Progress with Trans-European Transport Networks
A recent European Commission report on the progress and implementation of the 14 priority Trans-European Transport Network (TEN) projects shows that all of the projects are either already under construction or at an advanced stage in preparation, with three due for completion by the year 2000. Most of the others are estimated to be completed by around 2005. A total of ECU 13,000 million has been spent on these projects during the period 1993-1998, around ECU 3,000 million of which has come directly from EU sources such as the Structural and Cohesion Funds or the European Investment Bank. The financing period (2000-2006) will be a crucial time for the completion of these projects, and the Commission has proposed a revision to the TEN Financial Regulation in order to allocate ECU 5,000 million for this period. Work is also ongoing to encourage public-private funding partnerships to ensure that constraints on public finance do not pose problems for the projects, as it is estimated that the total cost of the priority projects will be ECU 110,000 million. The three TEN projects nearing completion are: - The Cork-Dublin-Belfast-Stranraer rail link; - Malpensa airport (Milan, Italy); - The Oresund link (Denmark-Sweden). Projects due for completion by 2005 for which financing is largely in place are: - Paris-Brussels-Cologne-Amsterdam-London high-speed train link; - High-speed train South (France-Spain); - High-speed train East (France-Germany); - Betuwe combined transport rail line (The Netherlands-Germany); - Greek motorways; - West Coast main line (UK). Projects where financing and time-scale remains uncertain are: - High-speed train North-South (Germany/Austria); - High-speed train Lyon-Trieste; - Multimodal link between Portugal and Spain for the rest of Europe; - Nordic triangle multimodal corridor; - Ireland-UK-Benelux road link. In accordance with the TEN Transport Guidelines the Commission will produce a communication on the state of implementation of the network as a whole in autumn 1998. The current report, which focuses only on the 14 priority projects, will be presented to the European Council in Cardiff on 15 and 16 June 1998, and helps to give an indication of broader prospects for all of the TEN transport networks.