The European Commission has approved €29.3 million in German state aid for a new rail-road terminal near Aachen. The so-called EUREGIO terminal is set to start operations in 2035.
The aid takes the form of a direct grant to the infrastructure company EVS EUREGIO Verkehrsschienennetz, the future owner of the terminal. The facility should reach full capacity only in 2037, the Commission said.
The Commission finds the support measure “necessary and proportionate” to encourage the use of rail. Moreover, it found that the aid has an ‘incentive effect’. EVS would not make the investment without public support according to the EU.
Hub for seaport traffic
The EUREGIO terminal should become a hub for flows between Belgian and Dutch seaports and terminals in the German hinterland, writes our sister publication Nieuwsblad Transport. Freight from Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam already reaches the area and continues by train into Germany. With opening planned for 2035, it will still be nearly a decade before the terminal handles its first trains.