BATCo

The Port of Trieste was partner of the BATCo project, cofinanced by Programme 2007 - 2013 Central Europe.

In 2006 the Federal Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy signed a letter of intent to conjointly develop the Baltic-Adriatic Transport Corridor, including the extension of the existing Pan-European Transport Corridor VI from Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice, Zilina with branches to Poznan and Breclav/Brno and its South-Western extension to Bratislava/Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Udine, Trieste/Venice and Bologna.

The favourable economic development of the Baltic States and the central and eastern European countries has resulted that the Danzig–Warsaw–Vienna section has been declared a Priority Project (PP23) within the TEN-T policy. The states bordering are endeavouring to ensure, in the context of the TEN (Trans European Networks) revisions in 2009/2010, that the high capacity railway which starts in Poland is connected to Upper Italy.

The five partner countries cooperated in terms of an efficient and environment-friendly North-South interconnection of Central Europe considering the EU (eastern) enlargement and the great importance of a close cooperation in the development of the axis. The project contributed to the improvement of the economic development along the axis based on the best possible integration of corresponding markets and a balanced development (5 countries) in terms of economic and related ecological impacts of transport. Top priority was dedicated to the shift from road to rail transport mode and the efficient development and use of environment-friendly rail transport means.

Achievements

CENTRAL EUROPE project Baltic-Adriatic Transport Cooperation (BATCo) was dedicated to support the technical, environmental and economic development of the Baltic-Adriatic Axis – the railway axis connecting the Baltic with the North-Adriatic sea basis – running through 5 European Member states and therefore connecting more than 40 million inhabitants. A major step to reach the overall goal – the inclusion of the Baltic-Adriatic Axis to the new core network of the trans-European transport networks (TEN-T), was made in October 2011, when EU Transport Commissioner Mr. Siim Kallas presented the proposal for the core network which included the Baltic-Adriatic Axis extended by Rail Baltica as the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor.

Duration

2010-2013