The officer of the European Transport Network unit of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, Carlo de Grandis, met in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, with political and entrepreneurial leaders of the Iberian Network of Cross-Border Entities (RIET), in order to discuss what the priorities are regarding rail connections between the Peninsula's Atlantic coast and Europe.
The meeting was also attended by the president of the regional development and coordination commission of northern Portugal, Emidio Gomes, and the general director of Galicia's government's Movilidade, Camino Triguero.
At the meeting, in which a total of 45 leaders took part, it was confirmed that the new network offers better and more concentrated infrastructures than the basic network. The additional advantage is that it will allow for the basic network to be run with homogeneous standards all across the EU.
Carlo de Grandis pointed out that Europe cannot continue being the world's most fragmented continent when it comes to infrastructures; not only because it is impractical, but also expensive.
All peninsular Atlantic ports combined shipped over 175 million tonnes of goods in 2012.
Source: logistica.cdecomunicacion.es