Publication of the Annual Report 2021

Cooperation was the keyword in 2021

No one has forgotten the two major disasters that dramatically impacted international traffic on the lines of the Corridor. The first was the derailment of a phosphoric acid train in France, at Rumigny, between Valenciennes and Charleville-Mezières. The consequence was the closure of the ‘Artère Nord-Est’ for many weeks.

The second was the floods that hit Belgium hard and resulted in the complete closure of the ‘Athus-Meuse’. Despite the close cooperation between the Infrastructure Managers, but also between the Infrastructure Managers and the Railway undertakings, the overlap of the two events led to the inevitable complete closure of the Corridor between the Benelux and Eastern France for 10 days.

Let’s keep from these events the spirit of cooperation that everyone was able to deploy in these moments of crisis. It also proved that our Corridor has a role to play in e.g., in the planning deviation routes in the case of this kind of disruptions.

Cooperation also between all the players in the field, to bring the Lyon-Bettembourg ‘Quality Circle of Operations’ to a next level. Terminals, Railway undertakings, Infrastructure Managers, forwarding agents and the Port of Lyon were all keen to be transparent and trustworthy in 2021 in order to initiate a process of continuous service improvement.

Cooperation again between Infrastructure Managers under the lead of the Corridor, in launching a pilot to improve the path coordination process at borders after allocation.

Cooperation together with Rail Freight Corridor Rhine-Alpine, in preparing the Rhine valley closure due to the Rastatt 2024 works, by starting the international planning process at a very early stage, and in consultation with all stakeholders.

Cooperation also with Rail Freight Corridor Rhine-Alpine, to organise the first webinar dedicated to terminals or the cooperation within the RFC Network to get the symbolic Connecting Europe Express on the tracks.

Let us always bear in mind that freight trains run because women and men work together...

The Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Mediterranean annual report 2021 with full details, facts & figures, can be found using this link to our website:

In 2022 we will strengthen these actions together with our partners, Railway Undertakings, Infrastructure Managers, Terminals, Member States and the European Commission. We want to thank all again for their very valuable cooperation.

We wish you a pleasant reading of this document.

Valérie Verzele, Chair of the Executive Board of RFC NSM

Michaël Dierickx, Chair of the Assembly of the Management Baord of RFC NSM

Yann Le Floc’h, Managing Director of RFC NSM