The proposed update of the regulation on trans-European transport networks is needed and welcome, if the EU is really to contribute to sustainability and to smart mobility, including through rail. This was the main message of the opinion on the Revision of the TEN-T and Rail Freight Corridor Regulation adopted at the March plenary session.

The new regulation will upgrade the existing regulatory framework that dates back to 2013 and will help achieve, on the infrastructure side, the goals set in the Green Deal, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the Rail Action Plan. 

Commenting on the adoption of the opinion, Mr Back said: It was high time to propose a new regulation that takes into consideration the current policy context and capitalises on the lessons learned in the past few years. The plan to strengthen the rules on TEN-T implementation is very good news, because the roll-out of the current regulation has seen significant delays and has not been satisfactory.

The Committee values in particular the European Commission's intention to put cohesion at the heart of the proposal. This means ensuring accessibility and connectivity in all EU regions for both passenger and freight traffic when implementing the network. Moreover, the new regulation should also bring about efficient coordination and interconnection between, on the one hand, long-distance, regional and local traffic and, on the other, transport in urban nodes.

From a technical point of view, the EESC is in favour of increasingly harmonising the infrastructure requirements of the "core" and "comprehensive" networks and fixing milestones: 2030 for the implementation of the core network, 2040 for the "extended core network" and 2050 for the comprehensive network. With reference to the 2030 deadline, the EESC reiterates the feasibility doubts raised in its 2020 evaluation report, but considers that the deadline should be maintained to bring pressure to bear on the Member States. (mp)