Rail is the basis of a sustainable and efficient trans-European transport network (TEN-T). This was the key message of a panel discussion on “The new shape of TEN-T: Will Europe bet on rail?” organised on 13 April by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) together with the Hungarian Presidency and the European Parliament’s EPP and Greens/EFA Groups in Brussels.

MEP Adam Kósa (EPP, HU) welcomed participants and underlined the importance of TEN-T for linking old and new EU member states. “TEN-T can help us create the necessary infrastructure so that citizens of all regions can enjoy full access to the internal market”, he explained.

Zoltán Kazatsay, Deputy Director General of DG MOVE in the European Commission, said: “The European Commission has outlined its vision of the future of transport in the white paper adopted on 28 March. The objectives listed in the white paper will also be reflected in the new TEN-T guidelines.” Amongst other goals the white paper foresees tripling the length of high-speed rail by 2030 and shifting 30% of freight road transport over 300 km to other modes such as rail by 2030.

Focusing on financing instruments, the Hungarian Minister of State for Infrastructure, Pál Völner, declared: “The Hungarian presidency welcomes the discussion on the possible introduction of new financing tools for the funding of TEN-T projects. However, public private partnerships and other instruments can only play a limited role in the new member states, where there is a particularly strong need to build new transport infrastructure. These new financial instruments should be seen as additional sources and should not replace funding through traditional EU financing instruments, such as TEN-T as well as structural and cohesion funds.”

MEP Eva Lichtenberger (Greens/EFA, AT) stressed “It is vital that climate protection and sustainable development objectives for all transport modes are integrated into the future TEN-T policy through, for example, eligibility criteria for EU co-funding. This will create a considerable potential for the reduction of CO2 emissions and is particularly relevant as emissions from transport are still growing whilst those from industry and private households have started to drop.”

MEP Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, ES) underlined that “the objective for the next decade is to create a genuine Single European Transport Area, in particular in the rail sector in order to complete the internal market. In order to achieve this, we must eliminate all residual barriers (both physical and regulatory barriers) between modes and national systems. The selection of projects eligible for EU funding must reflect this vision; put greater emphasis on European added value and must be based on an economic cost-benefit analysis, taking into account sustainability criteria."

László Mosóczi (MÁV Deputy General Director and President of the Hungarian Rail Association HUNGRAIL) pointed out that in terms of TEN-T, two corridors are of interest for Hungary. The objective to drive 160 km/h on these corridors can however only be achieved on parts of them at present. That’s why more work needs to be done, especially on improving rail interoperability and promoting intermodal freight transport. He added that TEN-T can contribute to creating a modern culture in the rail sector.

CER Executive Director Johannes Ludewig commented on the outcome of the discussion: “Today’s debate on the revision of TEN-T highlighted the importance of integrating the rail infrastructures of Central and Eastern Europe into the existing TEN-T network and of finding suitable financing solutions for this. These financing questions are the most important challenge for the future; possible solutions are closely linked to the full internalisation of external costs – as stated in the Commission’s new white paper on transport. This means: Transport will become more expensive in the future.”