Transport network – Photo by Kieran Sheehan on Unsplash
(BRUSSELS) – The European Parliament and EU Council agreed late Monday on updated guidelines for a more sustainable trans-European transport network (TEN-T) to boost implementation of major projects by 2030.
TEN-T is an EU plan to build a network of railways, roads, inland waterways and short sea shipping routes which are connected through ports and terminals across the European Union. Current TEN-T projects range from Rail Baltica, connecting Helsinki and Warsaw, to the Brenner Base Tunnel, linking Austria and Italy, or the LisbonMadrid high-speed rail line.
The EU has committed to complete major transport infrastructure projects on the core TEN-T network by the end of 2030 and on a comprehensive network by the end of 2050, focussed on eliminating bottlenecks and missing transport links. An intermediary deadline of 2040 has been agreed to accelerate project roll-outs.
There is to be greater focus on intermodal transport undertaken primarily by rail, inland waterways or short-sea shipping. This is to be reinforced by electrified railways in the core TEN-T network, running at speeds of 160 km/h for passenger rail and 100 km/h for freight, and crossing internal EU borders in less than 25 minutes on average by the end of 2030. In addition, EU railways will need to migrate to the European standard nominal track gauge (1435 mm) and by the end of 2040 switch to a single traffic management system.
Part of the agreement obliges governments to take into account military needs (weight or size of military transport) when constructing or upgrading infrastructure that overlaps with military transport network.
The agreed text also cuts transport infrastructure projects with Russia and Belarus and instead reinforces transport links with Ukraine and Moldova. To mitigate the security risk coming from non-EU businesses participation in major TEN-T projects, member states have to inform the Commission of measures adopted to mitigate such risk.
Following completion of work at technical level, Parliament and Council now need to formally approve the agreement before it can come into force.
