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Annual Report 2014

www.corridor-rhine-alpine.eu © EEIG Corridor Rhine – Alpine EWIV; Final AR 2014 V1.2, dd. 28.08.2015

RAIL FREIGHT CORRIDOR RHINE - ALPINE

Annual Report 2014

Annual Report 2014


Table of Contents

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. 2 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ 4 List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 5 1 Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Executive Board .............................................................................................................. 8

Market development of the Rail Freight Corridor ...................................................... 8 Governance of the Rail Freight Corridor ................................................................... 8 ERTMS development on the Corridor ....................................................................... 9 Development of the C-OSS ....................................................................................... 9 Other issues ............................................................................................................... 9

1.2 Management Board ....................................................................................................... 11 Traffic development ................................................................................................. 11 Corridor One Stop Shop .......................................................................................... 11 Common Declaration of the RFCs .......................................................................... 11 Harmonisation of terms and conditions ................................................................... 11 Study for an efficient and integrated performance management ........................... 12 Rail Freight Corridors 1 & 2 inauguration event ...................................................... 12 4th International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference in Genoa ................................ 12 Update of Implementation Plan ............................................................................... 12 ERTMS implementation ........................................................................................... 12 Customer Information Platform ............................................................................... 13 Corridor Management Dashboard ........................................................................... 13

1.2.1 Conclusions on first year of operation ....................................................................... 14 2 Traffic Development ........................................................................................................ 16

Traffic Volume .......................................................................................................... 16 Modal Split ............................................................................................................... 17 Train Figures per line section .................................................................................. 18

3 C-OSS ............................................................................................................................. 22 Number of offered PaPs X-11 per section/week/direction ...................................... 22 Number of PaP requests period X-11 till X-8 and X-8 till X-2 ................................. 23 Ratio of conflicting PaP-requests (double bookings at X-8) ................................... 24 Number of PaP requests allocated by C-OSS ........................................................ 25 Number of PaP requests which reached active timetable phase ........................... 26 Reserve Capacity .................................................................................................... 27 Business report ........................................................................................................ 28

4 Performance Management ............................................................................................. 29 Arrival Punctuality .................................................................................................... 29 Commercial train speed ........................................................................................... 30 Business Report ...................................................................................................... 30

5 Investments ..................................................................................................................... 31 Work progress ......................................................................................................... 31 ETCS Deployment ................................................................................................... 32 State of funding ........................................................................................................ 33 Project Report .......................................................................................................... 34

6 Working Groups .............................................................................................................. 43 Work progress WGs ................................................................................................ 43 WG Infrastructure & Terminals Report .................................................................... 43 WG ERTMS Report ................................................................................................. 44 WG Traffic & Performance Management Report .................................................... 45 WG C-OSS Support................................................................................................. 47

7 General Activities ............................................................................................................ 49 Executive Board ....................................................................................................... 49 RU ERTMS advisory platform ................................................................................. 49 Rail Freight Corridors 1 & 2 inauguration event ...................................................... 49

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4th International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference, Genoa ............................... 50 Customer Information Platform and Website ........................................................ 50 General Events ...................................................................................................... 51 Assistance for National Safety Authorities ............................................................ 51 RAG & TAG - Railway Undertaking & Terminal Advisory Group ......................... 51 RFC Club ............................................................................................................... 52 RNE ....................................................................................................................... 52 CSG/SERAC ......................................................................................................... 52 Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) .................................................................... 53 CEO Meeting Corridor Rhine-Alpine ..................................................................... 53 EU Co-Funding ...................................................................................................... 53

Coordination with Core Network Corridor Rhine-Alpine ....................................... 53 8 Activities of the ExB ........................................................................................................ 54 8.1 Governance & General Objectives ............................................................................... 54

Inauguration conference 20 March 2014 Gent ..................................................... 54 International Corridor Rhine - Alpine conference, 18 September 2014 (Genoa) . 54 Establishment Agreement, 8 October 2014 (Brussels) ........................................ 54 FCA, 2 December 2014 (The Hague) ................................................................... 54 ERTMS roll out planning ....................................................................................... 55 Track Train System Validation .............................................................................. 55 Cooperation Rail Freight Corridor Rhine - Alpine with Trans European Core Network Corridors ................................................................................................................ 55 Long trains 740 m .................................................................................................. 56 C-OSS offer and development .............................................................................. 56

8.2 Noise .............................................................................................................................. 56 Progress description, LL block approval ............................................................... 56

8.3 Customs ......................................................................................................................... 57 Progress description .............................................................................................. 57

8.4 Regulatory authorities ................................................................................................... 57 RBs ........................................................................................................................ 57 NSA Corridor Group of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine (RFC 1) ................. 58

- Aim of the Group ............................................................................................ 59 - Organisation ................................................................................................... 59 - Working Groups .............................................................................................. 60

(1) Technical Working Group ....................................................................... 60 (2) Authorisation Process Working Group ................................................... 60 (3) Task Force Interoperability ..................................................................... 61 (4) Driver licences and other bilateral agreements ...................................... 61 (5) Short distance interoperability................................................................. 61

Further work done in 2014 .................................................................................... 62 (1) Support of NSAs in cross border infrastructure projects ........................ 62 (2) Contribution to ERA Control Group ........................................................ 62

Objectives and milestones for 2015 ...................................................................... 63 Attachment: Position paper of the RFCs on Regulation (EU) 913/2010 ............................ 64

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the author. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information therein.

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List of Figures Figure 1: Management Dashboard 2014 .................................................................................................. 13 Figure 2: KPI international traffic volume .................................................................................................. 16 Figure 3: KPI Modal split ........................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 4: Counted number of freight trains on measuring day October 24, 2013 ................................... 19 Figure 5: Counted number of freight trains on measuring day October 23, 2014 ................................... 20 Figure 6: Counted number of freight trains in 2014 .................................................................................. 21 Figure 7: KPI Number of offered PaPs X-11 per section ......................................................................... 22 Figure 8: KPI Number of PaP requests period X-11 till X-8 and X-8 till X-2 ............................................ 23 Figure 9: KPI Ratio of conflicting PaP-requests (double booking at X-8) ................................................ 24 Figure 10: KPI Number of PaP requests allocated by C-OSS ................................................................. 25 Figure 11: KPI Number of PaP requests which reached active timetable phase .................................... 26 Figure 12: KPI Reserve Capacity Requests ............................................................................................. 27 Figure 13: KPI Arrival Punctuality (0-30’) in % ......................................................................................... 29 Figure 14: KPI Commercial train speed .................................................................................................... 30 Figure 15 KPI Work progress IMs ............................................................................................................ 31 Figure 16: KPI ETCS deployment ............................................................................................................. 32 Figure 17: KPI Funding ............................................................................................................................. 33 Figure 18: Overview of projects reported on the Annual Report 2014 of RFC Rhine - Alpine ................ 34 Figure 19: Liefkenshoek Rail link in the Port of Antwerp .......................................................................... 35 Figure 20: Liefkenshoek Tunnel................................................................................................................ 35 Figure 21: Emmerich – Oberhausen, level of planning 2014 ................................................................... 36 Figure 22: Karlsruhe – Basel, planning 2014 ........................................................................................... 37 Figure 23: Progress of works on Gotthard Base Tunnel and Ceneri Base Tunnel ................................. 38 Figure 24: State of play of tunnel perforation on Ceneri Base Tunnel ..................................................... 38 Figure 25: Geographical course of construction phases “4 m corridor” ................................................... 39 Figure 26: The Tower of the Gotthard Base Tunnel ................................................................................. 39 Figure 27: Priority projects PC 80/400 from the border CH/IT to inland .................................................. 41 Figure 28: Points to be adapted to enable 4 m loading gauge for intermodal traffic (P/C 80/400) ......... 41 Figure 29: KPI Work progress WGs ......................................................................................................... 43 Figure 30: WG C-OSS support ................................................................................................................. 47 Figure 31: Organisation of NSA Corridor Group of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine (RFC 1) ......... 60

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List of Abbreviations ABS Ausbaustrecke (enhancing and upgrading an existing track) AB Allocation Body AC Alternating Current AG Aktiengesellschaft (German public limited company) ANSF Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza delle Ferrovie APS Authorisation for placing into service AR Annual report ATB Automatische treinbeinvloeding (Dutch ATP system) ATP Automatic Train Protection (system) BAB Federal highway BCA Baseline Compatibility Analysis BE Belgium BLS Bern Lötschberg Simplon (Swiss railway) BMVIT Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (Austria) bn Billion BVWP Bundesverkehrswegeplan (Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan) CA Cross Acceptance (vehicle authorisations) CCS Control Command and Signalling (TSI) CEF Connecting Europe Facility CEO Chief Executive Officer CER Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies CH Switzerland CID Corridor Information Document CIP Customer Information Platform CNC Core Network Corridor C-OSS Corridor One-Stop-Shop CR Change Request CSG Corridor Steering Group CSS Customer Satisfaction Survey CoW Coordination of Works DB Deutsche Bahn (German railway) DE Deutschland (Germany) DK Danmark DMI Driver Machine Interface DVIS Belgian Railway Safety Authority EBA Eisenbahnbundesamt (Germany) EC European Commission EDP European Deployment Plan EEIG European Economic Interest Grouping EIM (association of) European Rail Infrastructure Managers EIPM Economic Integrated Performance Management ERA European Railway Agency ERTMS European Rail Traffic Management System ETCS European Train Control System EU European Union EUG ERTMS Users Group EWIV Europäische wirtschaftliche Interessenvereinigung (EEIG) ExB Executive Board FABI Finanzierung und Ausbau Bahninfrastruktur FAQ Frequently asked question FCA Framework for Capacity Allocation Flex Flexible FOT Federal Office of Transport (Swiss Ministry of Transport) FS Full Supervision (ETCS)

Annual Report 2014


FTE Forum Train Europe GSM-R Global System for Mobile Communication, subset Rail i.e. for example I&T Infrastructure and Terminals ICT Information and Communication Technology ILT Dutch Environment and Transport Inspectorate IM Infrastructure Manager INEA Innovation & Networks Executive Agency IRL International requirements list IT Information Technology IT Italy IQ-C International Group for improving the quality of rail freight traffic on the North–South corridor IWW Inland Water Way km kilometre km/h kilometre per hour KPI Key Performance Indicator kV kilo Volt L Level (ETCS), in combination with a number LBT Lötschberg base tunnel LL composite brake blocks LS Limited Supervision (ETCS) m meter MB Management Board Mio. Million (€) MoT Ministry of Transport MoU Memorandum of Understanding Mrd. Milliarde (billion) MRCE Mitsui Rail Capital Europe MR Maintenance Release MS Microsoft N north NB-Rail Coordination Group of Notified Bodies for Directive 2008/57/EC on Railway

Interoperability NBS Neubaustrecke (new line) NCTS New Computerized Transit System NEAT Neue Eisenbahn Alpen Transversale (New Railway Alp Transverse) Net Network NKU Nutzen-Kosten-Untersuchung (benefit-cost-investigation) NL The Netherlands NDTAC Noise differentiated track access charges No Number NO Norway NSA National Safety Authority OC Operations centre PaP Pre-arranged Path PCS Path coordination system PFA Planfeststellungsabschnitt (planning sections) PIM Programme Infrastructure Manager PMO Programme Management Office RAG Railway Undertaking Advisory Group RB Regulatory Body RC Reserve Capacity RDD Reference document database RFCs Rail Freight Corridors RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italia (Italian IM) RISC Rail Interoperability and Safety Committee (EC)

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RNE RailNetEurope RoLa Rollende Landstraße (rolling highway) RU Railway Undertaking S south SBB Schweizerische Bundesbahn (Swiss railway) SERAC Single European Railway Area Committee SE Sweden SG Subgroup SJT Norwegian Railway Authority StA Streckenabschnitte (line sections) SRS System Requirement Specification (ETCS) TAG Terminal Advisory Group TEN-T Trans European Network (for) Transport TFI Task force interoperability TIS Train Information System TMS Transport Market Study TPM Traffic and Performance Management TSI Technical Specification (for) Interoperability TTSV Track Train System Validation TT Time table UCC Unions customs code UNIFE Association of the European Rail Industry UNISIG Union Industry of Signalling WG Working Group

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1 Executive Summary

1.1 Executive Board This chapter contains the executive summary from the Executive Board that specially emphasises on the functioning of the Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine since November 2013.

Market development of the Rail Freight Corridor The Executive Board considers the market development on the Corridor as favourable with positive growth figures for both 2013 and 2014 (2% and 3 % respectively). However, the market development remains volatile within the overall general economic development. Measures to develop Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine shall further facilitate market development. There remains substantial market potential in particular for 500+km market segments.

Governance of the Rail Freight Corridor The governance structure of the Rail Freight Corridor was well established as it became operational in November 2013. The Executive Board continued to steer the development of the Corridor and assured that all bodies could work together. The powers and competences of the Executive Board were clarified by the Establishment Agreement regarding the Executive Board signed by the Ministers on 8 October 2014 in Luxemburg. The Executive Board makes binding decisions in consensus and has the specific authority to decide about the Framework for Capacity Allocation (FCA) on the Corridor and the Corridor Implementation Plan. The Management Board acts within its own competences and collaborates with the Executive Board on setting the priorities for the development of the Rail Freight Corridor. The first FCA was signed by the Ministers 20 December 2012 and was updated by the Executive Board on 2 December 2014 and is now harmonized with 5 other rail freight corridors. The Executive Board acknowledges the key importance of working with the Management Board. The ExB supervises the work of Management Board and their cooperation with the Railway Undertaking and the Terminal Advisory Group. Secondly, the Executive Board welcomes the fact that the Railway Undertakings Advisory Group has appointed in 2012 a permanent chair and has set its priorities for the development of the Rail Freight Corridor with a stable participation of railway undertakings from all corridor countries. Further work is needed to clarify the best role for terminals, ports authorities and intermodal operators to cooperate in the most effective way on the corridor business. For 2015 and beyond the Executive Board will concentrate on e. g. completion of the ERTMS roll out plan for the corridor, adopting a Framework Capacity Allocation harmonised with all rail freight corridors and cooperation with the TENT core network corridor Rhine Alpine on coordination of investments. The cooperation of the National Safety Authorities (NSAs) is not mentioned in the rail freight regulation. The Executive Board considers this cooperation of NSAs along the Corridor vital for the further corridor development. Presently, the NSAs work strongly together on i.e. the authorization of ERTMS (track side and on-board) also with the European Railway Agency ((ERA) publication of guideline and TTSV project)), train drivers and facilitating access to border zones. The NSA working group also involves the ERA in its work. With the implementation of ERTMS becoming more mature and in view of its role in transition towards the implementation of the 4th railway package, the Executive Board will define together with the Management Board and NSAs the most appropriate (authorization) strategy. The Executive Board expressed the need to work closely together with the TEN-T Core Network Corridor and its European coordinator and pointed out the need to define a cooperation model. This initiative was taken up positively by the European Commission and is in progress.

