The third and final Stakeholder's Roundtable, led by CEI - Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) within the framework of the SUSTANCE project, took place in Trieste on 3 April 2025. The event brought together representatives from the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Municipality of Trieste, Trenitalia, and EGTC GO.
The CEI-ES presented the current state of the project and its pilot actions, highlighting the results of the direct train service between Villa Opicina and Rijeka which operated from 24 April to 30 September 2024.
This pilot action addressed a significant challenge in Central Europe: achieving seamless cross-border travel without frequent changes in train lines or complications arising from different countries’ tariffs. Additionally, the pilot project promoted sustainability by enabling passengers to bring bicycles on board.
And lastly, but not least, the project managed to successfully tackle numerous challenges: it provided a platform for institutional dialogue and enhanced the collaboration between the stakeholders of three different countries. This resulted in different agreements regarding service scheduling and its fares, and it also resolved interoperability issues related to the specific features of the railway infrastructure along the route to Rijeka.
Stakeholders engaged in a lively discussion on the added value of the service from a qualitative and quantitative point of view, focusing on its future potential. Despite the service will not be activated in 2025 due to infrastructural works planned along the route in Slovenia, stakeholders expressed a strong interest in the pilot action results and discussed the importance of cooperation for supporting the reactivation of this train service in the future.
For more info: dileno@cei.int
