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East West Transport Corriodor II - a green corridor concept within the Northern Transport Axis approach (EWTC II)
Start date: Aug 31, 2009, End date: Sep 8, 2012 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The EWTC II project started in 2009 and was a follow up of the EWTC project completed in 2007, with the overall aim to highlight the development of a ”Green Corridor Concept” as a best practise case in the European context. Green transport corridors are defined as a concentration of freight traffic between major hubs and by relatively long distances where short sea shipping, rail, inland waterways and road complement each other to enable the choice of environmentally friendly transport. The Corridor stretches from Esbjerg, Denmark and Sassnitz, Germany in the west to Vilnius, Lithuania in the east. The eastern part of the corridor is a gateway to and from the Baltic Sea Region connecting it with Russia, Kazakhstan and China to the east and Belarus, Ukraine and Turkey to the south-east. It consists of an intermodal transport system with each of the different transport modes being links in the national and European transport system. The project addressed the increased cross border traffic in the corridor between Esbjerg, strengthened the transport development through studies highlighting infrastructure improvements, new business solutions for, logistics, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), outreach activities to the Far East and co-operation between researchers. An increased transnational cooperation along the corridor was considered important in order to be able to deal with bottlenecks in the corridor. Another important area for transnational cooperation was the environmental aspects since trade and traffic in the east-west direction had increased dramatically. The final report of EWTC resulted in a vision, strategy and action plan supporting EU policies. The corridor has a potential to become an important east-west connection for Europe as it links northern Europe to Russia and the Far East as well as an entrance point to the Black Sea Region with the parts of Europe located in the Atlantic region. Achievements: The hubs in the corridor were considered a key strategic area for development together with the further removal of bottlenecks in the road and rail networks. Based on the identified key strategic areas, a group of actions were developed and presented as a way to continue the work. The project has used the experiences gained during EWTC to implement actions from the EWTC action plan such as to establish a platform for the long term development of the corridor, the EWTC Association. The project highlighted steering mechanisms and concepts for more environmentally friendly transports, tested systems for exchange of information, developed an intelligent truck parking strategy and speed control systems as well as strengthened rail transport patterns and the development of intermodal transport solutions.EWTC II gained political support for the process towards the green corridor status and also established cooperation with projects such as TransBaltic and Scandria. Partners of the EWTC II project have seen the project as a laboratory for harmonizing respective national transport policies of the EWTC countries and for testing the EU transport policy in practice to demonstrate the feasibility of policy-driven concepts and to provide feedback to the Commission and national transport ministries on adjustment needs. The project has contributed with the following: EWTC is considered a best practice case for Green Corridor development. Thus the EWTC is a part of the European Commission’s Action Plan for the Baltic Sea Region and is an integrated part of the Northern Transport Axis. The EWTC Association is established as an innovative tool for interregional cooperation along EWTC. The EWTCA has been chosen to lead the flagship project of developing a network of green corridors in the BSR.As a basis for that work the Association has the manual of how to develop a Green Corridor for transport in accordance with the EU’s transport policies and to offer stakeholders in the EWTC more sustainable transport alternatives than available today. An innovative IT-based ”Information Broker System” for transport and traffic information was tested and when implemented, it will increase efficiency and reduce the environmental impact. The project supported improved transport services in ports and terminals and increased transport competence among various stakeholders within the EWTC. Overall the project has contributed to improved services for transport of goods between BSR and Russia, Belarus and Far East and secured long term cooperation for further development through the East West Transport Corridor Association.
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  • 75.5%   4 522 600,00
  • 2007 - 2013 Baltic Sea Region
  • Project on KEEP Platform
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28 Partners Participants