Of the Coordinator Péter Balázs Brussels October 2013
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Annual Report of the Coordinator Péter Balázs Brussels October 2013 Transport TEN-T Trans-European Transport Networks Annual Activity Report 2012-2013 for PriorityProject 17 Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien- Bratislava Brussels October 2013 Péter Balázs European Coordinator This report only represents the opinion of the European Coordinator and does not prejudice the official position of the European Commission. 2 Priority Project 17: Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien-Bratislava TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary 3 1. Introduction 5 2. The Examples of significant progress 2009-2013 6 3. The Development in 2012/2013 along the sections 7 3.1. Baudrecourt - Strasbourg 7 3.2. Strasbourg - Kehl - Appenweier 7 3.3. Appenweier - Stuttgart 7 3.4. Stuttgart - Ulm 7 3.5. Ulm - Augsburg 9 3.6. Munich - Salzburg 9 3.7. Salzburg - Vienna 12 3.8. Vienna - Bratislava 13 4. Intermodality 14 5. The Development of the travelling time 14 6. Activities in 2012/2013 15 7. TEN-T and CEF 16 8. Conclusions and recommendations at the end of the mandate 17 Annex 18 European Commission 3 Priority Project 17: Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien-Bratislava SUMMARY The Priority Project 17 Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Vienna-Bratislava (PP17) is one out of only three east-west oriented railway axis crossing very densely populated areas in the centre of Europe. It stretches over 1,254 km and touches upon four Member States: France, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. It was designated in 20041. After the signature of a declaration of intent by the ministers for transport of the four Member States on 9 June 2006 and several bilateral treaties on cross-border sections, the implementation of PP17 made progress on most segments. Important sections are in service, others on their way to completion during the next years: • In France, the works on the section Baudrecourt-Vendenheim started in October 2010. The whole section shall be in service by 2016 • Works on the section Stuttgart-Ulm started in 2010 and the section shall be fully operational not before December 2021 • Munich-Salzburg: The planned three track Freilassing-Salzburg section and the dual track section between Mühldorf and Tüßling are expected to be completed by 2016/2017 • Works on the Wels-Linz section are on-going and expected to be finished by 2021/2025 • The four-track Linz-Vienna section (including the freight rail bypass St. Pölten) shall be in operation by 2017 • The St. Pölten-Vienna section – including Lainzer Tunnel - was finished in December 2012, allowing a 17 minute reduction in travel time from 41 to 24 minutes on that section and further savings for the east-west services of freight (2012) and passengers (2014) • Vienna-Bratislava: The new Vienna Main Station was partly opened in December 2012. The Station will be fully operational by 2014 The development along the axis and related projects are co-funded by the European Commission with up to € 776.44 million (1995-2015) through the TEN-T budget (€691 million), the European Recovery Plan (€85.4 million) and – in the Slovak Republic – also some contributions from the Cohesion Fund Even though progress along this railway axis is good, it should be pointed out that there are still problems to be tackled: • Works required to finish the Kehl-Appenweier section were stopped after the inauguration of the bridge in 2010. Further planning steps are not in sight. • The implementation of the section Munich – Mühldorf- Freilassing - Salzburg is behind schedule in Germany. • In Munich an efficient integration of the airport into the national rail net is still not scheduled. • The improvement of the connections between Vienna and Bratislava is lagging behind. 1 Decision No 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on "Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network", http://eur- lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:167:0001:0038:EN:PDF European Commission 4 Priority Project 17: Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien-Bratislava At the end of the mandate, the European Coordinator considers that a solid examination of alternatives, profound cost estimations and risk assessment are as important as continuous and efficient information of the different stakeholders and the public before and especially during the implementation. The examples of the different projects in Stuttgart or the improvement of the “Westbahn” in Austria show that the decision making processes, the legal steps and the implementation might last for more than 25 years. The communication has to be based on a coordinated and continuous approach of the national and regional ministries, the infrastructure managers, the cities and the affected citizens to avoid huge disruptions during implementation - like those which took place in Stuttgart. With regards to intermodality, the Coordinator emphasises the need of improved connections to the ports and the airports. He expects that improved rail-air connections