The “North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean” (NSRM) freight corridor is an international rail cooperation organisation that the TVS is involved with, alongside CFF Infrastructure, BLS Netz and the Swiss federal transport office (OFT).
The aim of the NSRM corridor, bringing together seven countries, – Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Italy and France – is to coordinate investments and to improve the farmwork conditions for the transportation of goods on the north-south path. The lines and infrastructure concerned, and the mission of the NSRM corridor have been laid down by two European Union Regulations: Regulation (EU) no. 913/2010 and Regulation (EU) no. 2024/1679.
The stakeholders, via two main bodies – the Management Board (consisting of the 11 infrastructure managers and path allocation bodies) and the Executive Board (consisting of ministerial representatives) – draw up a catalogue of harmonised train paths for freight only (pre-arranged paths), centralise the booking of these train paths via a single organisation, ensure consistency in the scheduling of engineering works across the entire north-south corridor, and discuss the progress of infrastructure projects, such as long trains (740 m), the P400 gauge and the ERTMS.
The SAS deems it necessary to be involved in activities and decisions on the corridor since the main capacity issues in Switzerland concern the paths for the transportation of transit goods. Furthermore, sharing information, building an attractive offer, harmonising deadlines, volumes and simplifying processes constitute benefits for all those who work in the sector.
Finally, since 2025, the Swiss federal office for transport has been co-presiding the Executive Board with Belgium. Via this role, Switzerland can put even more weight behind the transfer policy at international level. For more details about this, go to: Switzerland takes on the presidency of the freight corridor - OFT