Trans-European transport network
The Commission presented this amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) 1315/2013.
As a reminder, Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) sets out a European-wide multimodal network of railways, inland waterways and short-sea shipping routes which are linked to urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals across the European Union. The network provides a solid foundation towards building the arteries that are needed for smooth passenger and freight transport flows in and across Europe.
To help tackle the increasing challenges of climate change and the need for greater resilience of the Union’s transport infrastructure following the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission adopted on 14 December 2021 a legislative proposal which revises the TEN-T Regulation of 2013. However, since the adoption of the revised guidelines, the resilience of the European transport network has been put to the test yet again by the devastating impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This has redefined the geopolitical landscape, bringing to the surface our vulnerability to unforeseen disruptive events beyond the Union’s borders. Its major impacts on global markets, such as global food security, has highlighted the fact that the Union’s internal market and its transport network cannot be viewed in isolation when it comes to shaping Union policy. Better connections with the EU neighbouring partner countries are more than ever needed.
CONTENT: the present amended proposal aims to introduce the following changes to the legislative proposal of 14 December 2021:
- as an immediate response to the requested action communicated in the ‘Solidarity Lanes’ Communication, an extension of four European Transport Corridors to Ukraine and Moldova is proposed, based on the indicative maps of the core network in these two countries. This regards notably an extension of the North-Sea Baltic Corridor via Lviv and Kyiv to Mariupol, the extension of the Baltic-Black-Aegean Sea Corridor to Odesa via Lviv and via Chişinău as well as an extension of the Baltic Sea-Adriatic Sea and the Rhine-Danube Corridors to Lviv;
- in view of the current geopolitical context, an orientation towards and expansion of the trans-European transport network in Russia and Belarus is no longer valid or desirable. It is therefore proposed to remove the indicative maps of the trans European transport network in Russia and Belarus from Annex IV. However, in case of a democratic transition in Belarus building and upgrading the country’s cross border connections with the EU in line with the comprehensive economic plan for a democratic Belarus would be a high priority, including through re-inclusion of the country back in the Regulation;
- improved cross-border connections to Russia and Belarus are no longer of high priority on the territory of EU Member States. Connections currently exist from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to these two third countries. To reflect the lesser priority in building and upgrading those ‘last-mile’ connections, it is proposed to downgrade the last miles of all cross-border connections currently on the core network to the comprehensive network for which only a later deadline of implementation of 2050 is provided for;
- lastly, several Member States have a railway network with a different nominal track gauge than the European standard nominal track gauge of 1 435 mm. The countries concerned are Ireland (1 600 mm gauge), Finland (1 524 mm gauge), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (1 520 mm gauge) and Portugal and Spain (1 668 mm gauge). Such differences in railway track gauge considerably restrict rail interoperability across the European Union as has been demonstrated by the current crisis in Ukraine and its problems in exporting grains by rail due to its different track gauge. It is therefore proposed, for all Member States with a land rail connection with other Member States, to include a requirement to develop all new TEN-T railway lines with a European standard nominal track gauge of 1 435 mm and also to develop a migration plan towards this European standard nominal track gauge for all existing lines of the European Transport Corridors.