The European Commission, the EU executive, is putting a record €7 billion into grants to member countries for transport projects designed to improve efficiency and sustainability and further link the member states to each other.
The list of 134 projects are all connected to the long-term Trans-European Transport Network known as TEN-T, which prioritizes projects that help connect different existing facilities for greater effect. Eighty percent of the funding is headed for rail projects, especially those that improve cross-border connections.
Among the major rail projects that have scored funding in this round are
- Rail Baltica, the ongoing project to link the three Baltic states to Poland and the rest of Europe, including a possible future tunnel to Finland
- Improved connections between Lyon, and Turin, Italy
- The Fehmarnbelt tunnel being built to speed passenger and freight connections between Germany and Denmark
- Portugal’s plan for high-speed connections between Lisbon and Porto; the EU grant also includes funding for future connections between that line and Spain.
There is also significant funding for 20 maritime ports in eleven countries, as well as for inland waterway infrastructure to improve river traffic, and for a number of projects supporting plans to better integrate air traffic control under a ‘Single European Sky.’
