European Union infrastructure corridors and agreements
Map of the European Transport CorridorsMap of the TEN-T Comprehensive and Core Networks
The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure in the European Union. The TEN-T network is part of a wider system of Trans-European Networks (TENs), including a telecommunications network (eTEN) and a proposed energy network (TEN-E or Ten-Energy). The European Commission adopted the first action plans on trans-European networks in 1990.[1]
TEN-T envisages coordinated improvements to primary roads, railways, inland waterways, airports, seaports, inland ports and traffic management systems, providing integrated and intermodal long-distance, high-speed routes. A decision to adopt TEN-T was made by the European Parliament and Council in July 1996.[2] The EU works to promote the networks by a combination of leadership, coordination, issuance of guidelines and funding aspects of development.
TEN-T guidelines were initially adopted on 23 July 1996, with Decision No 1692/96/EC[2] of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network. In May 2001, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Decision No 1346/2001/EC,[4] which amended the TEN-T Guidelines with respect to seaports, inland ports and intermodal terminals.
In April 2004, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Decision No 884/2004/EC (added to the list by Decision No 884/2004/EC[5]), amending Decision No 1692/96/EC on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network. The April 2004 revision was a more fundamental change to TEN-T policies, intended to accommodate EU enlargement and consequent changes in traffic flows.[6]
The evolution of the TEN-T was facilitated by a proposal in 1994 which included a series of priority projects.[7]
In December 2013, with the Regulations (EU) 1315/2013 (TEN-T Guidelines), and (EU) 1316/2013 (Connecting Europe Facility 1), the TEN-T network has been defined on three levels, the Comprehensive network and the Core network, and therein the 9 Core network corridors.
On 17 October 2013, nine Core network corridors (instead of the 30 TENT Priority projects) were announced.[8] These were:
the Rhine–Danube Corridor[9] (Germany–Austria–Slovakia–Hungary–Romania with branch Germany–Czechia–Slovakia);
In July 2021, with the Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 (Connecting Europe Facility 2), the 9 Core network corridors were extended, partially significantly (e.g. Atlantic, North-Sea Baltic, Scand-Med) while the North Sea-Med because of Brexit has changed to Ireland–Belgium-Netherlands and Ireland–France.
In December 2021, the European Commission's proposal for a new Regulation on TEN-T guidelines (COM 2021/821) proposes inter alia for the future a dissolution of selected Core network corridors (Orient/East–Med, North Sea–Mediterranean), its integration in other corridors (Rhine–Danube, North Sea–Alpine) and the creation of new aligned corridors (Baltic–Black–Aegean Seas, Western Balkans).[10]
Connections to neighbours
The development of Ten-T in the Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) was given in 2017 to the Southeast Europe Transport Community.
In 2017, it was decided that the Trans-European Transport Networks would be extended further into Eastern Europe and would include Eastern Partnership member states.[11][12] The furthest eastern expansion of the Trans-European Transport Network reached Armenia in February 2019.[13]
As per the 2021 proposal, connections shall also lead to the UK, Switzerland, the South Mediterranean, Turkey, and the Western Balkans.
In July 2022, it was agreed to link four European Transport Corridors with Moldova and Ukraine and to drop Russia and Belarus from the TEN-T map.[14] An August 2023 report recommended TEN-T be extended to Moldova and Ukraine with a standard gauge (1435mm) rail line, to assist in their integration with EU rail networks, some lines running alongside the 1520mm lines to avoid disruption during construction.[15]
Core Network Corridors
This is the complete list of the TEN-T Core Network Corridors.[16][17]
Financial support for the implementation of TEN-T guidelines stems from the following rules:
Regulation (EC) No 2236/95[22] of 18 September 1995 contains general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks.
Regulation (EC) No 1655/1999[23] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 1999 amends Regulation (EC) No 2236/95.
Regulation (EC) No 807/2004[24] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 amends Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95.
Regulation (EC) No 680/2007[25] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2007 supplies general rules for granting Community financial aid for trans-European transport and energy networks.
In general, TEN-T projects are mostly funded by national or state governments. Other funding sources include: European Community funds (ERDF, Cohesion Funds, TEN-T budget), loans from international financial institutions (e.g. the European Investment Bank), and private funding.
