After almost three years since its first draft, the new Regulation for the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) will enter into force on Thursday 18 July 2024. Once it enters into force, the new Regulation will provide EU member states with the guidelines to create a harmonised intermodal network throughout the Old Continent.
The EU Council put its seal of approval on the TEN-T Regulation on 14 June. The document was then published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 28 June. According to the plan, the Regulation will enter into force on 18 July, 20 days after its publication in the Journal.
The new network includes nine corridors: Atlantic, North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean, North Sea-Baltic, Scandinavian-Mediterranean, Baltic-Adriatic, Rhine-Danube, Mediterranean, Western Balkans, Baltic-Black-Aegean Seas. Initially, the corridors were 10. However, the Rhine-Alpine and the North Sea-Mediterranean corridors were merged to form the North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean corridor, an initiative that still leaves a few questions unanswered.
From the Commission to the Council
The journey of a new TEN-T regulation started in December 2021, when the European Commission drafted the first version. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the regulation was revised, giving more priority to integrating Ukraine and Moldova and downgrading cross-border connections with Russia and Belarus.
At the end of 2023, the EU Parliament and EU Council agreed on the steps in which the TEN-T expansion will take place. More specifically, the TEN-T network was divided into a Core Network, an Extended Core Network and a Comprehensive Network. These new sections will have to be completed in 2030, 2040 and 2050 respectively.
The European Parliament then voted in favour of the new TEN-T regulation a couple of months ago, paving the way for the last greenlight, given by the EU Council. The new version places significantly more focus on military mobility and multimodality and sets out the migration guidelines for countries with a rail gauge different from 1435 mm.
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