Brussels, 14/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 September, the EU Council approved the regulation on the creation of a trans-European rail network for competitive freight, thus confirming the second reading agreement reached with the European Parliament in July this year (EUROPE 10212). The Danish delegation voiced opposition to the text. The Polish delegation abstained. The regulation provides for the setting in place of international rail corridors intended to facilitate the movement of freight trains. Firstly, the agreement reached between member states and Parliament compels member states to establish eight main corridors whose routes have been determined in the regulation and which should be operational by the latest: - in 2013: The Zeebrugge-Antwerp/Rotterdam-Duisberg-Milan-Genoa corridor; the Rotterdam-Antwerp-Luxembourg-Metz-Dijon-Lyons corridor; the Sines-Lisbon-Madrid/Bilbao-Paris/Le Havre/Metz corridor; the Almeria-Valencia/Madrid-Saragossa/Barcelona-Marseilles-Lyons-Turin-Milan-Verona-Padua/Venice-Trieste/Koper-Ljubljana-Budapest-Zahony (border between Hungary and Ukraine) corridor; the Bucharest-Constanta-Prague-Vienna/Bratislava-Budapest-Vidin-Sofia-Thessaloniki-Athens corridor; and the Prague-Horni Lideè-Žilina-Košice-Èierna nad Tisou (border between Slovakia and Ukraine) corridor; and - in 2015: - Stockholm-Malmö-Copenhagen-Hamburg-Innsbruck-Verona-Palermo; Gdynia-Katowice-Ostrava/Zilina-Bratislava/Vienna-Klagenfurt-Udine-Venice/Trieste/Bologna/Ravenna/Graz-Maribor-Ljubljana-Koper/Trieste corridor; and the Bremerhaven/Rotterdam/Antwerp/Aix-la-Chapelle/Berlin-Warsaw-Terespol (border between Poland and Belarus)- Kaunas corridor. Secondly, member states that are not on the list will have to establish at least one corridor. They will not be able to refuse the request for participation in a corridor addressed to them by another member state. The corridors should have a performant infrastructure and quality services, in order to ensure the competitiveness of this kind of goods transport. A one-stop shop established for each corridor will be responsible for coordination and for the granting of slot access. (A.By./transl.jl)