Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2021)812 - Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2021)812 - Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2021)812  |
| date | 14-12-2021 |
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
This legislative proposal for the revision of Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 – Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) is a key action of the European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. The aim of the TEN-T Regulation is to build an effective EU-wide and multimodal network of rail, inland waterways, short sea shipping routes and roads which are linked to urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals across the EU. The problems addressed by the revision are insufficient and/or incomplete TEN-T infrastructure standards and a lack of integration of standards for alternative fuels infrastructure on the TEN-T with negative impacts on climate and environment. Secondly, the TEN-T network suffers from capacity bottlenecks and an insufficient network connectivity to all regions that hamper multimodality. Thirdly, the insufficient safety and reliability of the TEN-T infrastructure needs to be addressed. Finally, the governance instruments are inadequate compared to new needs and the TEN-T network design needs a review to increase coherence with other policies.
The TEN-T revision thus aims at reaching four main objectives. Firstly, it aims at making transport greener by providing the appropriate infrastructure basis to alleviate congestion and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution of air and water by making each mode of transport more efficient and by enabling increased transport activity by more sustainable forms of transport. It aims in particular to facilitate an increase in the share of rail, short sea shipping and inland waterways in view of a more sustainable modal composition of the transport system and consequently to reduce its negative externalities. Secondly, it aims at facilitating seamless and efficient transport, fostering multimodality and interoperability between the TEN-T transport modes and better integrating the urban nodes into the network. Removing bottlenecks and missing links, and improving multimodality and interoperability in the European transport system will contribute to the completion of the internal market. Thirdly, it strives to increase the resilience of TEN-T to climate change and other natural hazards or human-made disasters. TEN-T must be resilient to the potential adverse impacts of climate change in order to protect public investments and safeguard their continued usability in the new climate; and they should support climate-neutrality by integrating the costs of greenhouse gas emissions in the cost-benefit analysis. Last but not least, it points at improving the efficiency of the TEN-T governance tools, at streamlining the reporting and monitoring instruments and at reviewing the TEN-T network design.
With this revised TEN-T policy we should seek to build a reliable, seamless and high quality trans-European transport network which ensures sustainable connectivity throughout the European Union without physical gaps, bottlenecks or missing links by 2050. This network will contribute to the good functioning of the internal market, to the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the EU territory and to the European Green Deal objectives. It should be gradually developed in steps, with intermediate deadlines in 2030 and 2040.
This initiative is part of the Commission Work Programme 2021 under Annex I (new initiatives).
• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area
As the main pillar of EU transport infrastructure policy, the TEN-T Regulation acts as enabler and also depends on complementary policies. The standards and requirements set in the TEN-T Regulation are directly connected with the relevant objectives and needs in other transport sectors/fields and thus with other more sector-specific legislations. This means, for example, that the TEN-T rail infrastructure – for ensuring seamless cross-border transport and mobility – has to comply with interoperability legislation set in railway policy. Similarly, TEN-T road infrastructure has to take up and comply with EU legislation on road safety. The implementation of sectoral policies also needs a strong TEN-T Regulation framework since the TEN-T provides the infrastructure network for the implementation of other sectoral measures or other pieces of legislation, some of which however go beyond the TEN-T.
The TEN-T Regulation performance on indicators such as those related to modal shares, better service quality, the uptake of recharging/refuelling infrastructure depends on coordinated efforts with related policy fields. This particularly relates to the synergies between TEN-T and the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR proposal) as well as TEN-T and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), since both are intrinsically dependent on each other. For instance, the AFIR regulates the provision of charging/fuelling points on the TEN-T whilst the TEN-T Regulation provides the infrastructure basis for their wide deployment in a European network perspective. Similarly, the ITS regulates the provision of intelligent transport systems on the TEN-T, as part of a broader package of measures. Both AFIR and ITS need a definition of the TEN-T for their implementation (i.e. a geographical scope of application), which is provided by the maps contained in the TEN-T Regulation. These considerations also apply to other initiatives which are part of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy action plan, such as the revision of the Rail Freight Corridor Regulation, the revision of the urban mobility package, or the NAIADES III Action Plan. The TEN-T Regulation will define the alignment of the European Transport Corridors that shall replace the Rail Freight Corridors and Core Network Corridors. This will ensure coherence in the network development and will contribute to build synergies between the infrastructure and operational aspects of the network.
