2024: Paving the Way for the North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean Rail Freight Corridor
The year 2024 marks a turning point for the North Sea-Mediterranean rail freight corridor, both in terms of the projects we have completed and the structural changes we have prepared. In a rapidly changing European context, our mission remains more important than ever: to ensure an efficient and fair allocation of rail capacity for international freight.
We are proud to point out that the North Sea - Mediterranean corridor still occupies a unique position in Europe, since our infrastructure managers continue to entrust us with 100% of their international freight catalogue paths. This exceptional level of trust reflects our key role in cross-border coordination and in building a more seamless and efficient European rail freight network.
In 2024, we reached a major milestone with the completion of the Capacity Intelligence project - an innovative initiative that opens up new perspectives in capacity planning and optimisation. We had the opportunity to present the results during the Connecting Europe Days, reaffirming our commitment to pioneering smart solutions for tomorrow’s rail system. This visibility further strengthened our credibility with the European institutions and all our stakeholders.
At the same time, a significant part of our efforts was devoted to preparing for the future - in par-ticular, organising the merger with our neighbouring RFC Rhine-Alpine following the publication of the new TEN-T Regulation in June 2024. This joint effort will lead to the creation of an enlarged and strengthened Corridor: North Sea - Rhine - Mediterranean, which will officially come into operation in January 2026. However, the foundations of this future structure are already in place, as stakeholders are already actively working together in a spirit of unity and efficiency to ensure a smooth and ambitious transition.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the teams, infrastructure managers, Applicants and terminals, national and European authorities and our logistics partner for their unwavering commitment. Together we are building a Corridor that is more integrated, smarter and firmly focused on the future of sustainable transport in Europe.
The Rail Freight Corridor North Sea – Mediterranean Annual Report 2024 with full details, facts & figures, can be found using this link to our website:
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
