Coordinators Appointed

Six coordinators have been appointed by The European Commission to help speed up completion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), which crosses borders between member states. The coordinators will not be paid for their work but have each been charged with the task of facilitating implementation of a whole TEN-T route, as well as specific projects on the route.

The first six projects to be assigned (and the names of the coordinators) are: the Berlin to Palermo rail link (Karel Van Miert); the South West European high speed rail link (Etienne Davignon); the Lyon to Ukraine rail link (Loyola de Palacio); the Paris to Bratislava rail link (Péter Balázs); the Baltic to Helsinki rail link (Pavel Telicka); and introduction of the ERTMS rail safety system across 20000 km of rail network in Europe (Karel Vinck).

The Commission is also proposing to set up an Executive Agency to undertake technical and financial management of TEN-T projects. Although the agency - expected to be operational from 2007 - will manage financing of project, the Commission will retain responsibility for budgeting and identification of priorities.