WRITTEN QUESTION E-1438/99 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Integration of Galicia into the trans-European high-speed rail network.
Date: 1999-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Galicia, common transport policy, high-speed transport, rail network, regional integration, trans-European network, transport planning

20.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 170 E/15

Under the terms of Council Regulation (EC) 1164/94 of 16 May 1994 establishing a Cohesion Fund (1), the
Fund exclusively assists investment in transport infrastructure and environmental protection. The Cohesion
Fund does not therefore assist the sectors mentioned by the Honourable Member.

(1) OJ L 130, 25.5.1994.

(2000/C 170 E/015)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1438/99

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Integration of Galicia into the trans-European high-speed rail network

It is obvious that Galicia,
like any other European region (cid:129) above all given its visible history of
marginalisation in the construction of the transport network of the Spanish state (cid:129) needs to be integrated
into the trans-European high-speed rail network. However, there appears to be no provision for this in the
technical forecasts and budgets under the plan for the trans-European rail network up to 2010. Should this
be the case, Galician society would, once again, find itself lagging behind in historical terms, as it did with
the building of the motorway links with the rest of the peninsula and Europe and, in the more distant past,
with the construction of the original national rail network.

It is essential that action is taken to forestall any such marginalisation.
In this connection, can the
Commission state how matters stand as regards the integration of Galicia into the deadlines and budget
forecasts in respect of the plan for the trans-European rail network up to 2010?

Can the Commission also state what proposals have been submitted to the EU by the Spanish state?

(2000/C 170 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1440/99

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Linking of Galicia and Portugal by a high-speed train network

(1 September 1999)

Can the Commission state what the current
in terms of time-schedules and budgets,
concerning the construction of a high-speed train network to link Galicia and Portugal along the route
Lisbon-Porto-Vigo-Santiago-Corunna-Ferrol, given the major economic importance of this transfrontier
region, which, with its 14 million inhabitants, occupies a substantial part of the European Atlantic
seaboard?

forecasts are,

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1438/99 and E-1440/99
given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(11 October 1999)

Decision No 1692/0096/EC of
the Council of 23 July 1996 on
Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (1) contains in its
annexes maps showing, for information purposes only, the links and nodes of this network based on how
it should look in 2010. As far as the high-speed section is concerned, a distinction is drawn between lines
already in service in 1996 and lines that are still in the early or more advanced stages of design.

the European Parliament and of

With specific reference to Galicia, it is true that at the time when these guidelines were being developed no
actual high-speed project, either towards Portugal or towards central Spain, was under scrutiny. However,
the 1996 maps do show details of a project
followed by a
conventional line to Galicia, as well as details in Spain of a redevelopment project envisaging speeds of
the order of 200 kilometres per hour (km/h) from Valladolid almost as far as Orense, followed also by a
conventional line to Orense and Santiago.

from Lisbon to Oporto,

in Portugal,