Annual Report 2014


Furthermore, the Executive Board confirms the need to continue the cooperation with other rail freight corridors and wishes in particular to develop a commonly agreed Framework for Capacity Allocation for all rail freight corridors. Also on other issues the cooperation between rail freight corridors remains important.

ERTMS development on the Corridor ERTMS was planned to be completed by ERTMS Corridor A (Rotterdam-Genoa) in 2015, this schedule turned out to be unrealistic. Nevertheless, the developments during 2013 and 2014 were rather positive: Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland continued their national roll-out strategies successfully. The Executive Board decided to concentrate on the first deployment of ERTMS in border zones. By the end of 2014 the Dutch part of the Dutch – German border section Zevenaar - Emmerich has been completed, on the other hand, the Swiss – German and Swiss – Italian borders have been confirmed to be completed by the end of 2016. A corridor roll-out plan is being developed to monitor the implementation of the ERTMS Corridor A including the Belgian stretch of the corridor is included in the roll out plan whereas this stretch is not formally part of the EU ERTMS deployment plan (2012/88/EU). Close cooperation with the European ERTMS Coordinator, Karel Vinck, has continued also in the framework of the development of the horizontal priority of the TEN-T ERTMS work plan. The Executive Board keeps working on the full roll-out plan in 2015 with the necessary support from all Infrastructure Managers. Development of the Track Train System Validation (TTSV) concept has been started in close cooperation with NSAs and ERA. The concept is also being discussed with ERA.

Development of the C-OSS The Management Board has established a well-functioning C-OSS in Frankfurt. The Executive Board defined the Framework for Capacity Allocation within which the C-OSS can operate. On an annual basis, the Executive Board discusses with the Management Board the following issues regarding the PaP-offer of the C-OSS:

- Definition of lines on the Corridor (defined in the Implementation Plan); - Quantitative development of the PaP-offer of the C-OSS; - Results of the allocation process, following the parameters defined in the FCA; - Results of the Customer Satisfaction Survey.

In 2014, approximately 10% of all international rail freight train-km were offered by the C-OSS. The demand in both timetables 2014 and 2015 was strong for the PaP-offer (more than 200 dossiers), a very positive sign from the market on the need for the C-OSS. Therefore, the Executive Board continues the dialogue with the Management Board to further develop the offer of the C-OSS. The quantitative size of the PaP-offer of the C-OSS matters as much as the quality of the process. It was also noted in particular that the functioning of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) needs further improvement and optimization. Moreover, the Executive Board will pursue the dialogue with the Management Board on the other critical issues for the operation of the Corridor such as Coordination of Works (CoW), Traffic and Performance management (TPM).

Other issues The Rail Freight Corridor took up its role as a contributor towards the development of the European rail agenda on several issues and appreciated the involvement of the European Commission and cooperation of other rail freight corridors. Examples of issues that the Corridor took up and were discussed also at European level are:

- ERTMS authorization guide developed by NSAs;

Annual Report 2014


- ERTMS Track Train System Validation concept developed in cooperation with the ERTMS Users Group;

- Cross acceptance of rolling stock; - Cross border train drivers; - Border zone interoperability and the issue of language requirements for drivers; - Cooperation with TEN-T Core Network Corridors; - Contribution to the Single European Railway Area Committee and its working groups; - Union rules for customs for rail freight transiting Switzerland;

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1.2 Management Board In 2014, the corridor development was marked by very decisive results, which are paramount for realisation of the corridor concept in the following areas:

Traffic development Traffic growth was measured at the borders as about 3 % in average. Single wagon load showed even a higher growth rate than combined traffic. Considering the general situation of the economy in Europe, as well as taking into account severe damages through thunderstorms in Italy and strikes in Belgium and Germany during the second half of 2014, this development exceeded the expectations.

Corridor One Stop Shop In January 2014, the Corridor published for the first time Pre-arranged Paths (PaP) through its C-OSS for timetable 2015. The offer was very welcomed by the applicants and resulted in 222 dossiers received; 212 of which included a feeder or outflow path and 131 were in conflict due to double bookings. The C-OSS managed that 212 dossiers (149 PaP and 72 tailor made, including multi corridor requests) could be allocated as final timetable offer. Considering, that the Path Coordination System (PCS) was not fully functional for handling PaP requests, the C-OSS did an excellent job in supporting the applicants very closely, preparing their business concepts in line with the offer available, which finally resulted in a remarkable success. As lessons learned from this first allocation process, the Pre-arranged Path proved not just yet to be the ideal product, because it neither met always well the needs of the Applicants nor supported maximum usage of infrastructure capacity. Subsequently, the Corridor developed the “Flex PaP” product as well as an addition to the priority rule through the so called “Network-PaP” rule, both could be introduced in the “Framework for Capacity Allocation” of the Executive Board as pilot application in the time table offer 2016.

Common Declaration of the RFCs The “go-live” of the first corridors clearly indicated the need for a closer coordination and harmonisation among the RFCs in order to vitally support the establishment of the European RFC network. Corridor Rhine – Alpine took the initiative of founding a common platform for all RFCs, where the managing directors and/or chairpersons of each RFC are present and meet about four times a year. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss and agree on common strategies needed for a smooth interfacing and harmonisation of working procedures between all RFCs. The RFCs published a “Common Declaration” stating their joint objectives in establishing the RFC network. RNE takes part in the meetings as an advisor and supporting partner of the IMs for the coordination of common guidelines. In this context, RNE has included the related meetings and topics in its internal structure and planning, and the RFCs were offered to become associate members of RNE. RFC1 received the associated member status and attended in two RNE GA meetings.

Harmonisation of terms and conditions Together with the Railway Undertaking Advisory Group, the Corridor analysed 10 important issues, which could be improved through harmonised terms and conditions between the corridor countries. In workshops with IM experts, the issues were clustered and prioritised. The issues “Validity of timetable”, “Definition of international ad hoc, short-term, real time path request and its “allocation process” and “Path cancelation conditions” were selected and proposed to the corridor CEOs who decided to conduct further investigations. Subsequently, the IM experts started to study the technical, organisational and financial implications upon which the CEOs shall decide in 2015 about their implementation.

Annual Report 2014


Study for an efficient and integrated performance management The start of this study had to be delayed because the foreseen consultancy company, who owns the proposed concept, had to step out of the project. Due to this, the Management Board decided to execute the study mainly with own resources from the IMs, steered by an external consultant and concentrate on the performance quality issues at the borders. Therefore a first assessment has been conducted at the border Zevenaar-Emmerich. For starting the study the Corridor defined its final scope and prepared the terms of reference for recruiting an external leader for steering the execution.

Rail Freight Corridors 1 & 2 inauguration event Following the “go-live” of Regulation (EU) 913/2010, RFC Rhine-Alpine and RFC North Sea-Mediterranean organised together with their Executive Boards on 20 March a joint inauguration event in Ghent, Belgium and hosted more than 200 guests and representatives of applicants, ports, terminals, ministries, the European Commission and IMs/ABs. This conference was recognised as being outstanding not only due to the contributions from the State Secretaries for Mobility, Mr Melchior Wathelet (Belgium) and Ms Wilma Mansveld (The Netherlands), as well as from Olivier Onidi and Karel Vinck from the European Commission, but also for the fruitful work done together with the guests at the business corners leaving an exceptional and everlasting impression of the event.

4th International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference in Genoa In view of the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport organised the fourth International Corridor 1 Conference on 18 September in Genoa, Italy. This series of conferences aim to inform and prepare the operators, politicians, experts, citizens and companies, in each country linked to the Corridor for the smooth and successful start of traffic through the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The audience, consisting of high-ranked representatives from politics/ministries, the European Commission, railway undertakings, operators and terminals, as well as Infrastructure Managers, showed high interest in the development achieved so far on the Corridor.

Update of Implementation Plan Due to important changes mainly in the implementation of ETCS, updating of bottleneck and capacity analysis and inclusion of further terminals, the Executive Board intended to publish a first update of the implementation plan in 2014. The Management Board prepared the modifications in close coordination with their ministries. Due to some open approvals, the adoption of the Implementation Plan update was postponed by the Executive Board to 2014.

ERTMS implementation In general, ETCS implementation progressed considerably. The Netherlands completed ETCS to the German border in level 2, and in Switzerland, the roll-out of ETCS on corridor lines (except border sections) is on track for completion by the end of 2015. Furthermore, the implementation focused on the border sections which should now be completed by the end of 2016. In addition to Basel and Zevenaar-Emmerich, bilateral working groups have been set up for all IT-CH borders. SBB together with DB Netz applied for another change request related to the indications on the Driver Machine Interface (DMI), which could be included by ERA in the Baseline 3 Maintenance Release (MR). In the frame of the “Breakthrough Programme” of Karel Vinck, intensive discussions took place between the European Commission, the Member States and the involved IMs in order to define realistic dates and migration concepts for the revision of the European Deployment Plan. In order to

Annual Report 2014


support this activity, DB Netz has set up an ETCS Programme Management which started, together with the German Ministry of Transport, the preparation of a valid migration concept for the German part of the Corridor. The results are very promising and will be included in the implementation plan after conclusion of the related financing agreement, which is scheduled for mid-2015. In 2014 Italy two reference projects have been tendered for the conventional network, one for ETCS L1 (Domodossola – Novara) and one for ETCS L2 (Chiasso – Milano Smistamento). The contract for ETCS L1 project has already been awarded. Regarding Domodossola and Chiasso border sections, discussions on measures for solving Italian safety requirements in equipping Level 1 LS through SBB took place between ANSF and Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT).

Customer Information Platform In November 2013, the Customer Information Platform (CIP) of Corridor Rhine – Alpine was launched to the public providing all corridor data such as line definitions and characteristics, C-OSS offer and terms and conditions, infrastructure projects and investments, Network Statement excerpts, terminals, corridor implementation plan and all relevant corridor documents. These data are easily accessible for the public via the corridor website and through an active geographical interface. In order to facilitate access to this information belonging to the RFC network, in 2014 RFC 1 presented CIP to all other RFCs and offered them to join this platform. Furthermore, the corridor agreed with RNE to handover the system ownership and operations for all RFCs in future. In addition, RNE will develop interfaces between most of the RNE tools and CIP providing access to the C-OSS offer, construction works/ possessions among others via one user interface. RFC 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 decided to join CIP by the end of 2015.

Corridor Management Dashboard

Figure 1: Management Dashboard 2014 The management dashboard provides a quick overview on the operational development of the corridor in 2014. Detailed explanations are included in the following report.

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1.2.1 Conclusions on first year of operation 2014 was the first year of full operation of measures implemented on the Corridor from the Regulation (EU) 913/2010. First experiences could be noted which will lead to further adjustments and improvements in future. Among others, our most important observations are as follows: a) Governance

The representatives in the corridor governance are cooperating well and support the corridor objectives within the frame of competences given to them. Nevertheless, the corridor development has to speed up in order not to lose the market for rail freight. The Executive Board should intensify its support to the development by speeding up the sustainable financing of investments, the standardisation of national laws as well as facilitating a level playing field between the freight transport modes in each country. In 2014 our corridor strongly pushed the coordination among the rail freight corridors by initiating the RFC Talks between the corridor managers as a common platform for facilitating the RFC network and harmonised solutions jointly with RNE. In many aspects of the work and for many services the MB was able to support the detailed harmonisation work as a rail freight corridor front-runner. As the common RFCs development depends to a great extent on their ExBs, a common platform of the ExBs like the RFC Talk would help in coordinating issues more efficiently and faster. The joint publication of the final running timetables could not be released in time because on cases of conflicts between requests in one or several countries had not been solved and confirmed by the RBs. For improving the allocation quality by the C-OSS and consequently the planning situation of the RUs, the processes and timelines of the IMs/ ABs as well as the legal framework also related to the involvement of the RBs need to be harmonised among the countries.

The Management Board achieved to considerably improve internal and external perception and support to the Corridor through decisions taken through unanimous voting procedure. This supports common opinions and made trust grow among the IMs/ABs. The competitiveness of rail freight depends on the functioning of the entire transport chain from door to door. The current structure of advisory groups includes MB, RUs and terminal managers. The involvement of other important stakeholders such as operators, last mile and ports etc. could support the common goal of improving the transport chain and makes the advisory groups more efficient.

b) Capacity Management

The introduction of pre-arranged path capacity is welcomed by the applicants; however the product itself and the related timetable processes need further adjustments in the direction of more flexibility and simpler procedures. Due to the complexity of this issue, IMs and RUs together need freedom in further developing optimum solutions without being limited by definitions pre-set by regulations. The aim should be to increase the capacity allocated through the C-OSS in line with the evolution of the product and the related processes. Due to very different planning horizons and procedures, an involvement of terminal slots in the path allocation would not be feasible for the time being. However, the coordination between actual train run and terminal facilities would be helpful. Subsequently, the Corridor introduced the possibility for terminal managers to be informed about the actual train run via the Train Information System (TIS) of RNE. However, the roll-out of this feature depends on the RUs to agree that terminals get access to their trains in TIS.

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c) Traffic and Performance Management

Conditions in the national networks are very different and require specific traffic management rules, which allow the IMs to optimise the overall train operations within their country. Due to this, harmonisation is not yet feasible and would need very careful considerations in future. However, coordinated monitoring and communication, as well as better coordination of re-routing could enhance planning and operations. The Corridor is carrying out a performance management involving IMs and RUs. The IMs together with interested RUs regularly monitor the performance quality and initiate preventive and corrective measures to improve particular rail freight operations on the Corridor. With regard to the RFC network close coordination of the performance management across the corridors and countries is paramount.

d) Corridor definition

The Corridor Rhine – Alpine has a well-defined routing of principal, diversionary and connecting lines, which are fully described in the Implementation Plan. These corridor routes end where private infrastructure starts because private stakeholders are not always providing this information. As RUs need to operate in the RFC network, the definitions of the corridor routes and terminals should be harmonised across the RFCs. Regarding the execution of transport market studies, more flexibility in timing and adaption to the purpose and contributions to the market situation is required to support the rail freight corridor business. This refers also to considerations regarding the RFC network. Moreover, clarification on contents, responsibilities and optimal interaction between CNCs and RFCs could avoid overlapping actions and deliver clear results.

The observations are worth to be further considered by all parties contributing to the corridor development. Works have already been started and based on thorough investigations; we aim at improving and optimising the corridor offer to support the competitive rail freight transport in Europe to its maximum in future. In this respect, the RFCs will also publish a common position paper on recommendations to the intended revision of regulation (EU) 913/2010, which will be attached to this report as soon as it is available.

