The previous East West Transport Corridor project was a success
and therefore the strong partnership decided to continue their
co-operation in a follow up project named East West TC II. The new
project will highlight the development of a "Green Corridor
Concept" as a best practise case in the European context.
The project East West TC II was started in September 2009 and
will run until September 2012. Region Blekinge is the Lead Partner
and the total budget is about 6 MEUR. Around 70 partners from
Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, Russia, Italy, China and Denmark have
joined the project. Several of the partners come from the private
sector. Moreover, the project is supported by both the Swedish and
Lithuanian governments. Below is a summary of the content in the
application.
Green cooperation stimulate economic growth
Through international cooperation, the aim of the project is to
develop and work for efficient, safe and environmentally friendly
handling of the increasing amount of goods going east-west in the
south Baltic region. The project will prepare stakeholders in the
region to enhance sustainable transport planning and smart IT
solutions in the field of transport.
This in combination with business development in the transport
sector will stimulate the economic growth in the entire East West
TC.
Three main focuses:
1) To make East West TC a good example of a Green Transport
Corridor in line with EU's latest transport policies also meeting
market demands for more efficient and environmental friendly
transports.
2) To develop an innovative pilot testing ground where modern
technology and information systems contribute to increased
efficiency, traffic safety and security as well as reduced
environment impact in the corridor.
3) Supporting economic growth within the corridor particularly
in ports and inland hubs by stimulating new business models for
e.g. railway transport.
Long term co-operation
The East West TC is one of the most central corridors within the
Northern Transport Axis and has already a Corridor Organisation
and Structure in place that will make a significant contribution to
development of the Northern Transport Axis and the Green Corridor
Concept.
A durable network of stakeholders will be formed through the
East West TC Association that will enable a long term co-operation
between different stakeholders in the corridor.
Expected results
Examples of end result of the project are:
• East West TC is as a Best Practice Case for Green Corridor
development
• East West TC is a part of the EU commissions Action Plan for
the Baltic Sea Region and is an integrated part of the Northern
Transport Axis.
• A manual of how to develop a Green Corridor in accordance with
the EU:ds transport policies and to offer stakeholders in the East
West TC more eco-friendly transport alternatives than available
today.
• An innovative IT-based "Information Broker System" for
transport and traffic information which will increase efficiency
and reduce the environmental impact
• A manual of how to buy, sell, and plan eco-friendly
transports, which can be used by different customers
• New business concepts for railway transports
• Improved transport service in ports and terminals
• Increased transport competence among various stakeholders
within the East West TC
• Improved infrastructure within the East West TC
About EWTC I
The project "East-West Transport Corridor" was a cooperative
venture between 42 different partners - local, regional and
national authorities, universities, harbours and private
stakeholders - in Denmark, Lithuania, Russia and Sweden. The
project started in 2006 with Region Blekinge as the Lead Partner. A
project secretariat was established in Karlshamn, Sweden. The
project was cofinanced by the project partners and the Interreg
IIIB Baltic Sea 2000-2006 programme.
EWTC aimed to strengthen the transport development through
infrastructure improvements, new solutions for business, logistics
and co-operation between researchers. During approximately 20
months an extensive workload was carried out in the project. During
this period a number of reports were made, seminars, workshops and
conferences held and many interesting discussions carried out
between all the different partners in the project consisting of
spatial planners, politicians, businessmen, public officers and
researchers.
