Activity 3 – Feasibility study East-West Corridor and first pilot implementation

Over the past two decades trade has increased significantly between the eastern and western part of Europe. Consequently also passenger and freight traffic increased with the same speed. Many ITS corridor projects are oriented North – South, and therefore Activity 3 of the EU EIP project aims at studying the feasibility of seamless, continuous and harmonized ITS services on the East-West corridor, EWC.

Task 1: Feasibility Study

The first part of this activity consists of a feasibility study to assess state of implementation and near term plans regarding ITS systems and services, and identify which ones could be prioritized, adapted, enhanced or introduced as seamless, continuous services along (sections of) the East West Corridor. The EWC, running from Ireland, via UK, Benelux, Germany and Poland to the Baltic States and Finland, thus links the CEF corridors North Sea - Mediterranean and North Sea – Baltic and the Finnish part of Scandinavia – Mediterranean, including interfaces to crossing North-South corridors.

Sub-tasks:

• Creation of a cooperating ITS community along the East West Corridor and inventory of planned ITS investments for seamless services

• Feasibility study of selected planned ITS investments for European seamless services

• Recommendations for roll-out of seamless ITS services on the East West Corridor.

Results expected / deliverables:

• Identification of ITS services that could be implemented or upgraded;
• Feasibility report on selected ITS implementation plans along the East West Corridor;
• Roadmap and action plan for seamless ITS services along the East West Corridor.

Task 2: First pilot implementation

The objective of the 2^nd part of this activity is to implement a dedicated intermodal route planner for containers, demonstrating seamless, continuous and harmonized ITS services on the East West Corridor. It will demonstrate how ITS can play a role for the better and multi-modal use of corridors, helping to realize both national and European policies. The dedicated intermodal planner will increase the visibility of the intermodal transport services on the EWC, free of charge for every shipper. This will contribute to an efficient multimodal transport system (road, rail, Inland waterways and sea transport).  It will include all routes departing or arriving in the corridor, including the connections to the other CEF corridors crossing the EWC..

Sub-tasks:

• Inventory of improvements for the intermodal planner, defined by the active partners. First pilot implementation and promotion of the intermodal planner for the EWC.
• As a next step, the agreed improvements will be included. The improved route planner will be incorporated as a plug-in in the EU EIP website, and its use  will be promoted in the countries of the East West Corridor..
• The   route planner will be evaluated from two perspectives, i.e. the user side (shippers) and the supply side (operators).
• Recommendations will be formulated for the further deployment of the intermodal route planner on the East West Corridor and possible other corridors.

Results expected / deliverables:

• Real-life operational intermodal route planner on the East West Corridor, free of charge;
• Roadmap and action plan for further deployment of the intermodal route planner;
• Report on evaluation and recommendations on intermodal route planner.

This activity has been completed as per 30 June 2017. The deliverables will be made available soon.

Partners involved

Leader: The Netherlands (Rijkswaterstaat)

Active Beneficiaries: Germany (Bundesländer), Ireland (TTI), Poland (GDDKiA), Port of Zeebrugge, United Kingdom (Highways England)

Participants: EWTCA Lithuania, Finland (FTA), Sweden (Trafikverket)

Follower: Belgium (Wallonia), Estonia, Greece, ITS Bulgaria, Norway, Romania