On Thursday, the Transport and Tourism Committee adopted its position on the review of trans-European transport (TEN-T) rules. This is the EU’s plan to build a network of railways, roads, inland waterways and short sea shipping routes connected through ports and terminals across the European Union. Current TEN-T projects range from Rail Baltica, connecting Helsinki and Warsaw, to Brenner Base Tunnel, linking Austria and Italy, or the Lisbon–Madrid high-speed rail line.

Sustainable transport

The Transport and Tourism Committee advocate for unified technical and operational standards for each transport mode and stress that intermodal transport should be primarily done by rail, inland waterways or short-sea shipping, while any initial and/or final legs can be carried out by road. This should translate into fully electrified railways in the core TEN-T network, running with at least of 160 km/h passenger and 100 km/h cargo trains, which could cross internal EU borders in less than…