Today, transport infrastructure is well-developed within the European Union. However, it is still fragmented, both geographically and between and within transport modes. The main objective of the new Guidelines for TEN-T is to establish a complete and integrated Trans-European transport network, covering all member states and regions and providing the basis for the balanced development of all transport modes in order to facilitate their respective advantages, thereby maximising the value added for Europe of the network.
The new guidelines will define a long-term strategy for the TEN-T policy by 2030/2050. The European Commission has launched a new instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility, through which it will invest EUR 31.7 Billion to upgrade Europe’s transport infrastructure, build missing links and remove bottlenecks. The investment includes EUR 10 Billion ring fenced in the Cohesion Fund for transport projects in the cohesion countries, with the remaining EUR 21.7 Billion available for all Member States for investing in transport infrastructure.
To assist with the financing of the Connecting Europe Facility, the Commission has also adopted the terms for the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative which will be one of a number of risk-sharing instruments upon which the facility may draw in order to attract private finance in projects. The pilot phase will start next year.
The new core TEN-T network will be supported by a complex network of routes, feeding into the core network at regional and national level. This will largely be financed by member states, with some EU transport and regional funding possibilities, including with new innovative financing instruments. The aim is to ensure that progressively, and by 2050, the great majority of Europe’s citizens and businesses will be no more than 30 minutes’ travel time from this comprehensive network.
There is a new tough legal requirement introduced in the TEN-T guidelines so that member states with projects receiving funding on the core network, have a legal obligation to finish those projects. That is an obligation to finish by 2030 – completion date for the core network. However this legal requirement should provide a clear incentive for Member States to keep transport projects on track.
Past experience has shown that it is very difficult to implement cross border and other transport projects in different member states in a co-ordinated way. It is very easy, in fact, to create divergent systems and connections and create more bottleneck.
A major innovation on the new TEN-T guidelines is the introduction of 10 implementing corridors on the core network. They are there to help implement the development of the core network. Each corridor must include three modes, three member states and 2 cross-border sections. To the extent possible, these corridors will have to be connected to a seaport.
“Corridor platforms” will be created to bring all relevant stakeholders and member states together. The corridor platform is a governance structure that will devise and implement “corridor development plans” so that work along the corridor, in different member states and at different stages of progress can be joined effectively.
A significant provision included in the TEN-T guidelines specifies the fact that the operators of freight terminals shall ensure that any freight terminal is open to all operators, while operators of logistic platforms will offer at least one terminal open to all operators. Operators of freight terminals and logistic platform will provide this access in a non-discriminatory way and apply transparent charges.
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