• Consistency with other Union policies
The European Green Deal, adopted by the European Commission in December 2019, puts climate action at its core, by setting an EU climate neutrality objective by 2050. In the domain of transport, the European Green Deal calls for a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport in order for the EU to become a climate-neutral economy by 2050, while working towards the zero-pollution ambition.
Furthermore, the TEN-T is closely linked to the trans-European networks policies in the fields of energy and telecommunications and provisions to exploit synergies between the three policies are enshrined in the legislation. Similarly, the TEN-T is also closely linked to maritime policy, i.e. with maritime transport being one of the key sustainable blue economy sectors 1 .
In terms of EU funding and financing, the TEN-T Regulation is directly linked to the Regulation of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) as it defines the projects of common interest that are eligible under CEF. In addition, the TEN-T infrastructure is largely funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and since recently also through the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF). Finally, TEN-T is fully aligned with EU environmental and climate policies such as the Biodiversity Strategy and legislation, including the Water Framework Directive and the Birds and Habitats Directives and the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change 2 .
2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY
• Legal basis
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (Articles 170-172) stipulates the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the areas of transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructures 3 . The Union shall aim at promoting the interconnection and interoperability of national networks as well as access to such networks. It shall take account in particular of the need to link islands, landlocked and peripheral with the central regions of the Union (Article 170 TFEU). For this purpose, the Union shall establish a series of guidelines covering the objectives, priorities and broad lines of measures envisaged in the sphere of trans-European networks. These guidelines shall identify projects of common interest, shall implement any measures that may prove necessary to ensure the interoperability of the networks, in particular in the field of technical standardisation and may support projects of common interest supported by Member States. Furthermore, the Union may also contribute, through the Cohesion Fund set up pursuant to Article 177, to the financing of specific projects in Member States in the area of transport infrastructure. To ensure interoperability of networks cooperation with third countries is equally foreseen (Article 171 TFEU).
• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The TFEU defines that the trans-European networks shall enable citizens of the Union, economic operators and regional communities to derive full benefit from an area without internal frontiers. They shall also take account of the need to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion of the Union and to promote its overall harmonious development.
TEN-T policy is thereby, by its nature, a policy that extends beyond Member States borders since it focusses on a single European network scheme across borders. Such European wide network can obviously not be established by one Member State alone. If Member States developed infrastructure purely on their own, national interests would often outweigh the European interest. As such, the benefits of a European sustainable and high quality transport network would be foregone. In this case, it would be likely that issues of cross-border connectivity and interoperability would also not be sufficiently addressed since intra-national connections are mostly prioritised by Member States even if cross-border projects are essential to exploit the benefits of the entire network and to remove bottlenecks which generate congestion. This would not only lead to the risk of a lack of seamless travel connectivity across Europe, but also lead to possible incoherence of national planning approaches. In return, different standards and interoperability requirements in different EU Member States would hamper the seamless transport flows throughout the EU and even increase costs for transport users. Overall, a seamless TEN-T without physical gaps, integrating intelligent and innovative solutions is key to facilitating the internal market, increasing cohesion and contributing to the objectives of the European Green Deal.
Since its establishment as an EU policy in 1993, the added value of TEN-T policy overall has always been strongly affirmed by Member States, regions, cities and industrial stakeholders. The EU added value of TEN-T has also been one of the main conclusions of the evaluation of the current TEN-T Regulation. Indeed, concentrating efforts towards the creation of a common, Europe-wide transport network is clearly acknowledged as a vision whose benefits go beyond isolated national action. Ensuring a common and coherent EU-wide basis for the identification of ‘projects of common interest’ and, correspondingly, for the alignment of planning and implementation efforts of a wide range of actors is a clear and widely recognised added value of TEN-T.
This also applies to the dimension of urban nodes as it is important that urban traffic is well connected with interregional and international traffic. Indeed, the role of urban nodes on the TEN-T goes beyond the local level, as transport activities on the TEN-T start and/or end in such nodes, or transit them, requiring good coordination between the different levels in order to avoid bottlenecks.