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2 Traffic Development

Traffic Volume

Figure 2: KPI international traffic volume

The multi-annual chart (figure 2) shows the development on Corridor Rhine – Alpine of the last six years until 2014. For the first time train figures in 2014 equal the results of 2008, the last year before the onset of the financial crisis. Compared to 2013 rail freight developed positively again (+3,0 %), despite a stagnating economy in Europe. Different from last year - when the cross-alpine traffic has been the key factor for growth - in 2014 development established in a broader scale. Results could have been even better but in the second half of the year the development was affected by strikes in Germany and Belgium, as well as severe weather conditions in Italy. The shift from Venlo to Emmerich since the commissioning of the Betuwe continued, while at the same time preparations have started to expand capacity via Venlo during the construction phase of the third track Emmerich – Oberhausen from 2016 on. One of the most notable developments concerns the recovery of wagon load traffic to/from Italy; growth was even higher than in combined traffic. Railway undertakings developed new logistics and operating concepts to serve customers with own railway sidings in northern Italy, a market that seemed already lost after the closure of shunting yards in 2012. Outlook: Moderate growth in 2015 on Corridor Rhine – Alpine due to positive signs regarding the European economic development. However, the impact of strikes in Germany, cheap gasoline prices for trucks and further developments in the Greek debt crisis represent growth risks.

Definition: number of international freight trains per year crossing one (or more) of the border stations of Corridor Rhine – Alpine in both directions, regardless of origin or destination. Cross-border lines are (operational handover stations underlined): NL-DE: Zevenaar – Emmerich NL-DE: Venlo - Kaldenkirchen DE-BE: Aachen West - Montzen DE-CH: Weil a. R - Basel CH-IT: Brig – Domodossola CH–IT: Ranzo – Luino

Annual Report 2014


Modal Split

Figure 3: KPI Modal split The modal split in selected measure points on Corridor Rhine – Alpine is illustrated in figure 3. In the sea port of Rotterdam market share of barge has again increased slightly by 1%, after a year with constant water conditions. Several smaller accidents on the Rhine with temporary closures did not affect this development. Rail in Rotterdam remained again at 11%, expectations are higher after big investments in the Dutch infrastructure have been completed. But expectations for the next years are limited due to delayed infrastructure projects and interference of operations and capacity as a consequence of works in Germany. In the Port of Antwerp, the market share of rail remained stable at 7% with positive prospects for the next year expecting an increase in wagon load traffic. The fact that IWW is reaching its capacity limits could lead to benefits for rail. The move of the MSC terminal to the Deurganckdock could also attract new traffic. Stable infrastructural and operational conditions pushed the market share of the Trans-Alpine traffic in 2014 to another all year’s record of 67%. Market share of rail increased for the third year in a row (+ 3,5% compared to 2012). Increase was even stronger than total market growth (+ 2% in tons). Single wagon load and unaccompanied combined intermodal traffic pushed the development while transport by Rolling Highway (RoLa) remained stable. In the Port of Genoa works for the modernisation of rail infrastructure are continuing. Modal share remained at 17% though a light increase in rail utilisation could be observed. Nevertheless, modal share of rail transport is targeted at 40% in the future. Currently, direct rail traffic to/from hinterland destinations is mainly limited to selected places in Northern Italy (e. g. container rail shuttle Voltri Mare <–> Rivalta Scrivia).

Definition: modal split [%] of freight traffic at Port of Rotterdam, Port of Antwerp, Port of Genoa and Trans-Alpine traffic. For Rotterdam, Antwerp and Genoa the modal split is calculated based on TEUs (containers) for the hinterland traffic. For the Trans-Alpine freight traffic the basis is net tons. It is separated by rail, road and inland waterways (if applicable). Measurements are performed on an annual basis.

Annual Report 2014


Train Figures per line section The information in figure 4 is based on the measuring day (24 October 2013. In figures 5 and 6 information can be found on the number of freight trains that have been operated on the Corridor on 23 October 2014 and over the whole of 2014. Also the connecting lines of the Corridor have been assessed during the reporting year. Comparing the measuring day information of the two years it can be seen that on most sections the train numbers are still in the same class. On most sections differences can be found between the two years; this is caused by the fact that the train numbers are just below or above class boundaries. A statement about growth based on the information of these two measuring days is not very reliable. The coincidences that can occur on single days, such as diversions caused by works, strikes, bad weather, accidents etc. disturb the reliability of conclusions. Because of these reliability problems, also totals for the whole year 2014 are shown. In upcoming years, this yearly information will be available for longer periods of time and traffic development shall show more reliable data. Nevertheless we have to keep in mind that this solely solves the comparability problems caused by random sampling on a single measuring day, but it does not solve the differences that occur - for instance - as a result of planned rerouting of trains due to works. These reasons still have to be considered when comparing information from different years (e. g. expected shift from Emmerich to Venlo border due to construction works of the third track Zevenaar – Emmerich). It is intended to show a comparison based on yearly figures in the next reporting year. Only then, more reliable conclusions can be given about corridor development.

Annual Report 2014


Measuring day: Thursday October 24, 2013Sum of realised freight trains in both directions

Venlo

Eindhoven

Köln

Hasselt

aontzen

Aachen W

est

aechelen

Aarsch

otGent

Brugge

Zeebrugg

e

Antwerpen

Lier

BoxtelBreda

hberhausen

Emmerich

Zeve

naarUtrecht

Amsterdam

aeteren

Kijfhoek

aaasvl

akte

Wiesbaden

Karlsruhe

aannheim

Koblenz

hffenburg

Basel SBB

tratteln

Liestal

hlten

ailano

Chiasso

Bellinzona

Biasca

Erstfeld

Brugg

Frutigen

Brig

Arona

hleggio

HendschikenBern VL

Basel Bad Rbf

Voghera

Genova

aortara

Alessandria

bovara

hvada

Arquata S.

Domodossola

Vignale

Luino

Mountain lines

1 - 25 26 - 50 51 - 75 76 - 100101 - 125126 - 150151 - 175 > 175

0 or not available

Number of freight trains

Figure 4: Counted number of freight trains on measuring day October 24 2013 (sum of both directions) on RFC Rhine - Alpine

Annual Report 2014


Measuring day: Thursday October 23, 2014Sum of realised freight trains in both directions

tiacenza

Birsfelden Hafen

Ramskapelle

aannheim

Germersheim

aainz

Koblenz

Köln

Aachen W

est

Venlo

beuss

hberhausen

Laveno

Luino

Erstfeld

Hendschiken

Frutigen

Bern VL

Antwerpen KalloAntwerpen Schijnpoort

Antwerpen boord

Bilzen

Hasselt

aontzen

aechelen

Aarsch

otGent

Brugge

Zeebrugg

e Vorming

Y Dudzele

Y Hazop

auizen go

ederen

Y Berneau

Kinkempois

Antwerpen Berchem Genk Goederen

Y Zwijndrecht Fort

Gallarate

ailano

hleggio

Arona

Voghera

aelzo

Amsterdam

Kijfhoek

Sloehav

en

Breda

Beverwijk

Lier

bovara

Vignale

aortara

Biasca

Bellinzona

Chiasso

Domodossola

Brig

hffenburg

Basel Bad Rbf

Karlsruhe

aaasvl

akte

aeterenUtrecht

Boxtel

Zeve

naar h

ost

Emmerich

Eindhoven

telikaan

Basel SBB RB

Basel CT

RekingenStein-Säckingen

Kleinhüningen

Rangierbahnhof Limmattal

hlten

Aarau

tratteln

Liestal Brugg

Wiesbaden hst

Worms

beuwied

1 - 25 26 - 50 51 - 75 76 - 100101 - 125126 - 150151 - 175 > 175

0 or not available


Alessandria

hvada

Genova Samp.

Arquata S.

Bivio t. v. Torbella

Borzoli

Genova Voltri aare

Genova

Genova Sestri

RoosendaalZw

aluwe

WG I&TJune 16, 2015

Mountain lines

ConventionalHigh speed

Figure 5: Counted number of freight trains on measuring year October 23 2014 (sum of both directions) on RFC Rhine - Alpine

Annual Report 2014


High speed

Conventional

1 < 6.250 6.251 - 12.50012.501 - 18.75018.751 - 25.00025.001 - 31.25031.251 - 37.50037.501 - 43.750 > 43.750

0 or not available


Measuring Year 2014Sum of realised freight trains in both directions

tiacenza

Birsfelden Hafen

Ramskapelle

aannheim

Germersheim

aainz

Koblenz

Köln

Aachen W

est

Venlo

beuss

hberhausen

Laveno

Luino

Erstfeld

Hendschiken

Frutigen

Bern VL

Antwerpen KalloAntwerpen Schijnpoort

Antwerpen boord

Bilzen

Hasse

ltaontze

n

aechelen

Aarschot

Gent

Brugg

e

Zeebrugg

e Vorming

Y Dudzele

Y Hazop

auizen go

ederen

Y Berneau

Kinkempois

Antwerpen Berchem Genk Goederen

Y Zwijndrecht Fort

Gallarate

ailano

hleggio

Arona

Voghera

aelzo

Amsterdam

Kijfhoek

Sloehave

n

Breda

Beverwijk

Lier

bovara

Vignale

aortara

Biasca

Bellinzona

Chiasso

Domodossola

Brig

hffenburg

Basel Bad Rbf

Karlsruhe

aaasvlakte

aeterenUtrecht

Boxtel

Zeve

naar host

Emmerich

Eindhoven

telikaan

Basel SBB RB

Basel CT

RekingenStein-Säckingen

Kleinhüningen

Rangierbahnhof Limmattal

hlten

Aarau

tratteln

Liestal Brugg

Wiesbaden hst

Worms

beuwied

Alessandria

hvada

Genova Samp.

Arquata S.

Bivio t. v. Torbella

Borzoli

Genova Voltri aare

Genova

Genova Sestri

Roosendaal

Zwalu

we

WG I&TJune 16 2015

Mountain lines

Figure 6: Counted number of freight trains in 2014 (sum of both directions) on RFC Rhine - Alpine

Annual Report 2014


3 C-OSS The following KPIs refer to the “monitoring of the allocation process” stipulated in annex 1 of the Decision of the Executive Boards establishing the Framework for capacity allocation on the Rail Freight Corridors 1 2 (version 2013 for TT 2015).

Number of offered PaPs X-11 per section/week/direction

Figure 7: KPI Number of offered PaPs X-11 per section

Comment: Figure 7 displays all the PaPs that have been published by the C-OSS of the Corridor Rhine – Alpine in January 2014, for the annual timetable 2015. These PaPs are displayed per corridor-section. Thereby, it has to be taken into account that most PaPs are planned from Monday to Sunday (seven days of operation); nevertheless, some might have less running days (e. g. 4 or 5), or a given PaP might not be available on some days throughout the year. A high amount of PaPs was offered in the connections Mannheim – Basel and Basel - Chiasso to comply with the expected demand.

Definition: This indicator shows the number of pre-arranged paths per section published by the C-OSS for one network timetable period eleven months before timetable change.

Annual Report 2014


Number of PaP requests period X-11 till X-8 and X-8 till X-2

Figure 8: KPI Number of PaP requests period X-11 till X-8 and X-8 till X-2

Comment: Figure 8 displays all requests (dossiers in PCS) that have been received by the C-OSS of RFC Rhine – Alpine for the PaPs published for the annual timetable 2015. It is important to point out that a request means one dossier in PCS, which can consist of several PaPs sections. Requests received: - 222 dossiers - 212 dossiers including feeder and outflow requests (that means only 10 dossiers were requested without any feeder/outflow) - 30 dossiers for multiple requests Late requests (X-8 till X-2) have not been offered, because PaPs remaining from the X-11 till X- 8 phase have been returned to the IMs.

Definition: This indicator shows the number of international path requests for network timetable placed in the booking tool PCS with a reference to a pre-arranged path on RFC 1. It differs between path requests placed on-time respectively before the deadline for path requests for annual timetable (X-8) and so-called “late requests” between X-8 and X-2 referring to PaP. Concerning the path requests it is indicated how many path requests involve a request for feeder/outflow paths and how many path requests for PaP on RFC Rhine - Alpine concern multiple corridors.

Annual Report 2014


Ratio of conflicting PaP-requests (double bookings at X-8)

Figure 9: KPI Ratio of conflicting PaP-requests (double booking at X-8)

Comment: Figure 9 displays all requests (dossiers in PCS) that are in conflict with other requests, which is more than half, 59 %. A ranking of PaP most affected by double-bookings could not be indicated due to a lack of automated analysis functionality in PCS.

Definition: This indicator shows the percentage of path requests that lead to a so-called double booking situation in the sense that several path requests placed in PCS refer to the same PaP on RFC 1.

Annual Report 2014


Number of PaP requests allocated by C-OSS

Figure 10: KPI Number of PaP requests allocated by C-OSS

Comment: Figure 10 shows the number of PaPs which have been (pre-) allocated by the C-OSS at the phase draft timetable and final timetable. Finally, 212 dossiers (149 PaP and 72 tailor made) and all multi-corridor requests could be allocated as final timetable offer. Just one request was rejected before the finale TT offer. In other words, from 222 requested PaP dossiers 221 PaP dossiers were allocated.

Definition: This indicator shows the number of draft (x-5) and final (x-4) timetable offers communicated via PCS by the C-OSS regarding PaP on RFC 1. It will also be indicated how many of these timetable offers include feeder/outflow paths and/or involve multiple corridor paths.

Annual Report 2014


Number of PaP requests which reached active timetable phase

Figure 11: KPI Number of PaP requests which reached active timetable phase

Comment: Figure 11 shows the number of PaPs which have been (pre-) allocated by the C-OSS and that have been accepted by the applicant thus entered in active timetable. 196 of 221 PaP dossiers were accepted and 25 rejected; 89 % of the pre-allocated PaPs were promoted to the active timetable and were included in the yearly timetable 2015, under the condition that no cancellation/modification was asked via the IMs at a later stage. This is due to the decision of applicants to use national tools for further treatment.

Definition: Comparing the number of PaP allocated with the number of PaP requested a ratio/percentage will show how many path requests reached active timetable phase incl. those which have been adjusted (minor changes) or withdrawn (major change qualified as new request in remaining capacity) by the applicant and those which could not be answered due to missing input from infrastructure managers (e.g. due to missing feeder delivery).

