG AutoTerminal Bremerhaven GmbH & Co. KG

Port railway infrastructure: Dr. Iven Krämer, Head of Unit Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Ports (inter alia port railway infrastructure) + Anne Scholz, Bremenports, port railway infrastructure.

Official visit of the Port of Hamburg, 19 May 2015

Meeting with Jens Meier (CEO), Tino Klemm, Harald Kreft, Martin Huber.

Approx 11 million tons/year goes on the Elbe River but limited number of containers. The use of new information technologies "Smart Port" has allowed to reduce truck and traffic congestion in and around the port. The number of trucks rotation has been increased by 13% thanks to the use of this pilot project. The railway freight traffic to CZ has tripled during the last 10 years.

The management of the hinterland traffic is more and more a problem due to the ultra large containers vessels arriving in the port. On-site visit of:

•             Shoreside Power Supply Altona (water-sided), Airbus (water-sided), Hamburg Port Nautical Control Centre

•             Waltershof / Eurogate (water-sided), Bus ride via motorway A7.

•             Port railway centre controlling the whole internal railway system of the port (ASE-Tower)

On a daily basis around 200 freight trains with a total of over 5000 trucks travel over the tracks of the port railway- The annual overall transport volume of the port railway is some 40 million tonnes. - 30% of all the goods handled in the Port of Hamburg are transported by rail. - The port railway network includes 300 km of track, 110 km of which are electrified- The port railway serves a total of 135 private sidings that belong to port and railway companies making it

•             On-site visit of the Kattwyk Bridge which is an important bottleneck for the port bridge over the Elbe with 1 single railway track and a 2 single way road for trucks. A new bridge will be built and support has been asked for CEF funding

•             Visit of Road works Wilhelmsburger Reichsstraße, Area of the Olympic Games, Kleiner Grasbrook, HafenCity         

Meeting with Mr Philippe Maystadt, former Belgian Minister and former President of the EIB, 1 April 2015 Brussels,

The objective of the meeting was to look into the potential ways the EIB will approach transport infrastructure investments under the new ESIF plan and its articulation with the TEN-T/CEF Regulations.

Meeting with Mr Seeuws, Director at the European Council, 1 April 2015, Brussels

This meeting organised at the request of Mr Seeuws will allow an exchange of view about the ESIF and the Juncker Plan objectives for transport.

Meeting with EIB JASPERS division, 30 March 2015, Brussels

This meeting took place at the initiative of Coordinator Grosch. The objective was to exchange views on the actions undertaken by Jaspers to facilitate cross-border cooperation in the countries of the central and eastern part of the OEM corridor.

The Jaspers Team went into detailed explanations about railway alignment and technical priorities. They described the support brought to the concerned countries in preparing or reviewing their national transport plans as well as the support to prepare proposals under DG REGION support programmes.

The coordinator asked several questions about the best alignment of the corridor and the existing bottlenecks, being of a technical or regulatory/administrative nature hampering a smooth functioning of the network. The principles of the TSI and their adequateness have also been the subject of exchanges.

Coordinator Grosch participated in the European Barges Union conference, 3 March 2015, Brussels

The European Barges Union has organised a conference on the state of play of the IWW business in Europe and its difficulties/challenges. Mr Grosch met several stakeholders and exchanged views with EBU management and members of the EP.

Hearing at the European Parliament in the joint BUDG/ECON committee concerning the EFSI Juncker Plan - to end its links with the TEN-T/CEF Regulations, 2 March 2015

This hearing has been organised by the EP in order to prepare its position towards the legislative EFSI proposal. Five different experts have been audited (EIB (Mr Maystadt), the European Environmental Agency, the Spanish investment bank, Mr Holland from the Coimbra university and an new technologies investment fund + Mr Grosch). Mr Grosch made a presentation about CEF and its objectives. He described the needs for EU funding in the field of transport activities like railways, IWW or some parts of ports. He made a clear distinction between projects that need State/EU funding support and those that are prone to benefit from PPP support via the EFSI and the EIB. His presentation has been very well received and he has been questioned in more details by MEP's G.Deprez, Ms Ayala, Mr Riquet about the potential ring-fencing of the TEN-T funds under the CEF if a part of the budget is going to EFSI. Mr Riquet highlighted the fact that the budget lines have been approved by the EP for well identified purposes and that using H2020 and CEF financial means in the EFSI may be problematic.