However, urban mobility is and shall remain a policy mainly under the remit of the Member States (local authorities). EU action should remain limited to aspects of urban mobility which are connected with interregional and international traffic. This also accounts for the maintenance of infrastructure: while maintaining infrastructure is and will remain the main responsibility of Member States, it is essential to guarantee through minimum rules in the TEN-T Regulation that the TEN-T will continue to provide a high quality of services to citizens and businesses.
• Proportionality
As detailed in chapter 7 of the Impact Assessment accompanying this proposal none of the policy options goes beyond what is necessary to reach the overall policy objectives. The proposed intervention incentivises a shift of transport volumes to more sustainable modes of transport necessary to deliver on the increased climate ambition for 2030 and the overall objective of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The Policy Options are designed to create a coherent policy framework and a coherent, high standard transport network as the basis for other sectoral policies to deliver on their objectives. They are designed to avoid disproportionate impacts on public authorities, operators of infrastructure and mobility service providers, notably by building on and further developing a well-established governance system. This has been fully demonstrated in the evaluation of Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 and the baseline analysis underpinning the impact assessment for the revision of that Regulation. Thus, they fully respect the principle of proportionality.
• Choice of the instrument
Since this is a proposal for revising an existing Regulation it seems legitimate to keep the status of the instrument as it is.
3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
• Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation
The evaluation of the TEN-T Regulation (SWD(2021)117final) 4 concluded that the TEN-T provides all relevant actors (i.e. Member States, regions, cities, transport industry, infrastructure managers of all transport modes, users) with a common policy framework which works towards the gradual completion of the common and consistent European transport infrastructure network. As such, it adds a European perspective to national infrastructure planning and addresses needs and benefits beyond single national approaches. However, the evaluation also concluded that efforts need to be stepped up in order to reach new political targets. Indeed, since the establishment of the TEN-T Regulation in 2013 the policy context has changed significantly, particularly through the adoption of the European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy as well as the Zero Pollution Action Plan. The links between the conclusions of the ex-post evaluation, including the shortcomings identified, and the proposal are presented here below:
| Main conclusions of the ex-post evaluation | Proposal |
| Conclusions on relevance | |
| All four specific objectives of the TEN-T Regulation remain relevant, are equally important and complementary to each other. | The proposal maintains and develops the specific objectives of the Regulation further |
| The design structure as well as the completion deadlines of 2030 and 2050 have proven their appropriateness. | The proposal broadly maintains the network structure and the completion deadlines but adds a new intermediate deadline (2040) to ensure a stepwise approach toward 2050. |
| For the specific objectives “efficiency of infrastructure development to facilitate the internal market” and “social, economic and territorial cohesion”, there is a strong need to advance on requirements enhancing the quality of the TEN-T infrastructure. | The proposal aims to increase the quality of the TEN-T and ensure that this quality is preserved over the lifetime of the infrastructure. Further measures are introduced to advance on interoperability and accessibility of the network. |
| For the specific objective “sustainability”, the lack of appropriateness to enable decarbonisation in line with the objective of the European Green Deal needs to be overcome. The reduction of transport emissions by 90% by 2050 cannot be achieved without a proper TEN-T allowing for greener transport. | The proposal reinforces the requirements in line with the needed contribution to the objectives of the European Green Deal for all transport modes. |
| For the specific objective “increasing user benefits”, the TEN-T Regulation should be advanced to strengthen the identification, combination and implementation of projects from the perspective of integrated door-to-door user services. This current lack of appropriateness seems to be particularly evident in the passengers’ sector. | In the proposal, measures are defined to strengthen the service and user perspective of the TEN-T especially in relation to passenger transport. |
| Complementarity between core and comprehensive network could be strengthened to help overcoming remaining accessibility and connectivity gaps and ensuring the broadest possible and most effective coverage of new infrastructure quality parameters. | The proposal defines measures targeted at an alignment of standards and requirements between the two network layers (comprehensive and core networks) in fields such as railway infrastructure, alternative fuels or urban nodes. |
| Conclusions on effectiveness | |