Annual Report 2014


Reserve Capacity

The Reserve Capacity offer 2014 (for timetable 2015) for international rail freight on the Corridor Rhine – Alpine has been developed as a flexible approach; the offer has been published in the form of capacity slots. Due to this, the capacity was offered within a time range and not as the standard PaP product with fixed times. The Reserve Capacity was published as capacity per section on a daily basis including a daily update on our website and in CIP.

Figure 12: KPI Reserve Capacity Requests

Comment:

Figure 11 shows the ratio of allocated Reserve Capacity: 4 Reserve Capacity requests (12 PaP sections) have been made by applicants in 2014. Out of this, 3 requests (9 PaP sections) could be allocated but none of them reached the status of active timetable.

Definition: This indicator shows the ratio of allocated reserve capacity. The KPIs regarding Reserve Capacity defined in the implementation plan could not be realised due to a change in the definition of the product and a missing link to PCS.

Annual Report 2014


Business report The main task of the C-OSS is divided the following phases: Pre-Sales Phase, Sales Phase, After-Sales Phase and Reserve Capacity Phase. The following great variety of tasks had been done: Pre-Sales Phase

The Pre-Sales Phases started with the preparation of the product Pre-arranged Path (PaP) for the following timetable period together with the Subgroup Product and the IMs/ABd. That means that, experiences, customer and market needs were analysed. Based on this result, the quantity and quality of PaP was proposed and approved by the MB. From September to December PaPs were constructed by the IMs according to the agreed timeline. This construction time is actively managed and supervised by the C-OSS. After checking the construction results, the preparation for publication started by creating a PaP catalogue in PCS (import to PCS). In addition a printout of the PaP catalogue helped the applicants to do process their planning. A main task in this period was the development and test of the IT system PCS. For the first time PCS went live for requesting and allocating PaPs for rail freight corridors. Sales Phase Making the Corridor, its products and the C-OSS visible and transparent was the intention of the Sales Phase. In the end, 12 individual customer visits had been done by the C-OSS. Besides the more general information event, e. g. RAG, customer visits included more specific explanation and customised presentation of the C-OSS and the PaP product. Another topic was the support of the applicants in processing requests via PCS. In the end, all sales activities were successful; the C-OSS of RFC Rhine-Alpine received 222 PaP requests and more than half were in conflict (59 %). The main task of C-OSS is the pre-allocation of PaPs. After receiving the 222 dossiers for TT2015 the requests had to be checked for plausibility. All conflicts were successfully solved (131 dossiers) and finally PaPs were allocated in time by applying the rules of the FCA. Unfortunately, PCS did not work as expected and that was translated into a lot of manual work. Individual customer letters with the specific results of pre-allocation were sent to all applicants. After-Sales Phase Right after the pre-allocation, end of April, all the experiences obtained from the applicants, the product, the FCA, the order and allocation process and IT support (PCS) had been analysed. The results were used to improve product and process for the following timetabling year. Following the market demand one major decision was to offer the Flex-PaP for the following timetable period. A big challenge was the IT-system PCS that required a lot of extra effort and change requests. Briefing RNE for system updates and implementation of customised and functional solutions as well as the new Flex-PaP approach was a major task. Making the system manageable for all players in their interests will also be the objective for PCS Next Generation. Reserve Capacity Phase As described mid-November, the RC of TT 2015 was published and was constructed by IMs and managed by C-OSS as of September. In several customer information events, the approach and RC product was explained. RFC 1 made the RC product more attractive by shortening the deadline from 60 to 30 days before train run.

Annual Report 2014


4 Performance Management

Arrival Punctuality

Figure 13: KPI Arrival Punctuality (0-30’) in %

Freiburg – Novara:

The punctuality in 2014 was mainly influenced by maintenance and construction works on the Simplon Line (Tunnel Brig-Iselle) during the whole year. These works will continue until the end of 2015. In August/September 2014, temporarily additional restrictions applied (one track in the tunnel had to be closed) and also between Iselle-Domodossola infrastructure works with strong impact have been executed.

Due to gauge and operational restrictions for the High-Cube traffic and single line sections the highly frequented “Rolling Highway” (RoLa) between Freiburg - Novara via Domodossola is very prone to small incidents that can lead to bigger delays. Thus, often not just trains directly involved in an accident are delayed; also other trains can be affected by secondary delays. In 2014, punctuality in S-N direction was overall slightly better than 2013 (departure Novara +2.8%, arrival Freiburg +0.3%)

Main reason for the decrease of punctuality in the direction N-S (departure Freiburg -6%, arrival Novara -8.5% compared to 2013) was the line closure between Schliengen and Haltingen from 22/04/2014 until 28/09/2014 due to works. Trains have been rerouted via the Katzenberg-Tunnel and needed an adopted formation and routing in the Freiburg-Basel area which had an impact on punctuality especially in N-S direction.

In November heavy rainfalls in Northern Italy caused severe damage on railway infrastructure. Since 12/11/2014 several restrictions had strong impact on punctuality. Only in November more than 16.000 minutes of delay have been registered at the RoLa-Traffic (mainly S->N direction). This fact alone caused a punctuality loss of 2-3% for the whole year. Rotterdam – Novara

In 2014, only a minor improvement of punctuality has been noted due to ongoing track renewal between Emmerich and Oberhausen, interruption of operations by storm loss and exceeded train stop time due to staff roster and formation of trains.

Definition: multi-annual average punctuality level (arrival at destination within a 30 minutes time span) for selected relations of: Freiburg–Novara; Zeebrugge – Gallarate, Rotterdam–Novara and Cologne–Gallarate (all start / end points of these transport relations are directly located on RFC Rhine-Alpine). A level of 80% is targeted.

Annual Report 2014


Zeebrugge – Gallarate and Cologne – Gallarate

Since May 2014, a track in the Biasca area was partly closed due to construction work for the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Stopping times in Mainz Bischofsheim and Bellinzona San Paolo have been exceeded due to staff roster and formation of trains. On the single track line to Luino delayed trains suffered additional delays due to crossings with other trains.

Commercial train speed

Figure 14: KPI Commercial train speed Renewal works in the Simplon tunnel as well as construction works in the Biasca area for the Gotthard Base Tunnel have been respected in the planning. Every improvement of urban (S-Bahn), regional or long distance passenger traffic will lead to more stopping times in sidings for freight trains. By trend the result of this development is a lower commercial train speed for freight until the foreseen infrastructure investments will go live.

Business Report

Performance Management in 2014 has gone through remarkable improvements. With the change of the provider of the “Train Information System” (TIS) and the close cooperation with RNE punctuality reports are now on a good level. Together with RFC North Sea-Med a guideline has been worked out. This guideline helped RNE creating a guideline that will lead to a harmonized realization of performance management on all rail freight corridors. On Corridor Rhine – Alpine the bilateral quality meetings between DE – CH and IT – CH are very much appreciated by the RUs. In 2015, bilateral meetings between DE – BE and DE – NL will start as well. Due to the decision of Corridor Rhine – Alpine’s MB concerning the “Cross Border Study”, new approaches will come towards the performance management and further improvements can be reached in the future.

Definition: average speed [km/h] of trains according to valid timetable for selected relations: Freiburg–Novara; Zeebrugge – Gallarate, Rotterdam–Novara and Cologne –Gallarate (all start / end points of these transport relations are directly located on Corridor Rhine-Alpine) in both directions. Measured based on annual timetable and classified in five different categories. Basis: 30 freight train services on 4 different relations.

Annual Report 2014


5 Investments

Work progress

Figure 15Fehler! Verweisquelle konnte nicht gefunden werden.: KPI Work progress IMs

With the start of the Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine, a new baseline for the period 2014 to 2020 has been set up. Also calculation has been transferred from Excel and MS Project to CIP. The development of the functionality required some extra efforts, but now an integral system with one data base is available.

In the years after the financial crisis, several new developments regarding the planned project profiles, timeline, technical specifications and funding have occurred. For the new baseline, those projects have been selected with an expected progress in the upcoming years due to approved or confirmed funding. Projects that are expected not to start before 2020 due to a lack of funding have not been selected for the current baseline.

The current progress of the projects selected by the IMs sums up to 36% vs. 44% planned work progress (see figure 15). Compared to the beginning of the year, in 2014 the backlog increased from 6% to 9%. Nevertheless, with the commissioning of ERTMS on the Dutch part of the border section Zevenaar – Emmerich and the Liefkenshoek rail link in Belgium important infrastructure projects have been completed for future freight train operations.

Also most of the infrastructure projects in Switzerland developed well and are slightly ahead of schedule. In Germany - on the one hand - works for the tunnel in Rastatt are proceeding as planned and a contract between DB Netz and the German MoT about the financing of ERTMS implementation on the Corridor Rhine – Alpine has been prepared. On the other hand, planning approval procedures for then new railway lines respectively upgrade projects ABS/NBS Karlsruhe – Basel, Emmerich –Oberhausen did not proceed as expected.

In Italy two basic ERTMS projects have been tendered in 2014, one contractor already has been contracted. Other projects have been postponed due to a shift in the budgets.

Definition: percentage [%] of the total work amount completed, based on completed project phases (IMs) of the baseline (earned value). The red line displays the planned work progress until the end of the observation period whereas the green line shows the actual work progress.

Annual Report 2014


ETCS Deployment

Figure 16: KPI ETCS deployment Although a fully coordinated implementation of ETCS along the Corridor could still not be achieved in 2014, the deployment focused first on establishing the border sections and transitions in order to gain early experience on the technical implications in transitions, as well as to reduce the number of class B systems on locomotives in most of the operational cases. With regard to the future delivery of locomotives e.g. equipped with SRS 3, IMs have to ensure that infrastructure deployment of SRS 2.3.0.d does not present incompatibilities. The Baseline Compatibility Analysis (BCA) executed by UNISIG, EUG and ERA has concluded the possibility of such cases. The corridor progressed significantly due to the following reasons: In The Netherlands, the last gap on the Betuwe line from Zevenaar to the German border could be completed and taken into service with Level 2. Thus, trains operating on the Betuwe line no longer need to be equipped with ATB. In Belgium, Infrabel further substantiated their ERTMS master plan with the completion of ETCS on the Belgian part of the Corridor by 2020. Deployment for further line sections has been tendered. In Germany, the pre-planning phase and negotiations between DB Netz and the Ministry of Transport for financing the construction of ETCS have been finished; the contractual proposal was agreed. The concepts for the transitions at the border sections Basel and Zevenaar-Emmerich were defined and accepted by the NSAs. The preconditions for starting the implementation are now given. ETCS L1 installation on the SBB Network in Switzerland progressed as planned and the completion of all conventional corridor lines on the SBB and BLS Network will be achieved by the end of 2015 and border sections until the end of 2016. The opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel (ETCS L 2) is planned for the same year, while the opening of the Ceneri Base tunnel (ETCS L2 is expected by the end of 2019. In Italy, the equipment of the line Domodossola – Novara has been contracted firstly. This project will be the reference for ETCS L1 FS installation on the conventional network. Secondly, the equipment between Chiasso (border) and Milano Smistamento has been tendered. This project will be the reference for ETCS L2 installation on the conventional network.

Definition: Yearly progress in [%] of corridor track length to be equipped with ETCS according to the EDP or national deployment plans [Basis 2946 km of lines] which went through the phases of pre-planning / plan study / tendering & contracting / installation / testing & homologation or in

Annual Report 2014


State of funding

Figure 17: KPI Funding Figure 17 shows the state of play of the overall corridor programme (all IMs, all projects) as per end of 2014 on the basis of the new baseline 2020. As a result of the new baseline for the progress of projects, also the graph “state of funding” had to be revised and a comparison with previous years is not possible in 2014. Information is now based on the same data source as the work progress in figure 15. In comparison with the old baseline, it is remarkable that until 2020 the same level of investments is expected as in the past 10 years. Except the Netherlands, where the corridor programme is nearly completed, large investments are planned in all other countries. After 2020 most of the reported funding is related to projects in Germany and Italy.

Definition: amount of planned/ approved/ open/ used budget [bn. €] for all kinds of Corridor Rhine – Alpine projects (interoperability, bottlenecks, total service concept) at the end of the year related to the total budget planned until 2020 (open, planned, approved, used, total) respectively from 2021 to 2030 (total, planned, open).

Annual Report 2014


Project Report In this part projects shown in the following overview are reported on that had a significant progress or have been completed during 2014.

The complete Investment Plan is part of the Implementation Plan of Corridor Rhine – Alpine.

Figure 18: Overview of projects reported on the Annual Report 2014 of RFC Rhine - Alpine

Annual Report 2014


Projects in the Netherlands

1. Zevenaar (NL) - border The ETCS equipment was completed in 2014 on the Dutch part of the cross border section and after the final tests it became operational on 8 December 2014. In connection with ERTMS, also the specification for the implementation 15/25 kV AC was developed and approved. In Zevenaar preparations for the construction of 25 kV are on-going. Installations shall become operative in 2016 (together with the German side).

Projects in Belgium

2. Liefkenshoek rail link On 9 December 2014, the Liefkenshoek rail link was officially opened. This 16.2 km new

strategic rail infrastructure between the left bank (Waaslandhaven and Deurganck Dock) and the right bank (Antwerp North marshalling yard) of the river Scheldt will improve the traffic flow in the Port of Antwerp (figure 19).

Figure 19: Liefkenshoek Rail link in the Port of Antwerp

The centrepieces of the new connection are the two longest rail tunnels in Belgium (figure 20), each 6.7km long, and up to 40m deep under the Scheldt. The link is equipped with ETCS and GSM-R. This infrastructure project is part of Infrabel’s strategy of gradually expanding rail capacity in and around the port of Antwerp. The total investment amounts to 873 million €. Part of it is privately financed through a Public-Private Partnership (690 million) and part of it publicly by Infrabel (183 million). The Liefkenshoek rail link entered into commercial service on 14 December 2014.

Figure 20: Liefkenshoek Tunnel

Picture Infrabel

Picture Infrabel/ Bart Van Tricht

Annual Report 2014


3. ETCS in Belgium

Regarding ETCS in Belgium, Infrabel is carrying out its master plan, which was approved in June 2011 and aims at equipping its whole network by 2022. The Belgian part of the Corridor is foreseen to be fully equipped by 2020. On Corridor Rhine – Alpine, some overlapping sections with Corridor North Sea – Mediterranean have been equipped with ETCS in 2014.

Projects in Germany

4. Emmerich - Oberhausen

Figure 21: Emmerich – Oberhausen, level of planning 2014

In 2014, the blueprint and approval planning for the third track continued. The PFA 3.5 planning approval documents were published in 10-11/2014 as the last section from 12. In parallel, the German planning documents were published in the Province Gelderland. The hearing within the planning approval process for the second section 3.1 was held in 06/2014. Parallel to this action, the exchange between Germany and the Netherlands about the blueprint planning of the third track was continued. The concept for planning the construction phases was agreed and finalized.

