SUSTRAIN Implement Corridor
With the 2004 enlargement the EU area has increased by about 75 million people. A GDP of only 23-68% of the EU average and long transport routes do not only increase the imbalance between Europe's economic core area - London, Paris, Milan, Munich (“Blue Banana”) and Hamburg and periphery, the regional development and growth opportunities of the new EU countries are also on the decline. However, the enlargement provides the opportunity to develop the polycentric regions along the former “Iron Curtain”. SIC! will develop and implement common strategies for the territorial cohesion of Europe by offering concrete measures in land use planning, transport planning and economic policy. Metropolises and large centres are the driving forces of economic prosperity. The quality of accessibility between the metropolitan and major central regions is therefore a vital factor. A developed transport infrastructure and demand-oriented transport services are preconditions to initiate the development in this area. The SIC! study area is generally aligned to the pan-European transport corridor IV (Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Bratislava and Budapest) and basically reflects the potential second European economic core area (“New Banana”). It forms the central European integration zone and comprises an area of approx. 350,000 km² (population of about 48 million). The extended study area with a size of approx. 600,000 km² (population of about 102 million) is also object of investigation. The SIC! project has the following main objectives: - Evaluation of regional development opportunities and potentials in the SIC! area - Identification of appropriateness for creating a second European economic core area - Specification of required, high-ranking transport infrastructures to utilise this development potential - Development of a sustainable, transnational, inter-modal infrastructure programme to contribute to the re-positioning of study area (“New Banana”) - Identification of adequate forms of financing and creation of an infrastructure investment model in a PPP (Public Private Partnership) framework - Support of necessary transregional cooperation targeting the implementation of the infrastructure programme on a transnational political level.