Brussels, 26/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European commission has allocated the last batch of aid from the PACT programme for the promotion of inter-modal transport to 17 projects, for a total of 7.5 million euro. The PACT programme ends on 31 December 2001 and will be replaced by the "Marco Polo" programme being prepared in the Commission. "The Commission now intends granting even greater priority to concrete measures aimed at transferring transport by truck to other modes of transport", declared the Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, in a press release.
The PACT programme was intended to foster commercially innovative ideas for developing container transport combining road, rail, waterway and shipping, thereby limiting trips n the road. The Commission has reduced the number of subsidised projects, from 20 in 2000 to 17 this year, arguing that the average funding intensity per project had increased to 441,176 euro. The 7.5 million budget available this year has been distributed to the tune of 44% for rail, 29% for short-distance shipping, 13% for inland waterways, 13% for projects involving several modes and 1% for feasibility studies.
Projects being financed concern, among others, the launch of a private railway on the Brenner axis linking Germany and Italy through Austria (900,000 euro), the elaboration of a strategy to establish an inter-modal inland waterway service from Rotterdam to Budapest, and the second phase of a night express on the Amsterdam/Milan line.