Baltic–Adriatic Corridor

The Baltic–Adriatic Corridor or Baltic–Adriatic Axis (German: Baltisch-Adriatische Achse, Italian: Corridoio Baltico-Adriatico) is a European initiative to create a high capacity north–south railway and road corridor connecting Gdańsk on the Baltic Sea with Bologna and the Adriatic. The line traverses Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy, connecting heavily industrialized areas such as Warsaw and the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Vienna and south-east Austria, and Northern Italy. It developed from the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) project No. 23 of a Gdańsk-Vienna railway axis set up in 2003. Carrying 24 million tons of freight per year, the Baltic–Adriatic Corridor is considered among the most important trans-Alpine lines in Europe.