5. Rhine/Main – Rhine/Neckar

On 21 July 2014 an intermediate result of the Middle Rhine study for the Frankfurt area was presented by the German Federal Government. According to the findings of the experts, the best solution would be to build a new railway line for mixed traffic – high speed passenger transport during the day, freight transport at night – that runs parallel to the Federal Highway (BAB) A5 / A67. The new route should accommodate the increasing traffic volumes and provide significantly shorter travel times. At the same time, capacity will be created on the existing lines of space for an expanded range of urban transport. At night, the new line will be used to shift freight from the existing lines and thereby relieve residents from noise disturbance. The next step for the project is a benefit – cost – investigation (NKU) during the preparation of the new Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP 2015). In order to qualify for an inclusion into the BVWP 2015, the project has to reach a benefit-cost-ratio greater than 1.

Annual Report 2014


6. Karlsruhe - Basel

Figure 22: Karlsruhe – Basel, planning 2014

New Developments on Karlsruhe - Basel

In 2014, the project Karlsruhe – Basel saw some developments in the planning approval process and in the (preparation of further) construction work. Since 2009 an advisory committee is trying to obtain the acceptance of rail freight operations for the project by local residents and to minimise the impact of rail noise.

- Section 1: In 2014 construction works in the northern part and parallel to the Federal motorway BAB A 5 proceeded. The contract for the civil works for the tunnel Rastatt was awarded.

- In section 7, a decision in the advisory committee was taken for an alternative route with a tunnel in Offenburg. The preliminary and basic design for revision in PfA 7.1 started.

- In section 8 the revision of the preliminary and basic design and the approval process of PfA 8.1 started and is planned to be finalised in 2015.

- Planning section 9: Due to massive public opposition and delay in the political decision process the planning

approval for StA 9.0 (10 km four track line) could not be finished The final works and documentation in StA 9.1 are on time Construction works in StA 9.2 are delayed by unforeseen obstacles in the

subsoil/building ground The detailed design of the planning approval documents, regarding the achievements of

the obligatory architectural competition has been finished

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Projects in Switzerland

On 9 February 2014 the Swiss agreed in a public voting on the financing of the further development of the Swiss railway network. With “FABI” (Finanzierung und Ausbau der Bahninfrastruktur) a permanent funding of railway infrastructure projects has been established. The stage-wise expansion is defined and concrete projects will be decided within the Swiss parliament in timeframes of 4-8 years. On SBB lines of the Corridor Rhine – Alpine, several projects are carried out to improve operational stability and capacity for freight-traffic.

7. State of play works Gotthard and Ceneri Base Tunnel

Figure 23: Progress of works on Gotthard Base Tunnel and Ceneri Base Tunnel

Figure 24: State of play of tunnel perforation on Ceneri Base Tunnel

8. Cross-city link Zurich

December 2014: The inauguration of the cross-city link (“Durchmesser-Linie”) in Zurich took place as planned. The Zurich cross-city link will enable shorter travel times and discharge the Zurich Main station. Passenger and freight traffic will profit from the cross-city link due to more capacity and shorter travel times.

9. Quadrupling Olten – Aarau

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May 2014: Delve of spade for the quadrupling of tracks between Olten and Aarau was made. This will eliminate one of the most critical bottlenecks in the SBB network. Passenger as well as freight traffic will have a big benefit in the future due to higher capacity.

10. 4 meter corridor After the Swiss parliament has approved the construction and financing of the “4 meter corridor” for a total of 990 million francs the corresponding changes in the law came into force. The Federal Council has approved the necessary agreement with SBB on 8 October 2014. By the end of 2014, SBB submitted all the “Federal Office of Transport” projects for approval (figure 25). The entire 4 meter corridor is planned to go live in 2020 once the Ceneri tunnel will be completed.

Figure 25: Geographical course of construction phases “4 m corridor”

11. The „Tower“ of the Gotthard Base Tunnel The new Operation Centre (OC) South of Pollegio is active since April 2014 (figure 26). The 160 dispatchers in this OC will manage the traffic in the whole „Ticino “region as well as in the base tunnels Gotthard and Ceneri until Arth-Goldau. Security systems and supply of electricity will be managed there as well.

Traffic management of the expected additional traffic, punctuality and information of customers (freight and passengers) will be guaranteed.

Figure 26: The Tower of the Gotthard Base Tunnel

http://intranet.sbb.ch/de/Themen/Projekte/Alle/neue-nord-sued-achse-gotthard/bauprojekte/bz-sued/PublishingImages/BZsud2_neu.jpg

http://intranet.sbb.ch/de/Themen/Projekte/Alle/neue-nord-sued-achse-gotthard/bauprojekte/4-meter-korridor/PublishingImages/Übersicht_4mK_Projekte_zugeschnitten_de.png

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ERTMS in Switzerland

12. ETCS Interface to IM RFI, Border Lines in Italy:

The two border lines Domodossola-Iselle and Ranzo-Luino are owned by RFI Both lines are operated with Swiss operation rules. Therefore these lines are equipped with

Swiss Signalling and Train Control Systems (Signum) today. RFI has requested an offer at SBB for supporting the migration to ETCS (incl. EuroZub/EuroSignum) of the two Border Lines situated on the Italian territory and RFI Network. Today, there is no binding approval concept from the NSAs (ANSF, FOT) which rules the approval for (European) train control systems based on a fully cross-acceptance. ANSF has requested to respect the National Safety Standards (Decreto 04/12). For details see network reporting of RFI

13. ETCS Interface to IM DB Netz, Section on Swiss territory in Basel Badischer Bahnhof: A binding approval concept from the NSAs (FOT, EBA) which rules the approval for

(European) train control systems, based on the cross-acceptance principle has been signed.

ETCS Migration (including: P44:EuroZUB/EuroSignum) is planned by DB Netz AG. National Train Control system P44 will be provided by SBB. For details see network

reporting of DB Netz.

Outlook SBB on 2015

Go live of ETCS level 2 on the section Brunnen – Altdorf – Rynächt Go live of ETCS level 2 on the section Pollegio – Castione

14. BLS: Setting the course for completion1 of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (LBT)

The FABI agreement mentioned in the report of SBB also applies to BLS infrastructure. Planning of the second track on the Lötschberg-Base-Tunnel (LBT) middle section is part of the yet defined budget and will start in 2016. A realisation of the project and therewith the important increase of capacity on the Lötschberg-(Base-)Line in the timeframe between 2025 and 2030 seems realistic.

Projects in Italy

During 2014, the discussion on the improvements of the corridor sections across Italy and Switzerland intensified. In addition to the needs already expressed by the customers, the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the near future requires a larger harmonisation of infrastructure characteristics in order not to shift bottlenecks. In 2014, the Italian and Swiss ministries signed a bilateral agreement concerning the financial support by the FOT in order to start works on the Italian lines to facilitate clearance for 4 meter loading gauge to enable intermodal traffic with P/C 80/400 on the southern access of the New Railway Alp Transverse (NEAT). Priority is given to the sections: 15. State border - Gallarate via Sesto Calende and via Besozzo and

16. State border - Novara via Sesto Calende

1 21,4km of the 34,6km long tunnel is only operated as a single track line. The middle part (14km) has been tunneled for double track but is not yet equipped for operations.

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Figure 27: Priority projects PC 80/400 from the border CH/IT to inland The technical-operational agreement was signed in September between RFI, which is the implementing body and the Swiss Ministry. Twenty-three measures have been defined and agreed as presented in figure 28.

Figure 28: Points to be adapted to enable 4 m loading gauge for intermodal traffic (P/C 80/400) The first tendering for the projects is expected by the second half of 2015.

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17. Longer Trains 740m “Longer trains 740 m” - another improvement requested by customers - was in 2014 also a topic RFI focused on. All projects that are part of the “Luino and Simplon platform” have been reviewed to reach the objective of accommodating trains up to 740 meters. Preliminary studies have been updated for the connections Domodossola - Novara (via Borgomanero) and Domodossola - Novara (via Arona) as well as for Chiasso – Milano. Regarding the Luino branch, in the frame of the working groups implementing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2012 by the Italian and Swiss ministries, five different scenarios were analysed to allow longer trains. These scenarios include both operational solutions and/or physical works. Activities are still being carried out and the results will be presented to the ministries in the first half of 2015.

In 2014, Italy has performed the following activities regarding the deployment of ERTMS on the RFI’s sections

18. ERTMS Domodossola – Novara (via Borgomanero) The implementation of Baseline 3 Level 1 + Radio infill has been contracted to Bombardier. The project progresses and is scheduled in the roll-out plan. The version of Baseline 3 to be put in service will be compliant with the MR2 to be delivered by the end of 2015.

19. ERTMS Chiasso – Milano A call for tenders has been launched. The contract awarding is expected in March 2015. This line will be equipped with Baseline 3 Level 2. The version of Baseline 3 to be put in service will be compliant with the Maintenance Release 2 to be delivered by the end of 2015.

12. Cross-border sections In a dedicated bilateral working group, RFI and SBB have prepared the issues of ERTMS equipment. This activity has been carried out in cooperation with the Swiss and Italian NSAs. The major challenge is the adaptation of Swiss ERTMS L1 LS specifications to fulfil requirements on the Italian part of the cross-border lines Brig (CH) – Domodossola (IT) and Ranzo (CH) – Luino (IT). On these lines, Italian safety rules apply and the Italian NSA is responsible for the authorisation of ERTMS installations. This activity is still in progress. The final agreement between RFI and SBB for the management of the borders shall be signed at the beginning of 2015, with the scheduling as foreseen in the ERTMS roll out plan of the Corridor.

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6 Working Groups

Work progress WGs

Figure 29: KPI Work progress WGs Figure 29 indicates the work progress of the corridor WGs which sums up to 77% compared to 92% planned. The backlog increased compared to 2013, which was mainly caused by delays in the analysis of cross-border issues by the TPM subgroup “Cross-border issues & operations” as well as delays in ERTMS development and implementation which had an impact on the work of the WG ERTMS. Temporary subgroups that had been installed to ensure the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 have been closed after completion of tasks in 2014. Nevertheless, it has been recognized that the C-OSS requires a permanent support of experts at the IMs and the MB agreed to install a permanent working group “C-OSS support” which is not yet part of the baseline in figure 29.

WG Infrastructure & Terminals Report The WG worked in 2014 in a stable team and met 6 times in 2014. Work plan In the Management Board, a new work plan for the WG was discussed and agreed. The WG is now working according to this plan. Hereafter some main achievements on the agreed topics in this plan can be found. Presenting results One of the main challenges of the WG I&T in 2014 was how to present results of studies or collected information in a transparent and comparable way. This was tackled by preparing a graphical overview of the Corridor that gives the possibility of showing information in a pleasant and accessible manner. The figures in chapter 2 “Train Development”, showing the number of freight trains on the Corridor in 2014 are examples of the way this information can be presented. The characteristics of the Corridor are shown every time in the same graphic form which has not been the case in previous years. Also in the Implementation Plan of the Corridor all the figures that were prepared by the WG I&T are now shown in this new graphic form. Bottleneck analyses The expected numbers of future freight trains and growth percentages of the 2012 Transport Market Study (TMS) were updated. This was done based on information available from new national studies.

Definition: percentage [%] of the total work amount completed, based on completed activities (WGs) of the baseline (earned value). The blue line displays the planned work progress whereas the red line shows the actual work progress.

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These new train numbers and the current investment information were used to update the capacity bottleneck analysis. In order to get more mature bottleneck figures the WG members lined up their considerations with the status of projects. Subsequently, the same interpretation is used regarding the project phase, the funding status of projects and the status of decision making for the projects. This improvement of the working methodology helped to present similar information about projects and to use this information and to use the information for national capacity bottleneck studies. The results were presented in the Implementation Plan in again the same graphic form showing where the capacity bottlenecks are situated in upcoming years. Transport Market Study The WG started with an internal evaluation on the work that had been done in preparing the Transport Market Study in 2012-2013. This evaluation will be presented in 2015 to the Management Board, giving a base for deciding on the update in 2016/2017. Infrastructure characteristics In summer 2014 the WG started to collect information on the corridor infrastructure. This information will be bundled and presented in 2015. Information on the values of the parameters will help in discussing which steps have to be taken in future to improve the Corridor and harmonise infrastructure parameters along the Corridor. Train numbers The WG further agreed on which trains should be counted when looking to the number of freight trains on the Corridor. Differences on border sections were discussed and clarified.

WG ERTMS Report The corridor working group continued with the update of the ERTMS roll-out plan as well as with the support of coordination and provision of technical requirements in close liaison with the NSAs, the ERTMS Users Group and the European Commission respectively ERA. In particular the following issues have been worked on: DB Netz and SBB asked ERA to include another Change Request (CR) in the first maintenance release of SRS 3, which is needed to adapt the DMI indications to operational situations in Level 1 Limited Supervision. The timely availability of this CR was decisive for the deployment concepts in Switzerland and Germany. Finally ERA and all involved parties managed to include this “last minute” requirement through voting in the RISC. The Executive Board (ExB) invited ministries and Infrastructure Managers (IM) to task force meetings for the closer monitoring of the implementation process of ETCS. Due to the good progress of ETCS planning and installations, the time was given to work out a detailed ETCS roll out plan. The ERTMS working group prepared the ETCS roll out plan based on the ETCS lines defined in the implementation plan containing detailed roll out information of all corridor section and countries For reporting in the ExB meetings on ETCS implementation progress and risks, the working group prepared a management summary report, which was updated and presented in each ExB meeting. Due to the now more reliable existing ETCS planning, especially in Germany and Italy, the corridor implementation plan needed to be updated until December 2014. The working group collected all the information and coordinated and prepared this update. At the end of 2013, the corridor NSAs had completed and published their guideline for “authorisation for placing into service” (APS) of locomotives. This guideline includes recommendations for a “track train system validation” (TTSV) process, which shall support the economic testing of locomotives mainly in laboratories. The Corridor was asked by the ExB to set up the TTSV project for establishing the framework of TTSV and by the NSAs to prepare the operational test scenarios related to the corridor

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lines. As the TTSV process is not only linked to RFC Rhine-Alpine, the ERTMS Users Group was asked to support in this project with the project management and the technical expertise. The working group ERTMS of RFC Rhine-Alpine initiated the start of this project and a first definition of goals/ benefits, scope and responsibilities.

WG Traffic & Performance Management Report General remarks

The Working Group “Traffic & Performance Management” is chaired by Hansruedi Kaeser and consists of four subgroups. A wide range of tasks is tackled – from performance management to coordination of works and cross border issues. RNE as the “service provider of choice” is supporting with guidelines and IT-tools. The situation and achievements of the different subgroups are mentioned below.