| The TEN-T Regulation, overall, has been very effective in identifying thousands of projects on the basis of a single Europe-wide policy framework. | The framework for identifying projects on the network is maintained in the proposal. |
| However there remain problems of delays for a number of projects caused by complex preparatory procedures, remaining divergences between agreed European objectives and national infrastructure and investment planning or limited EU level governance tools. | The proposal defines measures to ensure alignment of national interests and responsibilities with TEN-T objectives, while respecting subsidiarity. 5 |
| TEN-T implementation could be further enhanced – especially in the light of the new challenges and objectives (decarbonisation, digitalisation and increasing risks of unforeseen crisis events) | The proposal defines measures further strengthening existing EU instruments (e.g. core network corridors, work plans, implementing decisions of the Commission). Furthermore it defines measures targeted at improving the resilience of the network. |
| The instrument of the core network corridors, including the European Coordinators, has found to be both highly relevant and effective. | The proposal further develops and extends the corridor concept and strengthens the role of the European Coordinators |
| Conclusions on efficiency | |
| In relation to the reporting and monitoring obligations set out in the TEN-T Regulation there is some room for streamlining and strengthening these tools. | The proposal defines measures streamlining monitoring instruments and facilitating reporting. |
| The coordination between Core Network Corridors and Rail Freight corridors has led to certain efficiency gains but there is untapped potential in a better alignment between the two instruments in terms of investment planning and project identification. | The proposal ensures the geographical alignment of both corridor instruments into European Transport Corridors and further strengthen the coordination between the two instruments. |
| Conclusions on coherence and coordination | |
| Achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal would require that the TEN-T infrastructure is fully aligned with the provisions resulting from the other policy initiatives in the fields of alternative fuels (AFIR), FuelEU Maritime and the ReFuelEU Aviation. | The proposal ensures full alignment with other policy initiatives on alternative fuels. |
| Need to enhance coherence with the challenges of the digital transition and other new technologies | The proposal ensures full alignment with other policy initiatives on intelligent transport systems. |
| Conclusions on EU added value | |
| The added value of TEN-T policy overall has always been strongly affirmed by Member States, regions, cities and industrial stakeholders. TEN-T policy also attracts increasing interest outside the EU, notably in neighbouring States but also in other regions of the world, for example in relation to the extension of land transport connections to Asia. | The approach to third and neighbouring country involvement is maintained. The vision of the EU on the extension of the TEN-T to third countries is addressed in a separate communication of the Commission |
| Ensuring a common and coherent EU-wide basis for the identification of ‘projects of common interest’ and, correspondingly, for the alignment of planning and implementation efforts of a wide range of actors is a clear and widely recognised and would not have been possible without Regulation (EU) 1315/2013. | The TEN-T framework for a harmonised planning and implementation of the network has been maintained and further developed in the proposal. |
• Stakeholder consultations
The following stakeholder consultations were carried out during the evaluation phase:
Open Public Consultation: the Commission as the first step of the formal revision process between the 24th of April and the 17th of July 2019 carried out an Open Public consultation. The questionnaire was available in all official EU languages. This consultation generated more than 600 responses from a wide range of stakeholders, including public authorities (from international to local), infrastructure managers, commercial transport users, civil society and citizens. Importantly, more than 150 stakeholders - including a number of Member States and key European Associations - used this initial step already to submit position papers highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the policy and – notably – its future opportunities and needs. The OPC results were analysed and fed into the overall evaluation process.
Targeted stakeholder consultations: the approach to consult expert stakeholders designed by the consultant consisted of three main elements: online surveys, interviews and case studies on issues of specific importance. The aim of the targeted consultations was to collect data from specific stakeholder groups at local, national and EU level. Generally, stakeholder views showed a very coherent perception of views and no noteworthy distinction could be found between different stakeholder groups, unless otherwise specified in the evaluation.
Online surveys: A survey questionnaire has been implemented between 20 January and 16 March 2020 in order to collect data on stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences with the TEN-T Regulation, its implementation and outcomes to date, and their views on recommendations for future EU policy developments in this area. Overall, more than 2000 stakeholders with expertise in the subjects at stake have been contacted for online surveys. In total 198 valid responses were received.
