On 2 February 2022, the Kick-off meeting of the Inter-Connect PLUS project was held online. Funded under the ADRION 4th restricted Call, and lasting for 6 months, this new project will capitalize on and upgrade key outputs of the successfully completed Inter-Connect project. Inter-Connect PLUS will seek to update policy and technical tools and assess the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on passenger transport solutions in the ADRION area.

Municipality of Igoumenitsa, as Lead Partner, welcomed the participants and provided an overview of the implications of COVID-19 on the transport sector and new challenges, including the need to enhance the promotion of public transport at local and cross-border levels to mitigate the shift to private transport based on safety concerns.

Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas/Hellenic Institute of Transport, responsible for the coordination of technical activities, presented the three main lines of action in Inter-Connect PLUS:

  • upgrading of the main tools developed by Inter-Connect, such as the Roadmap and the Toolkit;
  • improving the recommendations on where and how to invest in supporting sustainable connectivity of ADRION cases – focusing on the smart integration of different public transport solutions; and
  • revising the Slovenian and Croatian Inter-Connect case studies with new norms brought by COVID-19.

The Institute for Transport and Logistics presented the technical activities focusing on understanding the existing best practices in terms of soft measures for a seamless connection of coastal areas to the city centres at regional and national levels and the TEN-T network main nodes. The main intent is to update the policy recommendations to promote intermodality for passengers’ mobility in the ADRION area developed by the previous project to include the impacts of COVID-19.

As for the pilot cases, the Regional Development Agency of Ljubljana Urban Region presented the updates to the previous pilot on developing intermodality solutions between the Slovenian coastal area, the Ljubljana Urban Region and the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport that will now consider COVID-19 impacts. The Croatian Railways Passenger Transport Limited Liability Company presented the revision of the Inter-Connect Croatian feasibility study, defining a methodology for determining passenger flows between the railway node of Zagreb and Adriatic coastal area, taking into account COVID-19 pandemic impact.

Central European Initiative – Executive Secretariat, as responsible for communication activities, gave an overview of the planned actions and high-level events in participating cities, stressing the importance of an effective involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of Inter-Connect PLUS project.

Stay tuned for more news on the upcoming activities and events!