Subgroup Performance Management

All the planned quarterly meetings have taken place and the representatives of all IMs on RFC 1 have participated without any exception. This subgroup is chaired by Hansruedi Kaeser. In order to better integrate the RUs it has been decided to invite the representatives of freight RUs operating on the RFC 1 to every meeting. RNE has changed the IT provider for the tool Train Information System (TIS) as well as the data quality manager. This has led to a significant improvement of the reports. By the initiative of RFI the Rotterdam – Novara report has improved strongly and is published monthly for the involved stakeholders. RUs have ordered new reports for their traffic relations like Rheinhausen – Pomezia and Mannheim – Chiasso. The concerned Performance Managers together with RNE have created new reports on these relations and by the end of the year publication has been done. The initiative for bilateral groups between NL-DE and BE-DE has been taken in order to have them active in 2015.

Outlook 2015: Further Improvement of data quality and reports is in focus. We aim to initiate bilateral groups for DE-BE and DE-NL in order to define measures for improvement together with the RUs.

Subgroup Coordination of Works

The chairmanship of the group was taken up by Harry Marsman from ProRail, this relieved Hansruedi Kaeser from chairing the WG TPM, the SG Performance Management and the SG CoW. Unfortunately Mr. Marsman had to resign shortly after his nomination and Jan Deeleman from ProRail then took over ad interim. The search for a new chairman was started. The combination of coordination meetings with RFC North Sea-Baltic has been envisaged. The publication of the works on RFC Rhine-Alpine is done in an Excel table that allows filtering and has a graphical overview so the customer can recognize the relevant impacts easily. The table can be downloaded via the Corridor’s homepage – it is placed on the front page so no time consuming “clicking” has to be done. In multilateral workshops the different RFCs reached the agreement on a common way of publication so that RUs operating on different RFCs do not find different layouts of list and different ways of handling them. Outlook 2015: together with RNE the existing guidelines will be updated and the involvement of different RFC as well as RUs will be improved.

Subgroup Cross Border Issues

The subgroup has defined new action items in 2014 such as “language”, “operational rules and line parameters on diversionary lines” and “dangerous goods”. Chairman is Sebald Stumm. In 2014, a uniform structure of the agreements on border sections has been implemented. The consideration of the TSI operation specifications into the operational border agreements has been

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done and the handling of dangerous goods by IMs on the corridor is in discussion in order to come to a uniform process. Outlook 2015: together with the temporary subgroup „Cross Border Study“ chaired by Heinz Pulfer new action items will be started. The subgroup will play a big role in supporting Mr. Pulfer.

Subgroup Traffic Management

This sub group is not established yet. Experts from the operation departments of the infrastructure managers of Corridor Rhine – Alpine deal with this issue in the RNE Traffic Management working group.

Temporary Subgroup Cross Border Study Subgroup Leader: Heinz Pulfer, external consultant (in preparation).

The MB was not satisfied with the methodology and realisation plans of the foreseen consultancy company NeuroPie and their ZEUS2 process and software concept (later EIPM for “Economic Integrated Performance Management”. The planned adaptation from an airport oriented concept to the needs of international rail freight transport did not convince. This led to a new approach by the MB and a person with deep knowledge of railway business and an excellent network has been searched. The objectives of this subgroup, integrated in the Traffic & Performance Management WG, have been defined as:

- Establishing transparency about the processes and communication in planning and operations at both sides of the six border points based on operations/performance data from IMs and RUs

- Identification of main causes of rail freight quality problems / causes of delay at the six border crossings and at the interface between the relevant IMs and RUs and definition of feasible solutions

Tasks Carry out the study at 6 border points of the RFC Rhine-Alpine in order to find/collect the situations having a negative impact on the quality of traffic. These can be e.g. capacity, technical rules (e.g. braking), dispatching, planning, timetabling, communications, documents etc. The data of the border stations have to be collected, structured and evaluated together with the working groups. Improvements shall be identified and measures agreed; the proposed methodology shall focus on a systematic analysis of main topics with regard to solution assessment.

2 Zeus is a software tailored to optimise efficiency of heterogeneous business processes developed by NeuroPie Solutions AG, Switzerland

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WG C-OSS Support

Corridor Rhine – Alpine implemented C-OSS by sharing the different tasks within a bundle of working groups. Within the first half-year of 2014 it was recognised that the working groups were focused more on the implementation than on the steady support of the C-OSS. For this reason, Corridor Rhine – Alpine created the WG C-OSS Support with its several subgroups.

Figure 30: WG C-OSS support SG Product Development The first Pre-arranged Paths (PaP) published in January 2014 for the timetable 2015 turned out to be too rigid. The applicants requested a more flexible product. Based on this requirement and the first experiences with the PaP requests for the timetable 2015, the SG Product Development created a new corridor capacity product, the so-called Flex-PaP. This product gives the applicant more flexibility when requesting capacity as well as to the IM in constructing the paths. The further task was to describe which characteristics have to be respected in PCS to implement the new product Flex-PaP. In order to avoid that dedicated, especially harmonised corridor capacity is misused, the Executive Boards of the two corridors, Rhine-Alpine and North Sea-Med, agreed to apply on some corridor paths a special priority rule. This decision is mapped in the updated document “Framework for Capacity Allocation on corridor….”. This is the birth of the Network-PaP. The SG took an active part in supporting the development of this additional priority criterion. SG Description of Processes and Conditions In the year 2014, the SG focussed on an update and improvement of Book IV, part on conditions by following the RNE guidelines for the Corridor Information Document (CID) and at the same time took into account the different new aspects like Flex-PaP, Network-PaP, special rules for high profile trains, acceptance of terms and conditions etc. Aside of the Book IV the SG made a review of Annex II of the C-OSS contract in order to assure that the described procedures of the interacting between C-OSS and concerned IM’s go along with the Book IV. Further the SG tried to find solutions for harmonisation between the RFCs and updated the FAQ for the C-OSS website. SG PCS Requirements The SG is established to define the needs concerning PCS of the C-OSS of Corridor Rhine – Alpine. In addition the subgroup tested new or amended features on the system PCS out of the focus of the Corridor. Beside the mentioned SG, support to the C-OSS is given directly by the infrastructure managers/allocation body. The following topics are included:

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• Construction of PaP and RC (TT Department) This group is formed of people from the timetable department of each IM on the Corridor Rhine – Alpine. Their task is the construction of PaP and RC. In autumn of each year the group agreed on the principles and timelines for constructing PaP and RC product. For the first time, the Network-PaP was decided.

• Support on Path Allocation

The experts of each IM/AB have acted and supported in direct contact the C-OSS in case of questions, especially in the phase of path allocation.

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7 General Activities

Executive Board The Programme Management Office (PMO) prepared and presented topics of the Corridor at four ExB meetings (together with the Management Board). In 2014 the main effort of the ExB of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine-Alpine has been the establishment and sustainable operation of all related activities on the Corridor as e. g. the C-OSS. Another important task was the first update of the Implementation Plan, which started during the last quarter of 2014. The collection of contributions of the IMs and the editorial work to finalise the document was done by the PMO. Significant changes had to be done in the chapter Interoperability (ERTMS) due to the progress respectively to the status of decision making at the MoTs and IMs. The ExB emphasised the progress of ERTMS implementation. The infrastructure managers have been requested to deliver a detailed roll-out plan and a quarterly management report which have been prepared by the WG ERTMS. The PMO represented the infrastructure managers in several Task Force Meetings of the ExB where topics have been discussed and prepared for decision. Furthermore, the PMO participated in three workshops held by the ExB for revision of the Framework for Capacity Allocation.

RU ERTMS advisory platform The RU ERTMS advisory platform was started by the Corridor Rhine-Alpine in 2012 by involving all responsible players such as experts from the RUs, EC, ERA, NSAs, ERTMS Users Group and IMs. Since 2013, this initiative is managed by the ERTMS Users Group in Brussels as the competence centre of the IMs regarding ERTMS specification and development The platform was initiated to support the communication of the current state of play of ERTMS, to learn about the practical problems of ERTMS implementation by our customers and to help railways in applying ERTMS/ETCS in a harmonised and interoperable way. In 2014, three meetings took place. The main topics have been baseline versions and scope of maintenance releases, the NSA guideline for vehicle authorisation and Track Train System Validation as well as discussions about economic ETCS migration strategies.

Rail Freight Corridors 1 & 2 inauguration event Rail freight corridors “Rhine-Alpine” and “North Sea Mediterranean” organised a joint inauguration event on 20 March 2014 Gent. The State Secretary for Mobility, Mr Melchior Wathelet, and his Dutch counterpart, Ms Wilma Mansveld, emphasised their appreciation about the improvements given by the Regulation (EU) 913/2010, which is paramount for the competitiveness of rail freight transport and the needed shift to rail. Also Olivier Onidi and Karel Vinck from the European Commission addressed their appreciation for the results achieved by the two corridors, which contributes considerably to the European transport policy.

Panel discussion on ministries level (Source FOT CH)

Presentation of business corners (Source FOT CH)

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In the afternoon, more than 200 participants were invited to actively participate in business corners sessions, informing about their opinion and requirements regarding the corridor implementation in the fields of C-OSS, ERTMS, Performance Management, Coordination of Works, Ports and Terminals as well as Communication. The event was highly appreciated by the guests from the European Commission, politicians, railway undertakings, terminal and port managers, infrastructure managers, allocation bodies and others, and proved the high awareness of the RFCs as valid partners in transport services.

4th International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference, Genoa In view of the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016, the Swiss FOT organised the fourth and second to last International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference 18 September in Genoa, Italy. These series of conferences are meant to inform and prepare the operators, politicians, experts, citizens and companies, in each country linked to the Corridor on the smooth and successful start of traffic through the Gotthard Base Tunnel, as well as to discuss about the future development of international freight transport on the Corridor (International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference, Genoa 2014).

Panel discussion (Source FOT CH)

Speakers (Source FOT CH)

The corridor organisation supported the conference with a corridor stand consisting of a life presentation of the Customer Information Platform (CIP). The audience, consisting of high ranked representatives from politics/ministries, the European Commission, railway undertakings, operators and terminals as well as infrastructure managers, showed high interest in the development achieved so far on the Corridor. In particular, the life demonstration of the Customer Information Platform was appreciated as a major step forward as a means of transparent and easy-to-access communication.

Customer Information Platform and Website In 2014 the IMs/ABs continued their effort in maintaining and developing the “Customer Information Platform” (CIP) to facilitate easy access to all corridor information such as the progress in the corridor programme, the specific situation regarding ETCS implementation trackside and on-board, as well as the Implementation Plan containing all corridor measures like infrastructure projects and investments, coordination of works, traffic and performance management and capacity management. CIP can be accessed via the corridor website (www.corridor-rhine-alpine.eu) and it was taken into service in November 2013. Since then, it is an open source of up-to-date topics concerning the corridor business from one single source. In order to facilitate access to this information belonging to the RFC network, RFC 1 presented and offered CIP to all other RFCs for them to join and agreed with RNE the handover of the system ownership and operations for all RFCs in future. In addition, most of RNE tools are planned to be interfaced with CIP providing access to the C-OSS offer, construction works/ possessions among others via one front end. RFC 2 North Sea – Mediterranean, RFC 3 Scandinavian - Mediterranean, RFC 4 Atlantic, RFC 5 Baltic – Adriatic and RFC 8 North Sea - Baltic decided to join CIP by the end of 2015.

http://www.bav.admin.ch/aktuell/_veranstaltungen/04675/index.html?lang=en

http://www.corridor-rhine-alpine.eu/

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General Events In general, the Corridor Rhine – Alpine was represented in several sessions and events, as well as meetings at ministerial and European level by Guus de Mol, President, and Stefan Wendel, Managing and Programme Director of the Corridor. Both of them also contributed to the promotion of the Corridor as active speakers in such events around Europe.

Assistance for National Safety Authorities In order to support the work of the NSAs with regard to enhancing the European ETCS authorisation process through cross acceptance in track/ train integration and other safety issues, the EEIG extended the contract of the ERTMS expert for assisting the NSA working group in order to facilitate their work. In addition, Corridor Rhine – Alpine took part in the meetings of the Corridor NSA Working Group through the participation of Stefan Wendel as leader of the corridor working group ERTMS.

RAG & TAG - Railway Undertaking & Terminal Advisory Group In 2014, three shared RAG/TAG meetings took place with the participation of representatives of terminals and Railway Undertakings. The major topics the participants have been working on were:

• Open points from the RU position paper (coordination of works, terms & conditions and short penetration at borders)

• RFC 1 Longer train study • PaP product and process improvements, • TIS for national trains and for terminals • Update of Corridor Information Document

The coordination process for works along Corridor Rhine – Alpine was explained to and discussed with the RUs. Their comments are taken into account in the future process development. RUs have been informed about the decision of the CEOs of the IMs on Corridor Rhine – Alpine to carry out an impact analysis before taking next steps regarding harmonisation of terms and conditions at borders. The result of the longer train study has been presented to the RAG members. Different business cases respecting different views of IMs and RUs had been prepared and discussed. The MB supported RAG members in presenting their urgent concerns in cross-border operations to the ExB that need decisions on legal level as well as the urgency and the business case of longer trains with 740 m on the Corridor. RUs gave detailed feedback about their experience in the PaP process. It has been decided that in the coordination and feedback process of the RUs will be organised in future via Forum Train Europe (FTE) as the logical platform to discuss issues concerning the timetable process. This will avoid double work and simplify communication. Several times the existing obstacles in the use of TIS have been discussed and how to do away with them. TIS for terminals has been considered very useful but administration must be simplified. The process of the release data by RUs for terminals is too complicated and administration intensive. Also the fact that a single RU that won’t participate can spill the benefit for a whole terminal was criticised. Subsequently, RNE presented a simple procedure, where RUs can easier grant access to TIS by selecting their relevant terminals from an authorised list. This new procedure is being prepared by RNE and their Legal Matters Working Group.

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RFC Club In April 2014, RFC Rhine-Alpine invited all other eight RFC managing directors and chairpersons to one meeting and founded a joint and standing forum of RFCs. The objective of this RFC forum is to reach among the aligned RFCs strategies and opinions on topics, which are linked to all of them and to a multi corridor management in order to strongly support the establishment of the RFC network in Europe. Furthermore, RFCs aim to present themselves as a joint undertaking. This has been documented in a Common Declaration of the RFCs in October 2014.