Meeting with Mr Richard Seeber of the Tyrolian PermRep in Brussels to discuss Corridor approaches, 26 February 2015

Meeting with Minister Dülig, Minister of Transport, 25 February 2015, Brussels  

Mr Dülig took office 100 days ago and wanted to meet Mr Grosch to exchange views about the Dresden/Prague railway link and the Elbe navigability problems. There is a fear that nothing will happen both for the Elbe and the new mixed Passengers/Freight HSL if these are not incorporated in the federal BWV plan. Support from the European OEM corridor coordinator is sought in the frame of the Corridor priorities. It has been agreed that they will facilitate/support the visit of M.Grosch to Dreden/Prague.

Meeting with Mr Henning Finck, representative of the Kamer Union Elbe/Oder and of the Chamber of Commerce of Hamburg, 25 February 2015, Brussels

On 25 February 2015, Mr Grosch met Mr Finck to discuss navigability problems on the Elbe River and its Seite Kanal. Mr Finck presented the views of Kamer Union members and conveyed their concerns regarding the absence of Elbe/Oder works within the current German BWV plan. He outlined a potential scenario whereby little or no action would be taken over the coming 10 years if the issue is not incorporated within the new edition of the plan, scheduled for 2016. In response, Mr Grosch agreed to meet the organisation during his visit to the Dresden/Prague area, scheduled for the end of April 2015.

Meeting with Mr Heiko Loroff, CEO of the Sachsische Binnehäfen OberElbe and with Ms Kathrin Obst, Director of the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP), 24 February 2015, Brussels

Mr Grosch met Mr Loroff and Ms Obst on 24 February 2015, in order to become acquainted with the situation on the Elbe River in Sachsen and along the Czech border. Mr Loroff presented the local situation in regards to the navigability of the Elbe and the concept of new ships allowing for longer navigability periods. He also provided details of the seven ports managed by Sachsische Binnehäfen OberElbe, including their handling capacities. It was agreed that some ports and locks would be visited during the official visit of Mr Grosch to the Dresden/Prague area, scheduled for end of April, 2015.

Meeting with Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Chairman Deutsche Bahn AG, 17 February 2015, Frankfurt

On 17 February 2015, several European Coordinators visited the premises of Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Frankfurt, accompanied by Mr João Aguiar Machado, Director-General of DG MOVE, and advisors. The meeting, hosted by Mr Grube, was followed by a visit to the operational center of Schenker and by a meeting with the board of Schenker Logistics and of DB Netze. The meetings incorporated discussions regarding the corridor Work Plans, CEF Calls and the Juncker Plan.

Visit to the European Parliament, 11 - 12 February 2015, Strasbourg

On 11 February 2015, Mr Grosch met Ms Ayala Sender (SED) and Mr Boege (PPE) and exchanged views regarding the Juncker Plan, funding possibilities for transport under the ESIF (European Structural and Investment Fund) and its potential impact on the CEF Regulation. On 12 February 2015, Mr Grosch met ALDE group members in order to explain the role and responsibilities of the TEN-T Corridor Coordinators. The Coordinator also met representatives of EP President Martin Schulz’s Cabinet and discussed the need for European investments in transport and the state of play of the CEF Regulation and ESIF. Mr Grosch also took the opportunity to meet with Mr Riquet, MEP and Ms Sender, MEP, in order to prepare his hearing with the ECON EP Committee.

Participation in Coordinators Seminar and meeting with EIB, 15 - 16 January 2015, Luxembourg

Mr Grosch attended the Coordinators Seminar on 15 and 16 January. The first afternoon was devoted to exchanges between Coordinators about the content of the upcoming seminars in 2015, as well as the best way to prepare the annual activity report and to meet the European Parliament for the hearing to present the report and the Corridor Work Plans. The second day allowed for presentations by the EIB on funding possibilities under the Juncker investment plan. Exchanges of views took place with the EIB about the use of CEF funding and the complementarity of action with EIB initiatives. A meeting between Mr Grosch and the Jasper facility will take place soon in order to discuss cross-border facilitation initiatives and support from the EIB.

