Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network

PURPOSE : to amend Community guidelines on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). LEGISLATIVE ACT : Decision 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision 1692/96/EC on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network. CONTENT : Decision 1692/96/EC laid down Community guidelines for the trans-European transport network, identifying projects of common interest intended to contribute to the development of that network and, in Annex III, identifying the specific projects to which the European Council attached particular importance at its meetings in Essen in 1994 and in Dublin in 1996. Since then, growth in traffic, in particular due to the growing share of heavy goods vehicles, has resulted in increased congestion and bottlenecks on international transport corridors. The revised guidelines give priority, where appropriate, to infrastructure investment for railways, inland waterways, short sea shipping, intermodal operations and effective interconnections. In addition, EU enlargement and the need to achieve an infrastructure network capable of meeting growing needs, together with the fact that it could take over ten years to complete some of the priority projects, called for re-examination of the list of projects in Annex III to Decision 1692/96/EC. Annex III of the revised guidelines give the list of priority projects. The revised guidelines are also a response to the need to remove bottlenecks and/or complete missing links for the movement of goods (transit) across natural or other barriers or across borders. The priorities are: - development of the key links needed to eliminate bottlenecks, fill in missing sections and complete the main routes, especially their cross-border sections, cross natural barriers, and improve interoperability on major routes; - development of infrastructure which promotes the interconnection of national networks in order to facilitate the linkage of islands, or areas similar to islands, and landlocked, peripheral and outermost regions on the one hand and the central regions of the Community on the other, in particular to reduce the high transport costs of these areas; - the necessary measures for the gradual achievement of an interoperable rail network, including, where feasible, routes adapted for freight transport; - the necessary measures to promote long-distance, short sea and inland shipping; - the necessary measures to integrate rail and air transport, especially through rail access to airports, whenever appropriate, and the infrastructures and installations needed; - optimisation of the capacity and efficiency of existing and new infrastructure, promotion of intermodality and improvement of the safety and reliability of the network by establishing intermodal terminals and their access infrastructure and/or by deploying intelligent systems; - integration of safety and environmental concerns in the design and implementation of the trans-European transport network; - development of sustainable mobility of persons and goods in accordance with the objectives of the European Union on sustainable development. The main points are as follows: - the priority projects reflect their potential economic viability, the degree of commitment on the part of the Member States concerned to keeping to a timetable agreed in advance in the programming of projects, their impact on the mobility of goods and persons between Member States, and their impact on cohesion and sustainable development; - environmental protection requirements are integrated into the definition and implementation of Community policy in the field of the trans-European networks. This entails the promotion as a priority of infrastructure for transport modes that cause less damage to the environment, namely rail transport, short sea shipping and inland waterways shipping. Environmental assessment pursuant to Directive 2001/42/EC will be carried out for all plans and programmes leading to projects of common interest. Funding for transport infrastructure will also be conditional on compliance with the provisions of Community environmental legislation, in particular Council Directive 85/337/EEC and Council Directives 79/409/EEC and 92/43/EEC; - the lines of the Trans-European Rail Freight Network will be considered as part of the rail network defined by the guidelines set out in Decision No 1692/96/EC so that they can benefit from investments and attract traffic from the road; - mechanisms are put in place to support the development of motorways of the sea between Member States in order to reduce road congestion and/or improve access to peripheral and island regions and States. The establishment of such mechanisms, backed up by tendering procedures, must be transparent and geared to needs; - the granting of Community financial assistance under this instruments and the Marco Polo programme must not be cumulative. - the Commission may designate a European Coordinator in order to facilitate the coordinated implementation of certain projects, in particular cross-border projects or sections of cross-border projects included among the projects declared to be of European interest. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 20 May 2004.