(17 October 2013) – The European Commission has today published new maps showing the nine major corridors which will act as a backbone for transportation in Europe’s single market. EU financing for transport infrastructure will triple for the period 2014–2020 to €26 billion.
Taken as a whole, the new EU infrastructure policy will transform the existing patchwork of European roads, railways, airports and canals into a unified trans-European transport network (TEN-T).
The new policy establishes, for the first time, a core transport network built on nine major corridors: 2 North–South corridors, 3 East–West corridors; and 4 diagonal corridors.
The core network will transform East–West connections, remove bottlenecks, upgrade infrastructure and streamline cross-border transport operations for passengers and businesses throughout the EU.
The core network will connect:
- 94 main European ports with rail and road links
- 38 key airports with rail connections into major cities
- 15 000 km of railway line upgraded to high speed
- 35 cross-border projects to reduce bottlenecks