€1.3 billion for transport infrastructure

The European Commission is making €1.265 billion available to finance European transport infrastructure projects in all transport modes – air, rail, road, and maritime/inland waterways – plus logistics and intelligent transport systems.

It has launched two Calls for Proposals under the 2012 Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) multi-annual and annual programmes.

Siim Kallas, Commission vice president responsible for transport, said, “In making this considerable amount of funding available, the Commission aims for a competitive relaunch of the European economy, to sustain and support growth.

“By directing this money to TEN-T infrastructure, we are also continuing to help the realisation of the entire TEN-T network – bringing a tangible benefit to all European businesses and citizens who will reap the rewards of a more efficient, sustainable and effective European transport system."

The TEN-T multi-annual programme traditionally finances the highest priorities of the TEN-T network.

This year's multi-annual call focuses on six fields with €1.015 billion of total indicative budget available. These are the 30 TEN-T Priority Projects, with an indicative budget of €725 million; European Rail Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS), enabling interoperability on the European rail network, indicative budget €100 million; River Information Services (RIS), involving traffic management infrastructure on the inland waterway network, indicative budget €10 million; Air Traffic Management (ATM), implementing the Single European Sky and ATM modernisation objectives, indicative budget €50 million; Motorways of the Sea (MoS) providing viable alternatives for congested roads by shifting freight to sea routes, indicative budget €80 million; and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), including the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS), promoting inter-modality and improvement of the safety and reliability of the network, indicative budget €50 million.

The annual programme complements the multi-annual programme and directs funding to four distinct priorities with a total indicative budget of €250 million.

These include acceleration/facilitation of the implementation of TEN-T projects (studies and works for mature projects for all modes, as part of the projects of common interest), indicative budget €150 million; measures to promote innovation and new technologies for transport infrastructure and facilities contributing to decarbonisation or the reduction of external costs in general, indicative budget €40 million; support to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and innovative financial instruments, indicative budget €25 million; and support to the long-term implementation of the TEN-T, in particular corridors, indicative budget €35 million.

The TEN-T Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) manages the technical and financial implementation of the TEN-T programme, under the auspices of Directorate-General for Mobility & Transport.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 28 February, 2013.