Interviews: In total 44 stakeholders have been interviewed with cross-sections of respondents to the survey and representatives of relevant stakeholder groups. The main aim of these semi-structured interviews was to gain in-depth insights into the implementation of the TEN-T Regulation, progress achieved and success factors/challenges from the perspective of different stakeholders. The global interviews complemented the desk research, open public consultation and global survey to explain the quantitative data obtained and fill in any gaps, support the thematic case studies, and elaborate on key issues where data from other sources were unclear or needed further explanation.
Case studies: In addition to the general evaluation of the TEN-T Regulation nine thematic case studies on selected TEN-T policy areas have been performed. They were undertaken in areas in which the Commission’s work during the implementation phase of the TEN-T Regulation has produced evidence that there might be a lack of relevance, both in light of developments over the last years and of foreseeable future developments. Three online workshops with stakeholders comprising EU officials, transport stakeholders and social partners have been developed and implemented to validate the findings, and to discuss conclusions and recommendations of the case studies which related to urban mobility, (digitalisation) and innovation and new technologies.
The following stakeholder consultations were carried out during the impact assessment phase:
An additional Open Public consultation was carried out during the impact assessment phase. It was undertaken between 10 February and 5 May 2021 on the EU Survey website. The consultation was divided into five sections, starting with a general question on the Regulation, followed by questions on additional measures that might be taken in, and the potential focus of, an amended Regulation. The consultation received 496 responses in total. The main issues covered were:
·Measures enabling the decarbonisation and the reduction of air pollutant emissions in the transport system;
·Measures related to infrastructure quality and resilience;
·Measures related to innovation, digitalisation and automation; and
·Potential focus areas for the policy options.
All stakeholder input was used in the process of developing the proposal. While the input received during the evaluation phase was in particular used to define and refine the different measures to be further analysed in the impact assessment, the input received in the impact assessment phase was important to validate the measures and options chosen and thus the approach for the revision of the Regulation.
• Collection and use of expertise
Contents
- Court of Auditors
- Evaluation
- Impact Assessment
- Recitals
- Chapter I: General principles
- Chapter II: General provisions
- Chapter III: Specific provisions
- Chapter IV: Provisions for smart and resilient transport
- Chapter V: Implementation of instruments of European Transport Corridors and horizontal priorities
- Chapter VI: Common provisions
The Court of Auditors has carried out several audits and reviews on policies related to transport infrastructure and TEN-T, in particular on the European high speed rail network, on maritime transport in the EU, on rail freight transport in the EU, as well as on EU transport infrastructures 6 . Wherever applicable and in line with the replies it has given to the respective reports, the Commission has considered the relevant recommendations in the preparation of the present proposal.
The evaluation of Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 on Union Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network started in September 2018 and built in particular on the support study for the TEN-T evaluation by Coffey consultants 7 and on the support study for the TEN-T policy review, by Panteia 8 . While the former was addressing the provision of the TEN-T Regulation in its entirety and collected information from all concerned stakeholders and modes of transport the latter was addressed mainly to Member States authorities. A standard triangulation approach was applied to address the evaluation questions, through different angles: desk research, interviews and surveys.
The impact assessment has been based on research and analyses done by the Commission. The Commission also contracted an external, independent consultants team (Ricardo Nederland B.V. as leader of the group together with Ricardo-AEA Limited, TRT Trasporti e Territorio srl (TRT) and M-Five GmbH Mobility, Futures, Innovation, Economics (M-FIVE)) to support the impact assessment in specific tasks, i.e. the assessment of the policy options, the comparison of the options, the assessment of the administrative costs as well as the analysis of the open public consultation. The external support study will be published alongside this proposal. In addition, the Baseline scenario has been developed by E3Modelling with the PRIMES-TREMOVE model, drawing on the MIX scenario underpinning the impact assessments of the ‘Fit for 55’ package. ASTRA and TRUST models have been calibrated on this Baseline scenario by M-FIVE and TRT, respectively.
