The European Council approved on Thursday the 13th of June an updated regulation concerning EU guidelines for the expansion of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).
This legislation is designed to establish a reliable, seamless, and high-quality transport system that ensures sustainable connectivity throughout Europe, addressing issues like physical gaps, congestion points, and missing links.
The development and enhancement of the TEN-T network will proceed in stages, with clear deadlines set by the new regulation: the core network is to be completed by 2030, the extended core network by 2040 and the comprehensive network by 2050. The regulation focuses on integrating rail, road, and inland waterways to meet actual operational needs and to enhance multimodal freight and passenger transport flows across Europe.
Significant cross-border projects, such as high-speed rail connections between Porto and Vigo, and Budapest and Bucharest, are planned for completion by 2040. Additionally, the regulation aims to merge core network corridors with rail freight corridors, forming the “European Transport Corridors”, and extends four of these corridors to Ukraine and Moldova, while downgrading connections to Russia and Belarus.
Following the Council’s adoption, the legislative document will be signed by the presidents of both the Council and the European Parliament. The publication of this document in the EU’s official journal is expected in the coming weeks. The revised regulation will come into effect twenty days after its publication.
Gruber Logistics welcomes the revision of the regulation, emphasizing the need to maintain focus on infrastructure. We hope it serves as a new starting point for a holistic approach to the transport sector, avoiding the competition between different modes of transport.