In order to improve also the implementation of common strategies, RNE was asked to join the RFC forum as a standing partner and contribute with expert knowledge to solutions, which then could straight be addressed to the corresponding working groups in RNE. In 2014, the RFCs and RNE conducted three further meetings, in which also joint approaches were discussed regarding the Flex PaP and Network-PaP concept, the revision of the Framework for Capacity Allocation as well as the Core Network Corridor (CNC) activities such as Forum meetings, the CNC report and CNC-RFC cooperation model.

RNE In 2014, six RNE-RFC High Level meetings took place in Vienna where RNE reported to the RFCs about the progress of its working groups in the various topics such as traffic management, path allocation process, PCS and TIS development, coordination of works and multi corridor management. The considerable progress which could be achieved had been approved by the RNE General Assembly and documented in the corresponding guidelines. Due to the new RFC forum, synergies in the organisation of the meetings and decision process could be achieved.

CSG/SERAC Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine participated in the Corridor Steering Group Meetings and SERAC Meetings convoked by the European Commission. Corridor Rhine – Alpine contributed actively by delivering presentations about the PaP allocation results, results on the customer satisfaction survey as well as harmonisation of terms and conditions in operations and state of play of short border crossing.

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Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) According to article 19 §3 of Regulation (EU) 913/2010, the first CSS was executed on Corridor Rhine-Alpine in 2014. Six RFCs in operation asked RNE to organise and coordinate the process of assessing the quality of service on the freight corridors through a common survey, but showing individual results per RFC. For this purpose, RNE has contracted a survey enterprise – Marketmind – and delivered results on customer satisfaction after the first allocation period since operation of the corridors had started. The survey was completed in October and the results were analysed by RFC Rhine-Alpine and shared with the Executive Board and the European Commission in the SERAC meeting. In general it has been noted, that this first CSS showed quite heterogeneous results for the different RFCs due to the very different and incomparable situations in each one of them. Apart from this, RFC Rhine-Alpine has analysed its weak points which are mainly linked to poor performance of PCS resulting in a jolty allocation procedure and additional manual work. Furthermore, actions have been taken by the IMs/ABs in order to ensure, that they shall stick more strictly to the processes in future. To Download of Customer Satisfaction Survey RFC Rhine-Alpine (select drop down area “others”)

CEO Meeting Corridor Rhine-Alpine The CEOs appreciated the activities and results presented, as well as the leading role of Corridor Rhine – Alpine in the implementation of the Regulation (EU) 913/2010. In view of the commercial relevance of international traffic volumes on the Corridor, they expected that the Corridor should continue to act as a frontrunner of the RFCs as well as in developing solutions for a European rail freight network. The C-OSS was considered as a decisive step forward because real cross-border procedures have now been implemented. The CEOs agreed to support the further development of the product for a more flexible PaP-offer in 2016. Moreover, the CEOs supported the intention of the MB to analyse the harmonisation of proposed terms and conditions and asked to have the results presented in the next meeting. The next CEO meeting will be organised in connection with the High Level Infrastructure Meeting of CER and EIM in June 2015.

EU Co-Funding The EEIG Corridor Rhine – Alpine successfully closed action no. 2009-EU-60146-S together with INEA for the co-financing period 2010-2013. For ensuring sufficient funding in the up-coming years, the EEIG applied in 2014 for co-financing 2015-2018 in the frame of the CEF call published end of 2014.

Coordination with Core Network Corridor Rhine-Alpine On request of the ExB, the PMO participated in three Forum meetings to coordinate the contents of the CNC progress report contracted by the EU in order to facilitate a work plan for the CNC Rhine-Alpine taking into consideration the implementation plan of the RFC Rhine-Alpine. Since CNC and RFC relate to different regulations (CNC: Reg EU 1315/2013 and 1316/2013 vs. RFC: REG (EU) 913/2010) significant discrepancies have been recognised with regard to outline, scope and investments. Though PMO and infrastructure managers spend a lot of efforts in analysis and comments to the CNC progress reports, it was not possible to harmonise results as intended. Nevertheless RFCs are proclaimed as the organisational backbone of the future CNC governance structure. A formal agreement regarding a cooperation model is still pending. The publication of the CNC work plan has been shifted to 2015.

http://www.corridor-rhine-alpine.eu/downloads.html

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8 Activities of the ExB

8.1 Governance & General Objectives

Inauguration conference 20 March 2014 Gent The Executive Board and the Management Board organised the inauguration conference together with the Executive Board of Rail Freight Corridor North Sea Mediterranean 20 March 2014. During the introductory session of the conference, the State Secretary for Mobility, Mr Melchior Wathelet, and his Dutch counterpart, Ms Wilma Mansveld, welcomed the creation of this new type of railway product, which makes freight transport by rail more effective and more competitive. Over 200 attendees highly appreciated the event and acknowledged the needed of follow-up actions to be taken with the railway undertakings and terminal advisory groups of the Corridor.

International Corridor Rhine - Alpine conference, 18 September 2014 (Genoa) The Executive Board welcomed the initiative taken by the Swiss colleagues to address the Italian and corridor-wide market demand during the 4th International Corridor Rhine-Alpine Conference in Genoa 18 September 2014. The conference was well attended and supported by several speakers from the rail freight industry and high-ranked personalities of the Swiss Ministry of Transport.

Establishment Agreement, 8 October 2014 (Brussels) The Ministers of the Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine signed an agreement regarding the establishment of the Executive Board 8 October 2014 in margin of the European Transport Council hold in Luxembourg. At the same time, similar agreements were signed for the rail freight corridors North Sea – Mediterranean, North Sea – Baltic and Atlantic. By signing this agreement, the Ministers clarified the competences of the Executive Board strengthened the legal basis of its decisions. It made clear especially the competence of the Executive Board for taking decisions approving the implementation plan and adopting a Framework for Capacity Allocation (FCA) making it public and binding for third parties. The agreement also required the Executive Board to adopt its internal rules of procedure. Decisions of the Executive Board are published on the Corridor website www.corridor-rhine-alpine.eu. The chair of the Executive Board ensures that decisions are signed and kept. All decisions are composed and signed in the English language only.

FCA, 2 December 2014 (The Hague) The Executive Board signed an updated Framework for Capacity Allocation (FCA) on the Corridor 2 December 2014 in The Hague. In accordance with article 14§1 of the Regulation (EU) 913/2013 and with the Agreement concerning the Executive Board, the FCA is a decision directly applicable and binding to third parties. The updated FCA is largely based on the FCA signed by Ministers 20 December 2012 for the rail freight corridors 1 and 2 (renamed in 2013 respectively in Rhine Alpine and North Sea Mediterranean rail freight corridors). The updated FCA has been harmonised by 6 rail freight corridors now:

- Rhine – Alpine; - North Sea Mediterranean; - North Sea Baltic; - Atlantic; - Baltic – Adriatic; - Mediterranean;

The updated FCA is valid only for time table 2016 so it needs to be updated for timetable 2017 and consecutive years. The FCA has been discussed with the active participation of all 9 (EU) rail freight corridors and all of them expressed their intention to continue working together to decide about a fully harmonised and stable FCA by all rail freight corridors starting from time-table 2017.



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The updated FCA included the following main new issues: - To enable requests to the C-OSS for pre-arranged train paths (PaP) which run across more than

one corridor; - To create a special priority rule, called Network PaP priority rule, for the certain defind PaP. The

Network PaP’s priority rule is to be used only for densely used infrastructures and/or to secure special transport needs between origins and destinations, sometimes crossing several corridors;

- To clarify the conditions of use of the C-OSS for the non-railway undertakings applicants. The Management Board in consultation with the Executive Board has committed itself to further improve and increase the offer of the C-OSS with a higher amount of PaPs. The Management Board of the RFC Rhine Alpine has also been a pioneer for improving the capacity of the corridor by a offering a more flexible offer. It consists in designing PaP with still an exact departure and arrival time of the PaPs but not necessarily detailing the exact timings of all (hand-over) points in between. With this new approach, the Management Board has been able to offer a higher offer of PaPs giving a wider choice to the customers and a higher flexibility in terms of deciding on their stopping/resting points.

ERTMS roll out plan Following the adoption of the Implementation Plan by the Ministers on 5 December 2013, the Executive Board decided to develop a more detailed and coordinated ERTMS roll–out plan for the Corridor including Belgian stretch. The Executive Board took forward this renewed political commitment by sending a letter, dated 12 May 2014 to the Management Board asking to develop an ERTMS roll out plan. The adoption decision 5 December 2013 also stated two ambitious commitments to integrated in the roll out plan, namely the objective to close the Dutch and Swiss ERTMS border zones by the end of 2015 and to complete the Rotterdam-Genoa Corridor A (2012/88/EU) by 2018. This roll-out plan should facilitate working together on ERTMS and clearly identify the milestones to enable the Executive Board to monitor the deployment. The initiative was taken up by the Management Board in a positive way by developing the roll-out plan and reporting regularly to the Executive Board about progress on key issues including the first milestones on border zones. The Executive Board agreed to develop the roll-out plan in a mature way and should be completed by 2015. The roll-out plan in itself is an internal planning document which has to be updated regularly. Communication with railway undertakings on the roll-out plan is part of the meetings of the Railway Undertaking Advisory Group. It remains the competence and role of individual Infrastructure Managers to realise the ERTMS infrastructure projects, the Executive Board realises that the impact on costs and benefits for the ERTMS rolling stock depends also on the effective corridor cooperation on roll-out.

Track Train System Validation

The Executive Board requested the Management Board to reply on its letter about the issue of Track Train System Validation dated 9 May 2014. The TTSV approach should deliver a common approach to testing and authorizing ERTMS in-board equipment on the Corridor. The Management Board responded in a positive way to this letter by establishing a dedicated TTSV project in close cooperation with ERTMS Users Group. The project is also discussed with ERA.. The Management Board will report on the project to the Executive Board in the course of 2015 and will also involve the National Safety Authorities (NSA). NSA’s published their ERTMS authorization guideline in December 2013 for the Corridor.

Cooperation Rail Freight Corridor Rhine - Alpine with Trans European Core Network Corridors The Executive Board pointed out the importance to align the corridor activities with the on-going effort for the TEN-T Core Network Corridors. The Executive Board wrote a letter to the European Commission 19 September 2014 asking for possible ways to establishing good ways of cooperation

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between the different governance structures. Rail freight corridors are market based and developed in good cooperation investments, planning in ERTMS and infrastructures. TEN-T Core Network Corridors have a more fixed identified scope of the Corridor and include investments policies for infrastructure developments within the Regulation (EU) N° 1315/2013/EC on TEN-T guidelines (including the definition of the TEN-T infrastructure requirements). In practice, the TEN-T Rhine Alpine Core Network Corridor with regard to rail freight is almost aligned in the Rail Freight Corridor Rhine-Alpine. The European Commission responded positively to this letter and agreed to a series of meetings to develop a common model of cooperation. These meetings were appreciated and attended by participants from all 9 European rail freight corridors. By the end of 2014 this work was still in progress. In the year 2014 the rail freight corridor worked closely together with the TENT core network corridor as regards the core network corridor study, the corridor fora and the input to the European Commission as regards developing the TENT CNC work plan.

Long trains 740 m The Executive Board has discussed the follow-up of the 2013 Management Board study on 740m long trains throughout its meetings in 2014. The study took into account already existing infrastructure plus infrastructure improvement projects already decided for their implementation by 2020. Relatively limited missing infrastructure links in the German and Belgian part of the Corridor make the running of 740m long trains impossible. The operation of 740m long train could enable an additional 15% infrastructure capacity making this project a potentially beneficial one. The Executive Board recognised the possible positive impact of the 740m long trains implementation on the Corridor and suggested the Belgian and German ministries to assess the possible implications for its infrastructure investments programme. By the end of 2014 both ministries were analysing these proposals within the framework of their national decision-making for infrastructure and expected decisions to be taken in the course of 2015.

C-OSS offer and development The Executive Board followed the work of the C-OSS closely throughout the first year of full operation (2014). The 200+ requests for the TT2015 before the deadline of 12 April 2014 covering all corridor sections was seen as a first success for the C-OSS. The Executive Board was informed about the legal framework whereby the Infrastructure Managers constituted the C-OSS collectively. Corridor Rhine – Alpine’s C-OSS is operating within DB Netz organizational structure and all Infrastructure Managers signed an agreement on the functioning of this office. The Executive Board concluded that any (remaining) legal personality and possible liability issues with regard to C-OSS should be dealt with by the Infrastructure Managers and the Regulatory Bodies in case of complaints. The Executive Board is consulted on a regular basis on the proposed offer of pre-arranged train paths on the Corridor and welcomed the increased offer of C-OSS for timetable 2015 compared to timetable 2014. The Executive Board also highly welcomed the efforts by the Infrastructure Managers to inform customers accurately and timely by the Customer Information Platform (CIP) of RFC Rhine-Alpine as well as improving in close cooperation with RailNetEurope the user friendliness of its procedures and IT-tools (Path Coordination System for booking PaPs, Train Information System to follow-up of international trains on the Corridor) .

8.2 Noise

Progress description, LL block approval The Executive Board decided to table cooperation on railway noise regularly in workshops connected to its Executive Board meetings. Political progress on rail noise source abatement measures remains of critical importance. Switzerland decided to ban noisy rail freight wagons from 2020 onwards; German 2013 coalition agreement stated 100% silent rail freight wagons as objective.

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The progress in this regards has been noted at several levels on the Corridor. The Infrastructure Managers - DB Netz, ProRail and SBB - published a common brochure mid-2014 for existing bonus schemes to incentivise the use of retrofitted rail freight wagons. Also, the same Infrastructure Managers worked together to ease administrative procedures. The ministries collaborated with the European Commission to develop the European Decision for Noise Differentiated Track Access Charging (NDTAC). This act, which is a standardised option for Member States, was discussed in the Single European Railway Area Committee and was voted early 2015 (implementing regulation 2015/429/EU from 13 March 2015, OJ L70/36, 14 March 2015). The importance of this paper is that new and existing NDTAC schemes in Member States will be harmonised for at least 6 years and finished by the end of 2021. This final date should motivate railway undertakings and wagon owners to start retrofitting as early as possible in order to have silent rolling stock and receive maximum bonus payments. The final date is also earmarking for the retrofitting phase shall be a transitional phase towards fully silent (i.e. TSI compliant) rolling stock. Furthermore, the Executive Board decided to continue cooperating on rail noise and supported the Swiss proposal to organise a dedicated conference on rail noise for the corridors on 24 June 2015.

