The corridor from Rotterdam to Genoa (Corridor 1) stretches from the sea ports of Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Antwerp to the port of Genoa, right through the heart of the EU along the so-called "Blue Banana". This is the most heavily industrialised North-South route in Central Europe and connects Europe's prime economic regions. The "Blue Banana" includes the economically strong urban centres such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Duisburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Basle, Zurich, Milan and Genoa. All these centres are served and connected by the corridor, also indirectly including London and Brussels. The countries directly involved are The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

This outstanding position together with the resulting fact that this corridor carries by far the greatest transport volume in Europe, makes the Rotterdam-Genoa route with its branch to Zeebrugge and Antwerp the pioneer for international rail freight transport in Europe.

Corridor A along the "Blue Banana"