TEN-T finance tripled

European Union financing for transport infrastructure will triple for the period 2014 to 2020 to €26 billion, and new maps of the major trans-European corridors have been drawn up.

In what it describes as the most radical overhaul of EU infrastructure policy since its inception in the 1980s, the European Commission has published the new maps showing the nine major corridors which will act as a backbone for transportation in Europe's single market and revolutionise east-west connections.

Taken as a whole, the new EU infrastructure policy aims to transform the existing patchwork of European roads, railways, airports and canals into a unified Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

The European Commission vice president responsible for transport, Siim Kallas, said, "Transport is vital to the European economy. Without good connections, Europe will not grow or prosper. This new EU infrastructure policy will put in place a powerful European transport network across 28 Member States to promote growth and competitiveness. It will connect east with west and replace today’s transport patchwork with a network that is genuinely European."

The new policy establishes, for the first time, a core transport network built on nine major corridors – two north-south corridors, three east-west, and four diagonal.

The core network is designed to transform east-west connections, remove bottlenecks, upgrade infrastructure and streamline cross-border transport operations for passengers and businesses throughout the EU.

The commission said the new plans would improve connections between different modes of transport and contribute to the EU's climate change objectives.

The core network is to be completed by 2030. The availability of funding will depend on the successful conclusion of negotiations on the overall Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014 to 2020.

The Commission said that EU funding for the period 2014 to 2020 would be tightly focused on the core transport network where there is most EU added value. To prioritise east-west connections, almost half the total EC transport infrastructure funding – €11.3 billion from the Connecting Europe Facility – will be ring-fenced for cohesion countries (Member States whose Gross National Income per inhabitant is less than 90% of the Community average).

The new core transport network will be supported by a comprehensive network of routes, feeding into the core network at regional and national level. This comprehensive network is planned to ensure full coverage of the EU and accessibility of all regions. 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.

The Commission said that, taken as a whole, the new transport network would deliver safer and less congested travel, as well as smoother and quicker journeys.

The €26 billion – at current prices – allocated to transport under the Connecting Europe Facility of the MFF will, according to the Commission, effectively act as seed capital to stimulate further investment by Member States to complete difficult cross-border connections and links which might not otherwise get built.

It is estimated that the cost of implementing the first financing phase for the core network for 2014 to 2020 will be €250 billion.

The core network, which is planned to be completed by 2030, will connect 94 main European ports with rail and road links; 38 key airports with rail connections into major cities; 15,000km of railway line upgraded to high speed; and 35 cross-border projects to reduce bottlenecks.