Rail sector welcomes Parliament adoption of TEN-T Regulation

The European rail sector welcomes today’s adoption by the European Parliament of the Report on the revised Regulation on the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) Guidelines. The Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies (CER) acknowledges the work and commitment of the Rapporteurs, Shadow Rapporteurs, MEPs, Council and Commission officials to reach this agreed text. CER considers the TEN-T Regulation a fundamental step to achieve a single European railway area. The new Regulation, together with adequate financial support will make the European transport system more efficient, competitive, and economically, socially and environmentally more sustainable, boosting EU growth.

The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is essential for the coordination of major rail projects, physical and digital, across Europe. The overall development of European rail corridors including cross-border, regional and high-speed infrastructure, will help to shift more passengers and freight to sustainable modes like rail and meet the European Green Deal targets. From the initial Commission proposal, CER has supported the new Regulation that introduces a three-layer gradual development of the network with the Core, Extended Core and Comprehensive networks, creates the European Transport Corridors through the integration of the former Core Network Corridors with the Rail Freight Corridors, and reinforces the role of the Coordinators.

Among the main elements of the agreement CER considers the following to be of particular importance:

• compulsory deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) on the three networks, with clear deadlines;
• common infrastructure requirements for the three networks on minimum speed, train length, axle load and P400 with limited exemptions;
• better and faster connections for passengers and freight with urban areas, ports, airports, and multimodal freight terminals;
• the migration to the European standard nominal track gauge with exemptions;
• the definition of an urban layer with a sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP), passenger hub and multimodal freight terminal where economically viable;
• airports with more than 12 million passengers to be connected to the trans-European railway network, including the high-speed railway network where possible;
• a reference to the importance of high-speed connections between major EU cities.

The revised TEN-T introduces ambitious requirements and challenging provisions that should come hand-in-hand with equally ambitious financing and funding mechanisms. Massive investments are needed to complete the TEN-T network: €500 billion is needed by 2030 for the core network and €1,500 billion is needed by 2050 for the comprehensive network. CER believes that the new Connecting Europe Facility (CEF III) – the EU’s dedicated funding instrument – should be increased to at least €100 billion under the next long-term EU budget plan (MFF 2028-2035) and be complemented with other funds to be able to meet the new TEN-T targets and completion deadlines.

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola said: “We welcome today’s adoption and applaud the efforts and commitment of all European institutions involved. We look forward to the timely implementation of what has been agreed. As underlined in the CER Manifesto “On Track for Europe” we expect the TEN-T provisions to bring to completion the current cross-border projects and rail corridors, increase capacity through digital solutions such as ERTMS and higher performing standards, reach full interoperability between national networks, connect rail and all the ports/airports of the core network, realise new infrastructure and develop a high-speed rail network connecting all EU capitals and major cities”.

Downoad below the press release.