1. 11
Franc Žepič, PAC 1b
Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial planning, Slovenia
The EU Strategy for the Danube Region
Priority Area 1b
Rail Projects of importance to
the Danube Region
South East Europe Rail & Public Transport
Development
5 June 2013 | Belgrade, Serbia

2. 2
The Danube Region ...
 14 States: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldova, Ukraine
 Population: 115 mio (EU27: 502 mio) Area: 1,092.591 km2 (EU27: 4,324,782)

3. 3
… and the Danube Strategy:
 Second macro-region endorsed by the EU!
 19 June 2009: The European Council invites the Commission to develop a Danube region
strategy
 8 December 2010: Adoption by the Commission (Two docs: Communication on Strategy and
Action plan)
 3 February 2011: 11 i.e. 12 priority area coordinators nominated (by the Commission)
 PA 1a: inland waterways - Austria and Romania
 PA 1b : rail, road and air links - Slovenia and Serbia
 13 April 2011: GAC Conclusions
 24 June 2011: endorsed by the European Council
 30 June / 1 July 2011: the end of preparation / start of implementation

4. 44
EUSDR Governance model
Possible financing
sources
Policy level
Operational level
National Contact
Points (NCPs)
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DG Regional Policy
Priority Area
Coordinators (PACs)
EUROPEAN COUNCIL
High level group
(HLG)
Project leaders /
promoters
ERDF,
Cohesion Fund,
TEN-T Fund,
Structural Funds
(Obj. 1-2-3
programmes)
Steering Group
for each PA
International
Financing
institutions
IPA
ENPI
Sectorial EU and
national funding
(environment,
education, etc.)
Private banks,
Donors
DG MOVE
DG ENVI
DG ENLARG
…

5. 5
PA1b and Targets (COM(2010) 715 final)
• Strategy (Communication by the Commission)
(Only) Three exemplary targets for EUSDR Pillar 1 (Connecting the Danube Region) which are
of relevance for EUSDR Priority Area 1b as amended:
 Improved travel times for competitive railway passenger connections between major
cities;
 Implementation of the 4 Rail Freight Corridors crossing the Danube Region as planned
within 3 or 5 years and possible inclusion of a new corridor with added value of linking
together the EU and non-EU member states' railway systems;
 Development of efficient multimodal terminals at Danube river ports and dry ports to
connect inland waterways with rail and road transport by 2020.

6. 6
PA1b and Actions
(Action Plan SEC(2010) 1489 final)
Action (1) - “To bring to completion the TEN-T (rail and road) Priority Projects crossing the
Danube Region, overcoming the difficulties and the bottlenecks including environmental,
economic and political, particularly in the cross-border sections”.
Action (2) - “To implement the Rail Freight Corridors forming part of the European rail
network for competitive freight”.
Action (3) - “To enhance cooperation between air traffic stakeholders in order to prepare a
plan to implement shorter plane routes”.
Action (4) - “To ensure sustainable metropolitan transport systems and mobility”.
Action (5) - “To improve the regional/ local cross-border infrastructure and the access to
rural areas”.
Action (6) - “To develop further nodal planning for multimodality”.
Action (7) - “To develop further Intelligent Traffic Systems by using environmental friendly
technologies, especially in urban regions”.

7. 7
The Start of implementation
• 6 Steering Group meetings
• (Kick off (the first) on 22 June 2011 in Ljubljana; Second on 20 October 2011 in Belgrade; Third on 20 February 2012 Third in
Ljubljana, Fourth on 20 June 2012 in Belgrade, Fifth on 18 December 2012 in Belgrade and Sixth on 24-25 April 2013
Ljubljana)
• Ad hoc Working Group on projects; 9 – 10 February 2011, Belgrade
• Workshop on the Common Transport Vision for the Danube Region; 27 September 2012: Belgrade
• The First Stakeholder Conference „The Danube Region Transport Days 2012“; 18-19 November 2012,
Ljubljana
• Annual Forum; 27-28 November 2012, Regensburg (the Commission)
• Meeting on the Common Transport Vision financing; 15 March 2013, Brussels
Planned before end of 2013:
• 27 June 2013: Workshop on Rail Freight Corridors, Ljubljana
• September/October 2013: Workshop on Core network (TEN-T)
• 3 October 2013: Second Stakeholder Conference „The Danube Region Transport Days 2013“ , Belgrade
• October 2013: 7th SG meeting; Belgrade
• November/December 2013: Workshop on aviation in the Danube region

8. 8
The Danube Region …
… and Railway corridors?

9. 9
• No. IV: Dresden/Nuremberg – Prague –
Vienna/Bratislava – Budapest – Bucharest –
Constanta – Sofia – Thessaloniki/Plovdiv - Istanbul
• No. V: Venice – Ljubljana – Budapest – Lvov
Branch A: Bratislava - Uzhhorod
Branch B: Rijeka – Zagreb - Budapest
Branch C: Ploče – Sarajevo -Budapest
• No. VI: Gdansk – Katowice – Žilina; branch Katowice
- Brno
• No. VII: The Danube River
• No. VIII: Durres – Tirana – Skopje – Sofia – Plovdiv –
Burgas – Varna – Constanta
• No IX: Helsinki - St. Petersburg – Kiev – Chişinău
– Bucharest - Dimitrovgrad – Alexandroupolis
• No. X: Salzburg – Ljubljana – Belgrade – Skopje -
Thessaloniki
Branch A: Graz – Maribor - Zagreb
Branch B: Budapest – Novi Sad - Beograd
Branch C: Niš – Sofia - Istanbul
Branch D: Veles – Bitola - Igumenitsa
Pan-European Corridors
Source: Wikipedia