Trans-European Shipping Management and Information network
Trans-European Air Traffic Management network, which includes the Single European Sky and SESAR concepts
Trans-European Positioning and Navigation network, which includes the Galileo
Previous priorities
At its meeting in Essen in 1994, the European Council endorsed a list of 14 TEN-T ‘specific’ projects, drawn up by a group chaired by then Commission Vice-President Henning Christophersen.[1] Following the 2003 recommendations from the Van Miert TEN-T high-level group, the Commission compiled a list of 30 priority projects to be launched before 2010.[26]
EuroCap-Rail on the Brussels–Luxembourg–Strasbourg railway axis
Railway axis of the Ionian/Adriatic intermodal corridor
Inland waterway Seine–Scheldt
As of 2019, several of them are finished, e.g. no 2, 5 and 11, other are ongoing e.g. no 12 and 17, and some are not started, e.g no 27.
Related networks
In addition to the various TENs, there are ten Pan-European corridors, which are paths between major urban centres and ports, mainly in Eastern Europe, that have been identified as requiring major investment.
The Trans-European road network (TERN) was defined by Council Decision 93/629/EEC of 29 October 1993, and is a project to improve the internal road infrastructure of the European Union (EU). The TERN project is one of several Trans-European Transport Networks.
Transport in Europe provides for the movement needs of over 700 million people and associated freight.
The Trans-European Networks (TEN) were created by the European Union by Articles 154–156 of the Treaty of Rome (1957), with the stated goals of the creation of an internal market and the reinforcement of economic and social cohesion. To various supporters of this policy, it made little sense to talk of a big EU market, with freedom of movement within it for goods, persons and services, unless the various regions and national networks making up that market were properly linked by modern and efficient infrastructure. The construction of Trans-European Networks was also seen as an important element for economic growth and the creation of employment.
The Trans-European high-speed rail network (TEN-R), together with the Trans-European conventional rail network, make up the Trans-European Rail network, which in turn is one of a number of the European Union's Trans-European transport networks (TEN-T). It was defined by the Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996.
Transport in the European Union is a shared competence of the Union and its member states. The European Commission includes a Commissioner for Transport, currently Adina Ioana Vălean. Since 2012, the commission also includes a Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport which develops EU policies in the transport sector and manages funding for Trans-European Networks and technological development and innovation, worth €850 million yearly for the period 2000–2006.
Motorways of the Sea is a concept in the transport policy of the European Union, stressing the importance of sea transport. The main aim of these Motorways of the Sea is to improve port communications with peripheral regions of the European continent and thus strengthen the networks between the EU candidate countries and those countries already part of the European Union.
The Trans-European conventional rail network, together with the Trans-European high-speed rail network, make up the Trans-European Rail network, which in turn is one of a number of the European Union's Trans-European transport networks (TEN-T). It was defined by the Council Directive 2001/16/EC of 19 March 2001.
The Trans-European Rail network is made up of the Trans-European high-speed rail network as well as the Trans-European conventional rail network. The rail network is one of a number of the European Union's Trans-European transport networks (TEN-T).
The Trans-European Inland Waterway network is one of a number of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) of the European Union.
The Trans-European Seaport network is one of a number of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) of the European Union.
The Trans-European Combined Transport network is one of a number of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) of the European Union.
The Single European Railway Directive 20122012/34/EU is an EU Directive that regulates railway networks in European Union law. This recast the "First Railway Directive" or "Package" from 1991, and allows open access operations on railway lines by companies other than those that own the rail infrastructure. The legislation was extended by further directives to include cross border transit of freight.
The Baltic–Adriatic Corridor or Baltic–Adriatic Axis is a European initiative to create a high capacity north–south railway and road corridor connecting Gdańsk on the Baltic Sea with Bologna and the Adriatic. The line traverses Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy, connecting heavily industrialized areas such as Warsaw and the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Vienna and south-east Austria, and Northern Italy. It developed from the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) project No. 23 of a Gdańsk-Vienna railway axis set up in 2003. Carrying 24 million tons of freight per year, the Baltic–Adriatic Corridor is considered among the most important trans-Alpine lines in Europe.
The North Sea–Mediterranean Corridor is the number 8 of the ten priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network. It stretches from Ireland and the north of UK through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France.
The Rhine–Danube Corridor is the ninth of the ten priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network.
The Scandinavian–Mediterranean Corridor, shortened as Scan–Med Corridor and known also as Helsinki–Valletta Corridor, is the 5th of 10 priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network.
The North Sea–Baltic Corridor is the number 2 of the ten priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
The Orient/East–Med Corridor is the number 4 of the ten priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
The Rhine-Alpine Corridor is one of the ten priority corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network. It is a rail and roadway network.
↑ "Rhine-Danube". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 13 February 2020. ...passing through the Romanian capital Bucharest to culminate at the Black Sea port of Constanta.
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