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.
Contents
- History
- Funding timeline
- List of transport networks
- Priority axes and projects
- Previous Priorities
- Related networks
- References
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. 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 Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA), which was established for this purpose by the European Commission in October 2006.
History
TEN-T guidelines were initially adopted on 23 July 1996, with Decision No 1692/96/EC 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, 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), 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.
Funding timeline
Financial support for the implementation of TEN-T guidelines stems from the following rules:
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:
Priority axes and projects
On 17 October 2013 nine projects were announced. These were:
- The Baltic-Adriatic Corridor
- The North Sea-Baltic Corridor
- The Mediterranean Corridor
- The Orient/East-Med Corridor
- The Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor
- The Rhine-Alpine Corridor
- The Atlantic Corridor
- The North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor
- The Rhine-Danube Corridor
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. 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.
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 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").