Participation in the European Rail Summit, Representation of the Free State of Bavaria, 5 November 2014, Brussels

The European Rail Summit took place on 5 November 2014, at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria in Brussels, and was attended by around 200 participants. The debates addressed the current situation and problems encountered by the European railway undertakings and infra managers. With the occasion of his participation in this event, Mr Grosch had several useful exchanges of views with representatives from CER, TrenItalia, Deutche Bahn, SNCF, and other actors in the railway field.

Meeting with Minister of Transport of the Länder of Saxony Roland Werner, Mr Ch. Lang and Mr T. Brand, 22 October 2014, Saxony liaison office, Brussels

On 22nd October 2014 Mr Grosch met Mr Roland Werner, Minister of Transport of the Länder of Saxony, in order to discuss two items on the Orient-East Med corridor: the Elbe river navigability improvements and the HSL between Dresden and Prague. The Minister highlighted the good situation of motorways and airports in Saxony. Railway upgrades are the main priorities for the connection to Prague but also the hinterland to Berlin and the north of Germany. As regards the Elbe River, the environmental aspects must be considered. Mr Grosch explained the strategic importance for the TEN-T to improve the navigability conditions of the Elbe. It is a main bottleneck for the hinterland connections with Hamburg and Bremerhaven. The Minister acknowledged the importance of the navigability problems on the Elbe and supported the view that railways and motorways to the north of Germany are fully congested by trucks. The use of the Elbe is a way out of this situation. The Minister highly appreciates the ongoing work of the coordinators and the principle of the Corridor Forum and the new working group for the regions involved along the OEM corridor.

Participation in the Coordinators seminar, 21 October 2014, Brussels

On 21st October 2014 Mr Grosch attended the seminar for coordinators organised by MOVE B1. This seminar was an opportunity to discuss Innovative financing tools in the presence of representatives of EIB and Mr Christophersen. Mr Junker's initiative about the 300b€ available to re-launch the EU economy has been discussed and comments were made in the perspective of the existing possibilities for the TEN-T.

The afternoon session was devoted to a meeting with the transport associations and representative bodies. This meeting was an opportunity to inform most of the Brussels-based associations about the new TEN-T corridor approach and their perspectives. Mr Grosch made a brief presentation on the multi-level stakeholder approach with the example of the Elbe River. A very open debate between the coordinators and the association's representatives took place. This meeting has been highly appreciated by all parties. It has been announced that the 9 corridor reports would be published early November on europa website in order to collect comments and proposals before drafting the 9 corridor work plans.

Visit to the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), 15 October 2014, Brussels

Mr Grosch met the management of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in Brussels on 15 October 2014. The aim of this meeting was to take stock about INEA's responsibilities in the management of CEF funding in the field of transport. Several exchanges of views and questions have been raised during the meeting, which was very informative and useful for the Coordinator.

Participation in International Road Transport Union's (IRU) workshop on multimodal passenger terminals, 14 October 2014, Hotel Renaissance, Brussels

On 14 October, IRU organised a workshop on multimodal passenger terminals, with the objective of discussing the importance of multimodal terminal infrastructure and the lack of bus and coach terminals in Europe, but also to showcase best practices and recommend short and long-term policy and business priorities. Mr Grosch was invited to participate in a round table on operational aspects leading to the preparation of a position paper by IRU, and to deliver the conclusions of the workshop, based on his perspective regarding the possibilities of investment funding and decision-making regarding multimodal passenger terminals and coach stations.

Visit to Romania: meeting with the Romanian Minister of Transports, Mr. Ioan Rus, and with the management of CFR (Romanian national railway company), and speaker in the Railways Days conference, 7 and 8 October 2014, Bucharest

On 8 October Mr Grosch met Mr Ioan Rus, Romanian Minister of Transports. Topics included CEF and Cohesion funding opportunities and priorities for the Orient-East/Med corridor, and the Romanian Transport Master Plan. Mr Grosch advised the Minister to try to benefit from the public consultation and reminded him about the EU environmental and TEN-T objectives linked to the obtaining of future funding under the cohesion funds and CEF.

On 7 and 8 October, Mr Grosch delivered two speeches in the plenary sessions on governance, respectively on infrastructure development, in the Railways Days conference. He also had bilateral meetings with several Romanian and regional stakeholders participating in this event, and participated in the technical visit of the new metro station infrastructure currently under construction at the borders of Bucharest.