8.3 Customs

Progress description From the beginning of the cooperation on the Corridor Rhine – Alpine the simplification of customs procedures was one important measure to increase the competitiveness of rail freight on the North-South Axis. From 1 May 2016, the provisions of the new Union Customs Code (UCC) will apply. This change will have an impact on customs transit procedures in rail freight traffic through Switzerland and from and to Switzerland. The existing simplified transit procedure can only be applied until 1 January 2019 at the latest. The alternative simplified procedure for the transport of T2 customs documents between Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom in transit through Switzerland based on a multilateral agreement dating back to 2004 can no longer be applied in its current guise. The Ministries of Transport of the Corridor work in close cooperation with customs authorities on solutions for future customs procedures which consider both the special characteristics of rail freight transport and the need for an efficient and secure transport of goods on the North-South Axis. One main question is whether simplified procedures as alternative to the standard transit procedure can be applied in future by a New Computerized Transit System (NCTS).

8.4 Regulatory authorities

RBs According to article 20 of the Freight Regulation the RBs are responsible for monitoring the competition on the Rail Freight Corridor. The regulatory bodies (RBs) of the countries involved in Corridor Rhine – Alpine (from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy) have laid down the rules for their cooperation and the procedure of handling a complaint in a cooperation agreement. So far, no complaints have been raised. The Federal Network Agency coordinates the activities of the regulatory bodies and takes part at the Executive Board meetings as a representative of all RBs.

• Monitoring of C-OSS

Pursuant to Article 13(5) and Article 20 of the Regulation, the RBs shall cooperate in monitoring the C-OSS. In light of this, two meetings with the C-OSS of Corridor Rhine – Alpine were organised. One of them took place at DB Netz AG in Frankfurt, the other one at the premises of Infrabel in Brussels. In these meetings the C-OSS presented its work and the results of the first allocation process in detail.

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The meetings offered the possibility to address open issues and answer questions. The RBs were provided with useful information for their regulatory tasks. In January 2014, the first PaP catalogue was published for timetable 2015. PaPs can only be allocated by the C-OSS. In case of two or more competing requests, the C-OSS uses priority rules, laid down in the Framework for Capacity Allocation (FCA), to decide which applicant can use the path. For the timetable period 2015, Corridor Rhine – Alpine had the highest number of dossiers of all implemented corridors. The offer for timetable period 2016 envisages a higher number of PAPs and a more flexible offer. The C-OSS maintains a register in the form of a table (excel list) with all important information about the whole allocation process of each applicant. Among other things, the contract between the Infrastructure Managers/ABs, setting up the C-OSS, was explained by the Management Board. In this contract all tasks of the C-OSS (e.g. decision on the allocation of PaPs and reserve capacity) and obligations of the signing parties (e.g. delivery of harmonised PaPs and reserve capacity) are listed. This exchange of information should be continued and consolidated in the future.

• Corridor Information Document (CID)

The RBs of the Corridor also reviewed the Corridor Information Document. In addition, they have noticed that improvement of the IT-system PCS is necessary and therefore feedback from the customers should be envisaged deeper in future.

• Railway Advisory Group (RAG) and Terminal Advisory Group (TAG)

The RBs participated at one meeting of the RAG. They will be kept informed about further developments on the corridor.

• Development of a harmonised FCA

The RBs of the corridor participated in the workshops organised by the Executive Boards of Corridor 1 and 2 aiming at developing a harmonised FCA. The RBs are very thankful that they had the possibility to share their experiences and to actively contribute to the development. After six of the nine freight corridors have adopted a pilot FCA as a result from the workshops done, further discussions will continue with all rail freight corridors to establish a fully harmonised Framework Capacity Allocation in 2015.

NSA Corridor Group of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine (RFC 1)

- Members The members of the group are the representatives of the National Safety Authorities of the four Member States that crossed the corridor. In 2014, the NSA Working Group of RFC Rhine-Alpine was extended by the National Safety Authorities of RFC Scandinavian – Mediterranean:

• Netherlands: ILT (Dutch Environment and Transport Inspectorate) • Germany: EBA (Federal Railway Authority) • Switzerland: FOT (Swiss Federal Office of Transport) • Italy: ANSF (Italian Railway Safety Authority) • Belgium: DVIS (Belgium Railway Safety Authority) • Austria: BMVIT (Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology) • Denmark: Trafikstyrelsen (Danish Transport Authority) • Norway: SJT (Norwegian Railway Authority) • Sweden: Trafikstyrelsen (Swedish Transport Agency)

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• Guests: Representatives from ERA, RFC 1 Programme Management Office, ERTMS Users Group, Infrastructure managers, UNIFE, NB Rail and Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE).

The NSA of Spain attended the RFC 1 working groups as a guest.

- Aim of the Group As stated in the Letter of Intent signed 3 March 2006, the NSA shall present to the Ministries and to the European ERTMS Coordinator a cooperation agreement with practical measures to streamline the processes for authorising the placing into service of ERTMS equipment on the corridor infrastructure and vehicles. This aim has been clarified further in the Common Declaration of the Ministers of Transport of 26 May 2009. The National Safety Authorities are asked to develop a common process for authorising the placing into service of ERTMS equipment on the corridor infrastructure and vehicles by 2010. All relevant partners (EC/ERA, notified bodies, IMs and industry) are to be involved. In order to achieve the target, a common and sound understanding about the technical, operational and safety related aspects of ERTMS has to be gained. Further, as a precondition, the different national requirements for authorising the placing into service have to be understood before a common approach can be agreed to achieve transparency and to streamline the authorisation process in order to gain the much desired synergetic effects. The experience made with ERTMS pilot projects underline the above mentioned prerequisites. Therefore, the group has decided to take a variety of measures to cover the identified two mayor work fields including the existing interfaces to other groups and to the European Railway Agency.

- Organisation The project is coordinated by a steering committee consisting of representatives of the participating national safety authorities. Two working groups have been established which are concerned with ERTMS. The working group “Technical Issues” is focused on the technical issues of the authorisation for placing ERTMS equipment into service whereas the working group “Authorisation Process” has the aim to develop a harmonised process for the authorisation of placing ERTMS equipment into service. The results of both working groups are crucial preconditions for a streamlined, effective and transparent authorisation process. Further, in order to cover all important questions regarding the efficient operation on RFC 1, the already existing and well established working group Task Force Interoperability and the issues on driver licences and other bilateral agreements have been put under the umbrella of the NSA project.

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Figure 31: Organisation of NSA Corridor Group of Rail Freight Corridor Rhine – Alpine (RFC 1)

- Working Groups

Technical Working Group The working group “Technical Issues” has the task to develop a common understanding of the ERTMS technical issues (errors, interpretations, open points) in order to achieve one common ERTMS standard on RFC 1. As the focus of the ministries is set on the development of a harmonised authorisation process for placing into service as stated in the Common Declaration of 26 May 2009, it was decided to give special attention to the process-related tasks. In order to facilitate the discussion of technical issues immediately, it was agreed in 2012 to open the German Reflection Group on ERTMS for these discussions arising on RFC 1. As this group meets on monthly basis, if necessary the regular exchange is given.

Authorisation Process Working Group The infrastructure managers of RFC 1 have stated in 2010 that they are not able to deliver a harmonised customer requirement specification for the ETCS-infrastructure on RFC 1. The track-side ERTMS deployment will be specified by each infrastructure manager separately. Therefore the benefit of one harmonised process for the placing into service of the infrastructure on RFC 1 is not given any more. This fact led to a change of focus of the working group towards a harmonised process for the authorisation of placing into service vehicles (ERTMS on-board). In December 2013 the version 1.0 of the guideline was successfully adopted by the NSAs RFC 1 and the NSA of Austria (BMVIT) and published online on their websites.

In 2014 the focus of the work has been on

• Track-Train-System-Validation Tests • The NSAs continued their discussion with ERA and the sector regarding the necessity of TTSV

test and the status within the European legal framework. The work is ongoing. • Status-quo of national legal requirements regarding modifications • The NSAs have collected and analysed the various national requirements regarding the

handling of modifications in existing authorisations. The work is ongoing. • Recommendations to ERA • The NSAs have collected a list of issues which could significantly improve the CCS

authorisation process, the mutual understanding and the cross acceptance of authorisations for ERTMS on-board units. Most of them are in the hands of ERA as ERTMS system authority.

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These issues have been listed in annex III of the NSA guideline. In order to give more weight on these recommendations, the NSAs have especially addressed them to ERA in 2014.

1) Task Force Interoperability The Task Force Interoperability (TFI) is a working group aiming at facilitating the authorisation for placing in service of vehicles in the networks of Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. The NSA and the infrastructure manager of these countries are permanent members of the group. TFI was established in 2001 with only three Member States. In 2007, TFI was incorporated into the IQ-C Group, the predecessor of today’s Executive Board of RFC 1. In their meetings, TFI invites the representatives of vehicle manufacturers (Bombardier, Siemens, Stadler) to discuss the authorisation processes of their multi-system-vehicles. Moreover, since 2012, representatives of ERA’s Cross Acceptance Working Party were invited to the meetings as guests, to discuss about current and future processes/activities related to the mutual recognition. In order to facilitate Cross Acceptance (CA) of vehicle authorisations, TFI set up a database (IRL) containing all national technical requirements for locomotives, trainsets and coaches. Referring to that list, the item that could be cross-accepted is categorised “A”. In a vehicle's authorisation process performed by a NSA, an item “A” could be certified as assessed by another NSA and, this certification, will be accepted by the first NSA without any other checks. In 2014, the TFI decided to close the IRL: the database will be reachable until November 2015, but it will be no longer updated. All national data contained in the IRL will be transferred in RDD, the database developed by ERA containing all technical requirements for locomotives, trainsets and coaches of all Member States of the European Union (+ Switzerland and Norway). In 2014, the focus of the work was set on the following projects - cross acceptance:

• Siemens Vectron, Multisystem locomotive • Bombardier Traxx, Multisystem locomotive • Stadler FLIRT, GTW, KISS, EC250, Multisystem EMU

2) Driver licences and other bilateral agreements The Directive 2007/59/EC on the certification of train drivers has been implemented on national level in 2011. The Directive 2007/59/EC has been amended in June 2014 by the Directive 2014/82/EU. The mutual agreements of recognition of drivers between Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are valid only during the transition periods according to Art. 37 of Directive 2007/59/EC. The mutual agreement of recognition of drivers between Germany and Switzerland is in course of being adapted to the German Train Drivers Licence Regulation. EBA and FOT work on an agreement to handle the transition period until the EU-Directives are fully implemented. The agreement is expected to be finalised by March 2015. Since 2010, the dialogue between Switzerland and Italy has continued. FOT and ANSF have signed on 8 July 2014 a bilateral agreement regarding the authorisation process for border sections, IM authorisations, driver licenses and vehicles authorisation.

3) Short distance interoperability At the end of 2013, the NSAs of RFC 1 started their discussions on short distance interoperability and performed a study to determine the current state of play. The analysis covered the issues safety certificate part B, vehicle authorisation and train driver licences. In 2014, the Executive Board was informed about the outcome of the analysis showing that most issues are covered by existing bilateral or multilateral agreements e.g. cross acceptance of vehicle authorisations and driver licences. However, the RUs claimed that the cross border operations between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are still hindered by too high requirements regarding language skills of train drivers, safety

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certificate part B and vehicle authorisation. The NSAs have taken the statements on board in order to analyse if allevitations or alternative approaches are possible.

Further work done in 2014

1) Support of NSAs in cross border infrastructure projects The various cross border infrastructure projects on RFC 1 are planned and managed by respective Infrastructure Managers (IM). Representatives of the respective NSAs have already been and will be involved in these projects on basis of regular meetings. The NSAs actively support the work of the IMs. Current projects are: • Zevenaar-Oost (NL) – Emmerich (DE)

In December 2014, the line section Zevenaar-Oost – Emmerich has gone into service. The NSAs have co-operated closely in order to support the work of the IMs. Further the NSAs have worked on the authorisation of the new line section and the re-authorisation of the vehicles.

• Node Basel (CH – DE) Following the agreement signed between the NSAs of Germany and Switzerland in 2013, FOT and EBA have continued their involvement and support of the IMs.

• Iselle – Domodossola (CH - IT), Ranzo (CH) – Luino (IT), Chiasso – Milano (CH – IT)

In February 2014, ANSF and FOT signed an agreement and entrusted the infrastructure managers RFI and SBB to analyse the two CCS subsystems currently in operation or planned on border lines and to analyse their consistency with the regulatory framework of the relevant state. Following the work done by the IMs, ANSF and FOT agreed on a stepwise approach (similar to nodal point Basel) for the cross border lines "Iselle - Domodossola I - Domodossola II'' and "Ranzo - Luino". Firstly, the installation of EuroZub/-Signum (Package 44) + operational rules, then the installation of ETCS Level 1 LS. In the long term ETCS Level 2 is planned. FOT and ANSF agreed on the principle that the trackside CCS subsystems in each State must be configured to meet the safety requirement of that State. The infrastructure managers SBB and RFI are now requested to proceed the technical planning. The project is ongoing.

2) Contribution to ERA Control Group Since 2008, the NSA Corridor Group has participated in the ERA Control Group, which is in charge of steering the development and improvement of the SRS (system requirement specification) of ERTMS. The involvement was initiated by the NSA Corridor Group as the NSAs have been not represented in the Control Group so far. However the NSA Corridor Group was convinced that an effective contribution of the NSAs to the development of the ERTMS specification could help to consider safety related aspects adequately in order to prevent that a not fully interoperable system might require national solutions to ensure safety. The contribution of the NSAs also reflects the responsibilities borne by the safety authorities. Furthermore, the early participation of the NSAs advances the overall implementation of ERTMS on the RFC 1 and will accelerate the authorisation process. The participation rotates annually between the members of the NSA Corridor Group. In 2014, the German NSA has represented the NSA position. The information gained is transferred and discussed thoroughly in the NSA Corridor Group.

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Objectives and milestones for 2015 It is planned to re-organise the working groups in order to improve their effectiveness and to achieve synergy effects. The focus of the work programme of the NSA working group “Authorisation Process” for 2015 is implementing the guideline to one or more real vehicle projects. The detailed work plan is as follows: • Deploying the agreed process to a real project

- The process described in the guideline should be deployed to a real project. - APS due to software modifications: application of the existing national rules in order to gain

experience and to identify possible improvements for RFC Rhine-Alpine and RFC Scandinavian - Mediterranean

- Accompanying cross-border projects

• Closing of pending issues - TTSV: Collecting examples - NSA position paper on reliability and availability - Recommendations to ERA: clarification on the state of play: issues covered by

Recommendation 2014/897/EU, other issues directly linked to ERA

• Updating the guideline (by end of 2015/first quarter of 2016)

- If necessary, the guideline should to be amended according to the results regarding the open issues and the experiences made.

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Attachment: Position paper of the RFCs on Regulation (EU) 913/2010 As soon as the document is available

rail freight corridor rhine - alpine rail freight corridor rhine - alpine . ... 1.2 management board...

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