Trans-European Transport Networks

The Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) are a planned set of road, rail, air and water transport networks in the European Union. The TEN-T networks are 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.

These projects are technically and financially managed by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), which superseded the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency Agency (TEN-T EA) on 31 December 2013.

History

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,[3] 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[4]), 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.[5]

In 2017, it was decided that the Trans-European Transport Networks would be extended into Eastern Europe and would include Eastern Partnership member states.[6][7]

Funding timeline

Financial support for the implementation of TEN-T guidelines stems from the following rules:

  • Regulation (EC) No 2236/95[8] 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[9] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 1999 amends Regulation (EC) No 2236/95.
  • Regulation (EC) No 807/2004[10] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 amends Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95.
  • Regulation (EC) No 680/2007[11] 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.

List of transport networks

Each transportation mode has a network. The networks are:[2]

Priority axes and projects

On 17 October 2013 nine projects were announced.[12] These were:

  1. The Baltic-Adriatic Corridor
  2. The North Sea-Baltic Corridor
  3. The Mediterranean Corridor
  4. The Orient/East-Med Corridor
  5. The Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor
  6. The Rhine-Alpine Corridor
  7. The Atlantic Corridor
  8. The North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor
  9. The Rhine-Danube Corridor[13]

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.[14]

The 30 axes and priority projects were:

  1. Railway axis Berlin–Verona/Milan–Bologna–Naples–Messina–Palermo
  2. High-speed railway axis Paris–Brussels–Cologne–Amsterdam–London
  3. High-speed railway axis of south-west Europe
  4. High-speed railway axis east
  5. Betuwe line
  6. Railway axis Lyons–Trieste–Divača/ Koper–Divača–Ljubljana–Budapest–Ukrainian border
  7. Motorway axis Igoumenitsa/Patras–Athens–Sofia–Budapest
  8. Multimodal axis Portugal/Spain–rest of Europe
  9. Railway axis Cork–Dublin–Belfast–Stranraer
  10. Malpensa Airport
  11. Øresund Bridge
  12. Nordic triangle railway/road axis
  13. United Kingdom/Ireland/Benelux road axis
  14. West Coast Main Line
  15. Galileo
  16. Freight railway axis Sines/Algeciras-Madrid-Paris
  17. Railway axis Paris–Strasbourg–Stuttgart–Vienna–Bratislava
  18. Rhine/Meuse–Main–Danube inland waterway axis
  19. High-speed rail interoperability on the Iberian peninsula
  20. Fehmarn belt railway axis
  21. Motorways of the sea
  22. Railway axis Athens–Sofia–Budapest–Vienna–Prague– Nuremberg/Dresden
  23. Railway axis Gdansk–Warsaw–Brno/Bratislava–Vienna
  24. Railway axis Lyons/Genoa–Basle–Duisburg–Rotterdam/Antwerp
  25. Motorway axis Gdansk–Brno/Bratislava–Vienna
  26. Railway/road axis Ireland/United Kingdom/continental Europe
  27. Rail Baltic axis Warsaw–Kaunas–Riga–Tallinn–Helsinki
  28. EuroCap-Rail on the Brussels–Luxembourg–Strasbourg railway axis
  29. Railway axis of the Ionian/Adriatic intermodal corridor
  30. Inland waterway Seine–Scheldt

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 international E-road network is a naming system for major roads in Europe managed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. It numbers roads with a designation beginning with "E" (such as "E1").

See also

References

  1. 1 2 timeline of TEN-T priority axes and projects as of 2005 Archived 18 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine., p. 7, PDF document, 14 MB
  2. 1 2 3 Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network
  3. ↑ Decision No 1346/2001/EC
  4. 1 2 Decision No 884/2004/EC
  5. ↑ here (13 MB) Archived 31 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Ukraine joins Trans-European Transport Networks, UNIAN (27 November 2017)
  8. ↑ Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 of 18 September 1995 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks
  9. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 1655/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks
  10. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 807/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks
  11. ↑ Regulation (EC) No 680/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2007 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of the trans-European transport and energy networks
  12. ↑ http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-897_en.htm
  13. ↑ "Corridors - European Commission". Europa. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  14. ↑ EC web site with links to the complete Van Miert reports, plus annexes and maps Archived 1 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
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