will be realised in Vienna by 2015 and in Stuttgart by 2021. He stresses the need to improve the national rail connection at Munich airport and better connections between Bratislava and Vienna Airport as soon as possible. European Commission 5 Priority Project 17: Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien-Bratislava 1. INTRODUCTION In July 2005, the European Commission designated a first group of Coordinators to evaluate progress on certain TEN-T Priority Projects and to make recommendations for the effective implementation of these projects, in 2007 two further Coordinators for Motorways of the Sea and Inland Waterways followed. In July 2009, the Commission adopted a decision launching a second mandate. Since 2010, nine European Coordinators are now responsible for promoting eleven Priority Projects. The mandates are going to finish in December 2013 and will be replaced by new mandates according to the new TEN-T guidelines. In 2005, Péter Balázs was appointed European Coordinator for TEN-T Priority Project 17 (Paris- Stuttgart-Vienna-Bratislava), a role he held until April 2009 when he became Minister for Foreign Affairs in Hungary. In June 2010, he was re-appointed by the European Commission to continue the coordination of the development along the axis. Priority Project 17 Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart- Vienna-Bratislava (PP17) is one out of only three east-west oriented railway axes crossing very densely populated areas in the centre of Europe. It stretches over 1,254 km and touches upon four Member States: France, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. It was designated in 2004. In general the implementation of PP17 made good progress on most sections: Nearly half of the alignment is in service on the initially planned level. Works are on- going along about 450 km (36%) of the axis. The European Union has contributed, and will continue to contribute, financially to several projects with grants of up to 50% for studies in all four States and up to 25% for works in France, Germany and Austria. The contribution totals up to € 776.44 million until 2015: €691 million from the TEN-T budget and €85.4 million from the European Recovery Plan (EERP). Investments attributed to the high speed axis east (PP4), the railway axis Lyon/Genova-Basel-Duisburg-Rotterdam/Antwerpen (PP24) in Baden-Württemberg and in the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) along different axes touching upon PP17 also positively affected the development of the railway axis. Especially with the TEN-T calls 2011 and 2012 additional funding was made available for works in Austria (€42.68 million) and for works and a study in Germany (€63.5 million). Between 2007, the start of TGV services, and June 20122 more than 6 million travellers used the TGV-Est, 3.6 million of them on the Paris-Frankfurt route and 2.7 million on the route Paris- Stuttgart-Munich. On the Paris-Strasbourg and the Paris-Stuttgart routes, TGV gained market leadership (90% and 56%). A recent PROGNOS study3 concerning the German subsections of PP17 corridor confirms that the parts of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria along PP17 are very productive and innovative regions: Not only with regard to the national average in R&D employment and investments but also to the number of patents. They belong to the top regions in Germany: The regions stand for 30% of the German patent registrations and 30% of R&D investments. The regions attract migration of qualified employees. An efficient rail line with attractive connections and efficient regional- and urban transport are substantial along this corridor. In 2012 and 2013 the Coordinator considered that the most important implementing steps for the entire Priority Project were: 1. The inauguration of the new line Wien- St. Pölten in November 2011 allowing a 17 minute reduction in travel time from 41 to 24 minutes since December 2012 2. The tunnel cut-through of the Saverne Tunnel in France on 25 February 2013 2 Stuttgarter Zeitung, 09 June 2012 (http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.von-stuttgart-nach-paris-der-tgv-hat-das- flugzeug-abgehaengt.e172b638-b541-4af6-bb0d-be84bc453766.html#) 3 prognos progtrans for IHK Schwaben „Bewertung der ökonomischen und verkehrlichen Bedeutung des TEN-17-Korridors“, Stuttgart, 2013 European Commission 6 Priority Project 17: Railway axis Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Wien-Bratislava 2. THE EXAMPLES OF SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS 2009-2013 In general the implementation of PP17 made good progress on most sections. The most important milestones which were achieved during the 2nd mandate of the EU coordinator were: • April 2009: Financial agreement to implement the section Stuttgart-Ulm and the start of the works in February 2010. The project shall be finished by December 2021 • September 2009: Financial agreement to implement the last part of TGV Est Baudrecourt- Vendenheim and the start of the works in October 2010 • January 2010: The start of works at Vienna Central Station to improve the east-west connections in Vienna and beyond • December 2010: The opening of Kehl bridge.