EU invests €6.2 bil­li­on in sus­tainable, safe and effi­ci­ent trans­port infrastructure

Over 80% of the fun­ding will sup­port pro­jects that deli­ver a more effi­ci­ent, gree­ner, and smar­ter net­work of rail­ways, inland water­ways and mari­ti­me rou­tes along the trans-European trans­port (TEN‑T) net­work. Pro­jects will in addi­ti­on bols­ter the EU-Ukraine Soli­da­ri­ty Lanes, set up to faci­li­ta­te Ukraine’s exports and imports.

Major cross-border rail con­nec­tions along the TEN‑TEN••• core net­work have been also prio­ri­ti­sed for fun­ding. The­se include nota­b­ly the Bren­ner Base tun­nel (lin­king Ita­ly and Aus­tria), Rail Bal­ti­ca (con­nec­ting the three Bal­tic Sta­tes and Pol­and with the rest of Euro­pe), as well as the cross-border sec­tion bet­ween Ger­ma­ny and the Net­her­lands (Emmerich–Oberhausen), among others.

Mari­ti­me ports in Ire­land, Greece, Spain, Lat­via, Lithua­nia, the Net­her­lands and Pol­and will recei­ve fun­ding for deve­lo­ping on-shore power sup­p­ly to redu­ce green­house gas emis­si­ons from moo­red vessels.

To help make inland water­way trans­port future-proof, infra­struc­tu­re along the Seine-Scheldt cross-border water­ways bet­ween France and Bel­gi­um will be moder­nis­ed. Inland ports on the Danu­be and the Rhi­ne basins, such as Vien­na and Ander­nach, will also recei­ve an upgrade.

To fur­ther increase the safe­ty and inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty of EU rail trans­port, the Euro­pean Rail Traf­fic Manage­ment Sys­tem (ERTMS) will be instal­led on trains and rail­way lines in Cze­chia, Den­mark, Ger­ma­ny, France, Aus­tria and Slo­va­kia. On roads, seve­ral EU Mem­ber Sta­tes will deploy Intel­li­gent Trans­port Sys­tems and Ser­vicesEN••• (ITS), in par­ti­cu­lar coope­ra­ti­ve ITS (C‑ITS) for safer and more effi­ci­ent trans­port. Seve­ral Mem­ber Sta­tes will get sup­port to Euro­pean air traf­fic manage­ment pro­jects, with a view to incre­asing effi­ci­en­cy in air trans­port and crea­ting a Sin­gle Euro­pean Sky.

Quo­tes

Com­mis­sio­ner for Trans­port Adi­na Vălean said: „Today, we are allo­ca­ting €6.2 bil­li­on to pro­jects across Euro­pe that will take us clo­ser to com­ple­ting the Trans-European Net­work for Trans­port, TEN‑T, the back­bone of the EU’s eco­no­my. I am par­ti­cu­lar­ly hap­py that €250 mil­li­on will impro­ve cross-border con­nec­tions bet­ween Ukrai­ne, Mol­do­va, and their EU neigh­bours Roma­nia, Hun­ga­ry, Slo­va­kia and Pol­and. The­se pro­jects will make trans­port­ing goods bet­ween the EU and Ukrai­ne easier, rein­for­cing the Soli­da­ri­ty Lanes.“

Back­ground

The 107 pro­jects have been sel­ec­ted from a total of 353 sub­mit­ted in respon­se to the call for pro­po­sals, published in 2022.

EU fun­ding will take the form of grants, which will be used to co-finance total pro­ject costs.

Under the CEF Trans­port pro­gram­me for 2021–2027EN•••, €25.8 bil­li­on is available for grants to co-fund TEN‑T pro­jects in the EU Mem­ber Sta­tes. Sin­ce 2014, CEF has sup­port­ed almost 1,300 pro­jectsEN••• with a total of €29.4 bil­li­on in the trans­port sec­tor (exclu­ding today’s pro­po­sed selection).

Fur­ther finan­cing oppor­tu­ni­ties are available under CEF Trans­port, with the 2023 call for Mili­ta­ry Mobi­li­ty curr­ent­ly open until 21 Sep­tem­ber 2023EN••• and the Alter­na­ti­ve Fuels Infra­struc­tu­re Faci­li­ty calls open until 7 Novem­ber 2023EN•••. The next CEF Trans­port calls for pro­po­sals will be laun­ched towards the end of Sep­tem­ber 2023.

For More Information

List of Award­ed pro­jects / Q&A on CEF Trans­port call for pro­po­sals 2022 results