The new EU infrastructure policy triples EU financing to EUR 26 Billion for transport for the period 2014–2020. At the same time it refocuses transport financing on a tightly defined new core network. The core network will form the backbone for transportation in Europe’s single market. A major innovation on the new TEN-T guidelines is the introduction of nine implementing corridors on the core network. They are there to help implement the development of the core network. Each corridor must include three transport modes, three member states and 2 cross-border sections.
The TEN-T guidelines and the appropriate financing instrument were adopted by the European Commission in October and the vote will be made official by the Council of the European Union in December.
The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is one of the key projects of the European Union. It is the backbone of the common market, indispensable for the mobility of EU citizens, for the economic, social and territorial cohesion, and for creating economic growth and jobs. There is a clear focus on the most important elements of the TEN-T (in particular bottlenecks, missing links and cross border projects) as well as on sustainable modes of transport and complementary elements such as the Technical Specifications for Interoperability.
A major innovation on the new TEN-T guidelines is the introduction of nine implementing corridors on the core network. They are there to help implement the deve-lopment of the core network. Each corridor must include three transport modes, three Member States and 2 cross-border sections. In fact, these corridors are not new; they shape and define the core network of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
“Where sections of the corridor coincide with the corridors under Regulation (EU) No 913/2010, the development plan and market study already provided for in that Regulation will be taken into consideration in the drawing up of the corridor development plan”, the TEN-T guidelines state.
But why has in fact a new reorientation of the infrastructure and investment strategy been necessary? In practice there are five main problem areas which need to be tackled at EU level. First of all, missing links, in particular at cross-border sections, are a major obstacle to the free movement of goods and passengers within and between the Member States and with its neighbours. Secondly, there is a considerable disparity in quality and availability of infrastructure between and within the member states. Thirdly, the transport infrastructure between the transport modes is fragmented. As regards making multi-modal connections, many of Europe’s freight terminals, passenger stations, inland ports, maritime ports, airports and urban nodes are not up to the task. Since these nodes lack multi-modal capacity, the potential of multi-modal transport and its ability to remove infrastructure bottlenecks and to bridge missing links is insufficiently exploited. On the other hand, investments in transport infrastructure should contribute to achieve the goals of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. Last but not least, member states still maintain different operational rules and requirements, in particular in the field of interoperability, which significantly add to the transport infrastructure barriers and bottlenecks.
The core network will connect 94 main European ports with rail and road links, 38 key airports with rail connections into major cities, 15,000 km of railway line upgraded to high speed and 35 cross border projects to reduce bottlenecks.
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) welcomes this adoption as it represents a key step toward the realisation of an efficient and effective European Single Railway Area. “The main focus of the new TEN-T Guidelines is to improve the interoperability and interconnections between modes. The multimodal Core Network Corridors will increase the coordination between Member States and stakeholders in the planning and investment of corridors”, believes the organisation.
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