With this occasion, Mr Grosch also met Mr Jean Nicolaos (CFR Director for International Affairs and Mass-Media), with whom he had an exchange on railway priorities on the Orient-East/Med Corridor. Mr Nicolaos was invited to participate actively in the Corridor Forum meetings.

Participation in the Informal Transport Ministerial Council on 16 and 17 September 2014, Milano

On 16-17 September 2014, the Informal Transport Council took place in Milano with the participation of the European Coordinators of all corridors. On that occasion, Prof. Bodewig and Prof. Secchi presented a paper outlining some potential lines for action for the financing of the transport infrastructure. The paper was commented and very much welcomed by the transport ministers. The Italian presidency provided a mandate to both coordinators and Mr. Henning Christophersen to further deepen their analysis and to identify potential projects suitable for the use of innovative financial instruments. Their report shall be presented at the Formal Council on 3 December in Brussels.

Moreover, the European Coordinator, together with his colleagues Karla Peijs and Kurt Bodewig, organised a trilateral meeting with Mr. Kamil Rudolecky, State Secretary of the Czech transport ministry. The three coordinators addressed the main critical issues that the Czech Republic is facing along the three corridors that are crossing the country and offered their assistance, e.g. in initiating and moderating cross-border dialogues.

Furthermore, Mr. Grosch had the chance in Milano to have several dialogues with Ministers and other high ministerial representatives of all countries along the Orient-East/Med Corridor as to strengthen the cooperation and to prepare the ground for the elaboration of the corridor work plan.

Meeting with Mr Zsolt BECSEY, Deputy State Secretary for Transport of Hungary, together with Coordinator Peijs

Exchanges of views on the Hungarian priorities for the corridor in the years to come. A special attention has been paid for the Danube issues. The common project with Slovakia on bridge Komaron/Komarno which is of high priority for Hungary and is likely to be submitted to first CEF Call. Also the southern rail link of Budapest for freight is also quite important for Hungary. Minister Becsey also mentioned the need to address the issue of the border crossings with Romania.

Meeting with Mr Marios DEMETRIADES, Minister for Transport and Public Works of Cyprus

Minister Demetriades explained the vision of developing Cyprus as a hub in the Mediterranean. The minister showed interest in using financial instruments, in particular project bonds, but asked for support to implement them, as Cyprus has no experience with them.

Meeting with Ms Nikolina ANGELKOVA, Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of Bulgaria, together with Coordinator Peijs

Projects on the Danube in cooperation with Romania were discussed. As regards the rail connections, the minister confirmed that the project Vidin-Medkovets is progressing with an ongoing design study. The planning foresees 160 km/h only where the terrain allows easy implementation; in mountainous regions, lower speeds (100 km/h) would be implemented. The need to improve the connection from Sofia to Greece has also been reminded.

Meeting with Mr Michalis PAPADOPOULOS, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Greece

Views have been exchanged about the development and implementation of the Orient-East Med corridor in Greece.

Meeting with Mr Zoltan ISTVAN, Secretary of State of Romania

Mr Istvan explained that political support is necessary to further develop the corridor in Romania. Coordinator Grosch stressed the need to develop the cross-border sections.

Meeting with Dr Grube, CEO Deutsche Bahn AG, 3 September 2014

On 3rd September 2014, the European Coordinators who are leading the Corridors crossing Germany had the opportunity to jointly meet the CEO of Deutsche Bahn to discuss the EU core network policy.

Participants: Deutsche Bahn: Dr Grube, Fried, Miram, Sellnick, Lueberrink; European Coordinators: Ana Palacio, Pat Cox, Mathieu Grosch, Carlo Secchi, Karel Vinck

All participants confirmed the importance of this joint meeting. Mr Grube invited the Coordinators to a follow-up meeting with the DB Board before the end of this year. The following issues were raised by the Coordinators: Germany should make the use of CEF budget more attractive for rail infrastructure managers; lack of private investment; standardisation of equipment to be imposed on suppliers; external dimension TEN-T; need for accompanying measures; financial support for noise protection measures; the need to move from a conversation on design to a conversation on implementation. Dr Grube stated that in the beginning DB was quite reluctant towards TEN-T. However, this attitude has changed completely. TEN-T offers a chance for leadership to develop a real transport network. DB is an international operator. In this context core network corridors are of the highest priority and instrumental for achieving such international market. Mr Grube also said that he appreciates the open and constructive dialogue.