The declaration has been signed by all countries among the Orient/East-Med Corridor, which stretches from the North of Germany, south-eastwards through the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, to the Southern coast of Greece. Less waiting times at border crossings, more competitiveness.
The main goals of the measurements the transport ministers agreed upon by signing the Declaration are to improve punctuality and average transit times between the countries for freight trains, as well as to increase the corridor’s attractiveness, transport potential and competitiveness. To realise these aims, national action in the involved states is as important as effective cross-border coordination procedures.
This requires deepened cooperation between all involved, the recognition and sharing of examples of best practice and commitments to cross-border agreements. In concrete terms, Coordinator Grosch proposed the significant reduction of average border crossing times to a maximum of two hours of waiting , which is targeted within the declaration until July 2018. Therefore, an in-depth analysis on possible reasons will identify e.g. technical, operational and administrative rules causing avoidable waiting times on the border until 31st December 2016, and the results need to be implemented thereafter.
This means e.g. to optimize the locomotive availability at border crossings where different technical requirements make a change of locomotive necessary, or to avoid double technical or administrative controls on both sides of the border wherever it is possible. Within the railway undertakings, the ministers underlined that the corridor capacity needs to be protected as much as possible. Therefore, the deadline for reserve capacity should be lowered in a market-oriented way. Also possible capacity restrictions need to be planned in advance, multi-annual investment plans shall be kept transparent and delays on infrastructure works need to be avoided, they pointed out.
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