• Impact assessment
To adequately address the objectives of the TEN-T revision, three policy options (PO) have been assessed in terms of their economic, social and environmental impacts. PO1 aims at updating existing TEN-T infrastructure quality requirements and standards and provides for the adequate infrastructural basis for the deployment of alternative fuels and intelligent transport systems. In addition, it includes measures to harmonise and streamline the existing TEN-T monitoring and reporting tools. In terms of TEN-T network, it also includes a review of the transport network and transport nodes. PO2, building upon PO1, represents a step change by introducing new, more ambitious standards for all transport modes as to contribute to decarbonisation, pollution reduction, digitalisation, resilience and safety of the transport infrastructure system. In addition, a better integration of the urban nodes in the TEN-T is ensured through specific requirements to manage traffic of passengers and freight to/from cities. PO3, being the preferred option, accelerates the completion of the TEN-T by advancing the deadline for the completion of certain standards and network sections from 2050 to 2040 whilst keeping the ambitious standards and requirements introduced through PO2. It also ensures a broad and coherent development on the network, translating into a substantial review of the TEN-T network design.
In terms of results PO3 brings significant economic benefits, notably an increase of 0.4% of GDP in 2030, 1.3% in 2040 and 2.4% by 2050 relative to the baseline. This translates into €57 billion increase in GDP relative to the baseline in 2030, €229 billion in 2040 and €467 billion in 2040. Higher investments on the TEN-T also create employment, leading to an estimated 0.1% increase of employment in 2030 relative to the baseline, 0.3% in 2040 and 0.5% by 2050, equivalent to 200,000 additional employed persons in 2030, 561,000 in 2040 and 840,000 by 2050. PO3 also performs well in shifting freight and passenger transport activity to more sustainable modes of transport. The anticipated implementation of a new passenger rail standard (160 km/h line speed), the introduction of the P400 loading gauge (allowing circulation of semi-trailers on railway wagons) as well as the extension of some rail standards from the core to the comprehensive network, coupled with the extension of the latter, is projected to increase rail transport activity. This is also reflected in a higher rail share in the modal split to the detriment of the road sector. Although the modal share of inland waterway and maritime transport stays broadly stable, the implementation of new standards allows the sector to absorb the projected growth of EU27 traffic volumes and of intra-EU maritime traffic. Moreover, the shift from road to less emitting modes enabled by the bundle of measures included in PO3 are projected to result in CO2 emissions and air pollution emissions reductions. The reduction in the external costs of CO2 emissions is estimated at around €387 million relative to the baseline over the 2021-2050 period, expressed as present value, while the reduction in the external costs of air pollution at around €420 million. In addition, improvements of road safety are brought by setting quality standards and related safety features to all network sections above a certain daily traffic threshold reducing the number of fatalities and injured persons. The reduction in the external costs of accidents is estimated at around €3,930 million relative to the baseline over the 2021-2050 period, expressed as present value. The reduction in the external costs of inter-urban road congestion is estimated at around € 2,891 million relative to the baseline over the 2021-2050 period.
In terms of costs the preferred option strikes the best balance between the achieved objectives and the overall implementation costs. The investments to implement all measures under PO3 are estimated at €247.5 billion relative to the baseline, expressed as present value over 2021-2050. In addition, the administrative costs for the private sector are estimated at €8.6 million relative to the baseline, expressed as present value over 2021-2050, and those for the public authorities at €25.4 million. Other impacts, related to noise emissions and potential biodiversity loss, were difficult to quantify since noise impacts strongly depend on the local (traffic) situation and biodiversity on the specific location and characteristics of the infrastructure.
The upgrade of the infrastructure for combined railway transport and of terminals is an important element to ensure that intermodal transport is primarily done by rail, inland waterways or short-sea shipping and that any initial and/or final legs carried out by road are as short as possible. Those infrastructure upgrades will generate opportunities to SMEs even though in some segments also large players exist. Main stakeholders concerned are the railway undertakings in the freight market, the rail freight terminal operators, trucking companies and operators at passenger terminals. In the road sector, improving the rest areas and parking situation for regional and long-distance trucking will benefit the large number of small driver-owned trucking companies, which are actually among the smallest enterprises in the transport domain, as they depend on a dense and quality network of parking areas.