10. 10
• 1. PRIORITY PROJECT 6 (Rail): Lyon-Trieste-
Divača/Koper-Divača-Ljubljana-Budapest-
Ukrainian border
• 2. PRIORITY PROJECT 7 (Road): Motorway
axis Igoumenitsa/Patra-Athens-Sofia-
Budapest
• 3. PRIORITY PROJECT 17 (Rail): Paris-
Strasbourg-Stuttgart- Vienna-Bratislava
• 4. PRIORITY PROJECT 22 (Rail): Athens-
Sofia-Budapest-Vienna-Prague-
Nuremberg/Dresden
• 5. PRIORITY PROJECT 23 (Rail): Gdańsk-
Warsaw- Brno/Bratislava-Vienna
• 6. PRIORITY PROJECT 25 (Road): Gdańsk-
Brno/Bratislava-Vienna
• 7. PRIORITY PROJECT 18: Rhine/Meuse-
Main- Danube
TEN-T Priority Projects (Decision 884/2004
and Decision 661/2010 on Union guidelines for the
development of the trans-European transport network

11. 11
Proposal Regulation on TEN-T
and CEF
First layout of the core network corridors, presented
in the Multiannual Financial Framework proposal by
the Commission on 30 June 2011
 Investment needs:
Core Network (2030): 500 bln. €
Core Network (2020): 250 bln. €
 CEF total volume (transport, 2014 -
2020): proposed 31,7 bln. €:
- 21,7 bln. € for all MS,
- 10,0 bln. € for cohesion countries;
 21,4 bln. € (total likely agreed)
 concentration on Core Network
incl. Core Network Corridors;
 Highest rates for rail and inland
waterway: border crossing projects,
missing links, bottlenecks.

12. 12
FERRMED and EU Corridors
 FERRMED contributes with
standards to railway transport.
 FERRMED insists in the progressive
introduction of long (1.500 m) and
heavy trains (5.000 tonnes), only in
the corridors that link the leading
ports and logistics and industrial
areas in total length of 13.000 Km.
Source internet: http://www.ferrmed.com/

13. 13
Danube Region: TEN-T and SEETO
Rail (freight), ports and RRT’s

14. 14
Examples of projects
Austria Closing of Missing Links for High Capacity /High Speed Line St. Poelten - Wels
Bulgaria Design of the Modernization of Vidin – Sofia Railway Line
Croatia Construction of New Freight Bypass Double Track Railway Line Zaprešic – Horvati –
Turopolje – Dugo Selo
Hungary Development Hungarian Sections of PP6 (Lyon-Venice-Trieste-Ljubljana-Budapest-
Uzhgorod-Lemberg-Kiev) (RAIL)
Romania Railway Infrastructure for the Access to the Second Bridge Over the Danube in
Calafat – Vidin
Serbia Danube Region Intermodal Strategy (DRIS); Modernisation and construction
Several sections along Pan-European corridor X
Slovakia Twin City Rail: Project Documentation and Public Information on Upgrade of the
Rail Connection Vienna – Marchegg – Bratislava
Slovenia Modernisation and reconstruction of railway infrastructure along PP6, including
ERTMS
Ukraine Construction of Railway Branch from Port Reni to Railway «Odessa - Izmail»

15. TRANSDANUVIOS project
15
Macro - region:
Highly diverse with challenging transport issues
Interconnection between transport policy and other policies is important
Lot of changes are foreseen (in medium to long term) in all modes of transport
Awareness from the very beginning that „solid foundations“ are needed
- where do we want to go? - what to achieve? - what is relevant for transport?
A Common Transport Vision for the Danube Region IS NEEDED!
Our intended way:
 Shared vision: what we want – the desired future we want to reach for transport
 Scenarios: what could happen to us – possible circumstances beyond our influence that we
might face when trying to make vision happen
 Strategy & roadmap: How we get through – what we have to do and how
 Engagement and implementation: making it happen – doing it and involving further groups in
the process in order to make the vision reality

16. 16
Multimodal Axis:
NORTHERN AXIS
CENTRAL AXIS
SOUTH-EASTERN AXIS
SOUTH-WESTERN AXIS
Motorways of the Seas
(SSS)
e.g. Neighbourhood Connections: HLG chaired by Loyola de Palacio (Report November 2005)
Communication from the Commission COM(2007) 32, 31 January 2007
Respect decisions already made

17. 17
No common real progress in Danube region envisaged!
Decisions to be made

18. 18
Challenges ahead (1)
• Political support continues
• Existing macro-regional strategies are incorporated into Multiannual Financial
Framework 2014-2020 (Danube programme, Partnership Agreement, OPs)
Priority area 1b level:
• common transport vision agreed before the end of the starting phase of
implementation
• all countries of the Region take an active part in implementation
• stakeholders are stimulated to take over challenging role of leaders of projects
that contribute to whole region?

19. Challenges ahead (2)
To contribute to strengthening the position of railways
by supporting:
 coordination of activities of various actors and their projects in order to avoid redundancy,
 infrastructure improvements (modernisation and construction), in particular cross-border
sections, missing links, bottlenecks; ), including aim to utilize longer and heavier trains
 interoperability, in terms to improve/enable technical (e.g. ERTMS), operative solutions
(cross-border acceptance of locomotives) and removal of administrative obstacles that
would increase the competitiveness of the rail freight transport and efficiency of operations
in relation to other modes, in EU and non-EU states of the Region.
 opening of the rail transport market to competition, regardless of administrative borders.
19

20. 2020
PAC Serbia PAC Slovenia
Miodrag Poledica, State Secretary Mr. Franc Žepič, Secretary
Ministry of Transport Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning
Belgrade Ljubljana
poledica@mi.gov.rs franc.zepic@gov.si
Thank you very much!
Please visit:
www.danube-region.eu
http://groupspaces.com/MobilityRail-Road-Air/