A completed and climate-resilient trans-European transport network (TEN-T) is a cornerstone for growth, and both socio-economic and territorial cohesion in the EU. According to a recent European Commission study, integrating climate adaptation into TEN-T policies is essential to meet adaptation goals.
The impacts of climate change are already having tremendous repercussions in Europe. On several occasions in 2024, extreme weather events rendered transportation systems unusable, destroying infrastructure and disrupting supply chains for long periods.
The study warns that all TEN-T transport modes will face significantly more climate extremes by the end of the century, with heatwaves increasing 30-fold and floods, droughts, and wildfires becoming much more common.
Impact on railways
Climate change poses substantial challenges to the resilience and functionality of roads and railways. Floods, heatwaves, and wildfires are the climate extremes that cause the highest impact on roads and railway networks.
Climate extremes can lead to infrastructure damage, causing disruptions and delays in transportation services. Floods, in particular, pose a substantial threat, eroding road foundations and railway tracks, as well as causing landslides that can obstruct both modes of transportation.Extreme heat also impacts roads and railways causing, for instance, cable melting or pavement and track deformities due to heat-induced expansion. As such, heat stress can lead to structural damages, reducing the lifespan of roads and railways and necessitating more frequent maintenance and repairs. Changing precipitation patterns contribute to soil instability, affecting the foundations of roads and railway tracks. Increased heavy precipitation can lead to landslides and erosion, further compromising the integrity of transportation infrastructure. Droughts, aswell, can cause high damages. Due to dry and hot conditions, the risk of forest fires and roadside fires increases. In the event of a fire along the track, train traffic is disrupted or even temporarily stopped.
According to the DRMKC database, losses of EUR 8.44 billion for railways and roads were reported between 2010 and 2022 due to river floods, coastal floods, and flash floods. The majority of losses have been attributed to river floods (74.4%) followed by flash floods (22.3%).
Italy and France are the EU countries with the highest number of events. Germany, however, is the country with the highest economic losses reported.
To strengthen the resilience of the European transport infrastructure, significant public investment is needed. To allocate these resources effectively, climate risk assessments are necessary to identify the vulnerabilities on the network. Completing the TEN-T will strengthen its climate resilience by offering more flexible and adaptable traffic routes. To facilitate this, the study recommends establishing a tracking system to monitor the progress of TEN-T cross-border projects, including their milestones, costs, and completion status. This would enable the early detection of climate-related challenges, allowing for proactive solutions to be implemented.
“A complete and climate-resilient TEN-T is vital for fostering growth and cohesion across the EU. As climate extremes intensify, adapting our infrastructure is urgent. If we don’t act now, we put at risk our infrastructure, harming our citizens, companies and the economy,” Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, said.
The EU’s trans-European transport network policy, the TEN-T policy, is a key instrument for planning and developing a coherent, efficient, multimodal, and high-quality transport infrastructure across the EU. The network comprises railways, inland waterways, short sea shipping routes and roads linking urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals.
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