PO3 adds an important dimension to the cohesion objective of TEN-T through the identification of urban nodes and the integration of passenger / freight terminals on the whole EU territory playing a crucial role for regional connectivity. PO3 also stimulates best the resilience and climate change adaptation of the TEN-T infrastructure. Finally, PO3 adds important value to ensure coherence with other policies by reviewing the TEN-T network design (e.g. through the creation of European Transport Corridors, replacing the two existing types of corridors – Core Network Corridors and Rail Freight Corridors).
• Regulatory fitness and simplification
This initiative is part of the Commission Work Programme 2021 under Annex I (new initiatives) and is not part of Annex II (REFIT initiatives).
It improves the functioning of the TEN-T policy by increasing the efficiency of the regulatory framework as a whole. On top of that, it clarifies certain requirements and concepts. For instance, the concept of Motorways of the Sea as currently defined in the Regulation has been acknowledged by a large number of experts and project promoters as overly complex. The evaluation of the TEN-T Regulation confirms that it would benefit from simplification and integration in an overarching and integrated concept of the TEN-T covering ports, shipping and all other maritime infrastructure elements for the benefit of the entire ‘European Maritime Space’. Another example is the alignment of the Rail Freight Corridors with the Core Network Corridors which will allow optimising the instruments and avoid duplication, for example the requirement to draw up investment plans under the Rail Freight Corridor Regulation which should be simply removed as such investment plans overlap with the work plans which are regularly prepared by the European TEN-T Coordinators.
Two further simplifications that will lead to potential cost savings have been identified:
·automated data input into the TENtec system allowing an exchange directly from the data source (Member State, infrastructure manager);
·replacing the biennial work plans of the European Coordinators and the biennial progress reporting on the implementation of the TEN-T by the Member States with a work plan including the priorities for the respective corridor development every four years, with a brief annual status report on the state of implementation of the Corridors, Motorways of the Seas (in future European Maritime Space) and ERTMS.
While the proposal increases the overall implementation costs for authorities, it generates improvements, in particular economic and employment gains and enables more sustainable forms of transport that more than offset the increase in regulatory costs.
• Fundamental rights
By setting relevant infrastructure requirements, the proposal will strengthen accessibility for all users, thereby enhancing accessibility for persons with disabilities and with reduced mobility and contributing to gender equality.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
The administrative costs relative to the baseline have been estimated in the impact assessment as being moderate, especially compared with the ambitious revision plans under the preferred policy option. Expressed as present value over 2021-2050, administrative costs for the public authorities have been estimated at €25.4 million (i.e. €15.8 million for the European Commission 9 and €9.6 million for Member States public authorities). In addition, the largest part of investments is estimated to originate from public funding (national public funds, EU funds) and would amount to €244.2 billion relative to the baseline, expressed as present value over 2021-2050.
5. OTHER ELEMENTS
• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
The Commission will follow the progress, the impacts and results of this initiative through a set of governance instruments, based on the TEN-T governance, such as the strengthened European Coordinators and their work plans. Monitoring will be further strengthened in the revised Regulation.
The European Coordinators have in this regard been instrumental as they act as ambassadors of TEN-T policy and mediators for all relevant stakeholders that they gather in so called Corridor Fora. This work will be further boosted through a reinforced role of the European Coordinators. In addition, each European Transport Corridor and the two horizontal priorities will be supported by dedicated studies which monitor the progress made with regard to the fulfilment of standards, deadlines and priority setting. This is for instance reflected in a very close monitoring of all projects planned or ongoing on the TEN-T (so called “project pipeline” analysis and half-yearly “project implementation reports”). Projects are thereby being assessed in terms of their financial maturity as well as their status in terms of permitting and procurement, so that problems e.g. in terms of delays can be easily spotted and interventions being planned by Commission and/or European Coordinators. The new Regulation will also include the possibility to build more than in the past on implementing acts. They will not only foster the priority setting at national level, but also facilitate the monitoring of progress made on the TEN-T against defined and agreed milestones in those implementing acts. As such, they are also a very solid basis for the monitoring of those projects since regular progress can be checked per milestone and appropriate measures taken in case of delays. When adopting these implementing acts, the Member States concerned also agree to a regular reporting on the progress achieved. In terms of monitoring, the progress of the TEN-T will be monitored in terms of the technical completion of the TEN-T infrastructure with the defined TEN-T standards and against the defined deadlines of 2030, 2040 and 2050. The standards and requirements will thereby constitute the key performance indicators against which the success of TEN-T will be monitored (e.g. percentage of length of rail freight sections that are electrified, cater for 22.5 axle load and for 740 m train length; number of maritime ports with a railway access etc.). Next to it, there is a constant monitoring through the so-called TENtec database, a powerful information system which will allow in future an automated exchange of data directly from the data source (Member State, infrastructure manager) in a timely manner.
• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal
The structure of the revised Regulation will deviate from the structure of the current Regulation. It will no longer be organised by network layer (core and comprehensive) but by transport mode, which will allow a better understanding of the various requirements. It will include specific requirements and maps for the European Transport Corridors and the new intermediary deadline of 2040. The first chapters of the Regulation explain the overall objectives of the TEN-T and the stepwise approach to complete the network. It will consist of the following main chapters:
The recitals will in particular put the focus on the contribution of the TEN-T to the European Green Deal and the objectives of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. They furthermore detail the links of the revised TEN-T with other transport policies in the different modes and with policy areas outside of the transport sector e.g. environmental and climate policy, social policy, cohesion policy, foreign policy etc. The recitals furthermore highlight aspects of EU and national infrastructure planning and of funding and financing.
Chapter 1 lays down the general principles of the TEN-T Regulation. It defines the subject matter and the scope of application of the Regulation. It contains the definitions of the different elements of the Regulation and of the terminology used throughout the text. Furthermore, it introduces the objectives of the Regulation (cohesion, sustainability, efficiency and user benefits) and how they shall be reached. This chapter also provides that the trans-European transport network shall be planned, developed and operated in a resource-efficient way, complying with the applicable EU and national environmental requirements. The following articles describe the geographical dimension of the network structure and the European Transport Corridors (ETC). Finally, chapter 1 describes the principles of the projects of common interest and of the cooperation with third countries.
Chapter 2 contains the general provisions of the Regulation specifying the core, the extended core and the comprehensive network as well as the European Transport Corridors (ETCs) and lays out the prioritisation of measures on the different networks.
Chapter 3 contains the specific provisions concerning the requirements for each mode of transport addressed by the Regulation with a view to the:
·definition of infrastructure components,
·transport infrastructure requirements for the comprehensive network,
·requirements for the core and extended core network,
·additional priorities.
In addition this chapter contains provisions concerning the requirements of the revision applicable to multimodal freight terminals and urban nodes.
Chapter 4 contains additional provisions with regard to the requirements of the Regulation with a view to ICT systems for transport, sustainable services, new technologies and innovation, safe and secure infrastructure, resilience, investments by third countries, maintenance and project life-cycle as well as accessibility for all users.
Chapter V: Implementation of instruments of European Transport Corridors and horizontal priorities
Chapter 5 concerns the implementation of the European Transport Corridors and of the horizontal priorities (European rail traffic management System and European Maritime Space). It describes the instrument of ETC and the horizontal priorities and contains provisions on how they shall be coordinated and governed. The chapter furthermore contains provisions on the implementation tools e.g. the coordinators work plans and the implementing acts.
Chapter 6 contains the common provisions of the Regulation with regard to reporting and monitoring obligations, the procedures for updating the network and the principles for engagement with public and private stakeholders. It contains provisions concerning the alignment of national plans with EU transport policy. It furthermore contains provisions regarding the exercise of delegation, the committee procedure, the review of the Regulation, the procedures with regards to delays in implementing the network and the possibility of exemptions. Lastly, it outlines the impact of the Regulation on other legislative acts with a view to the need for their amendment.
Annexes:
The Annexes of the Regulation contain detailed maps of the core, extended core and the comprehensive network, lists of transport and urban nodes in the scope of this Regulation as well as the definition of alignment and maps of the European Transport Corridors. It furthermore contains indicative maps for the neighbouring countries as well as specifications for the requirements for the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. It also contains an article amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 and a correlation table between Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 and this Regulation.