COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) 1315/2013
Date: 2021-12-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carbon neutrality, combined transport, common transport policy, project of common interest, sustainable mobility, trans-European network, transport infrastructure, transport network, transport planning

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Strasbourg, 14.12.2021  SWD(2021) 473 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL  on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 and Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulation (EU) 1315/2013                 {COM(2021) 812 final} - {SEC(2021) 435 final} - {SWD(2021) 471 final} - {SWD(2021) 472 final}  
 
 
Executive Summary Sheet 

Impact  assessment  on  Proposal  for  the  revision  of  Regulation  (EU)  1315/2013  –  Union  guidelines  for  the 
development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). 

Why? What is the problem being addressed?  

A. Need for action 

This impact assessment is the basis for a legislative  proposal for the revision  of Regulation (EU) 1315/2013  – 
Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). It is a key action of the 
European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. The aim of the TEN-T Regulation is to 
build an effective EU-wide and multimodal network of rail, inland waterways, short sea shipping routes and roads 
which are linked to urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals across the EU. The problems 
addressed  by  the  revision  are  insufficient  and/or  incomplete  TEN-T  infrastructure  standards  and  a  lack  of 
integration  of  standards  for  alternative  fuels  infrastructure  on  the  TEN-T  with  negative  impacts  on  climate  and 
environment.  Secondly,  the  TEN-T  network  suffers  from  capacity  bottlenecks  and  an  insufficient  network 
connectivity to all regions that hamper multimodality.  Thirdly, the insufficient safety and reliability of the TEN-T 
infrastructure  needs  to  be  addressed.  Finally,  the  governance  instruments  are  inadequate  compared  to  new 
needs and the TEN-T network design needs a review to increase coherence with other policies.  

What is this initiative expected to achieve?  

The  TEN-T  revision  aims  at  reaching  four  main  objectives.  Firstly,  it  aims  at  making  transport  greener  by 
providing the appropriate infrastructure basis to alleviate congestion and reduce GHG emissions and pollution of 
air and water through incentives to shift transport demand towards sustainable forms of  transport, e.g. through 
the  application  of  new  TEN-T  standards.  Secondly,  it  aims  at  facilitating  seamless  and  efficient  transport, 
fostering multimodality and interoperability between the TEN-T transport modes and better integrating the urban 
nodes into the network. Thirdly, it strives to increase the resilience of TEN-T to climate change and other natural 
or man-made disasters. Last but not least, it points at improving the efficiency of the TEN-T governance tools, at 
streamlining the reporting and monitoring instruments and at reviewing the TEN-T network design.  

What is the value added of action at the EU level?  

The  strong  EU  added  value  of  TEN-T  has  been  one  of  the  main  conclusions  of  the  evaluation  of  the  current 
TEN-T Regulation. Concentrating efforts towards the creation of a common, EU-wide transport network, focusing 
on removing  bottlenecks and missing  links especially  across borders, is clearly  acknowledged  as a vision  and 
well  progressing  achievement  whose  benefits  go  beyond  isolated  national  action.  Ensuring  a  common  and 
coherent  EU-wide  basis  for  the  identification  of  ‘projects  of  common  interest’  and,  correspondingly,  for  the 
alignment of planning and implementation efforts of a wide range of actors is of key importance.  

B. Solutions 

What  legislative  and  non-legislative  policy  options  have  been  considered?  Is  there  a  preferred 
choice or not? Why?  
To adequately address the objectives of the TEN-T revision, three policy options (PO) have  been assessed in 
terms of their economic, social and environmental impacts. PO1 aims at updating existing TEN-T infrastructure 
quality  requirements  and  standards  and  provides  for  the  adequate  infrastructural  basis  for  the  deployment  of 
alternative fuels and intelligent transport systems. In addition, it includes measures to harmonise and streamline 
the  existing  TEN-T monitoring  and  reporting  tools.  In  terms  of TEN-T  network,  it  also  includes  a  review  of  the 
transport network and transport nodes. PO2, building upon PO1, represents a step change by introducing new, 
more  ambitious  standards  for  all  transport  modes  as  to  contribute  to  decarbonisation,  pollution  reduction, 
digitalisation, resilience and safety of the transport infrastructure system. In addition, a better integration of the 
urban nodes in the TEN-T is ensured through specific requirements to manage traffic of passengers and freight 
to/from  cities.  PO3,  being  the  preferred  option,  accelerates  the  completion  of  the  TEN-T  by  advancing  the 
deadline  for  the  completion  of  certain  standards  and  network  sections  from  2050  to  2040  whilst  keeping  the 
ambitious  standards  and  requirements  introduced  through  PO2.  It  also  ensures  a  broad  and  coherent 
development on the network, translating into a substantial review of the TEN-T network design.  

Who supports which option?  
The results from the consultation activities show that a wide majority of stakeholders expressed a preference for 
TEN-T to focus on a combination of measures aiming at decarbonisation, digitalisation and “hard” infrastructure 
deployment, corresponding to the philosophy of Option 3. Indeed, 34% of the respondents ranked this option as 
first and an additional 12% as second. Widest support was given by public authorities (44%), businesses (35%) 

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and citizens (17%) who ranked this option first.  

C. Impacts of the preferred option 

What are the benefits of the preferred option (if any, otherwise main ones)?  

PO3 brings significant economic benefits, notably an increase of 0.4% of GDP in 2030, 1.3% in 2040 and 2.4% 
by 2050 relative to the Baseline. This translates into €57 billion increase in GDP relative to the Baseline in 2030, 
€229 billion in 2040 and €467 billion in 2040. Higher investments on the TEN-T also create employment, leading 
to an estimated 0.1% increase of employment in 2030 relative to the Baseline, 0.3% in 2040 and 0.5% by 2050, 
equivalent  to  200,000  additional  employed  persons  in  2030,  561,000  in  2040  and  840,000  by  2050.  PO3  also 
performs  well  in  shifting  freight  and  passenger  transport  activity  to  more  sustainable  modes  of  transport.  The 
anticipated implementation of a new passenger rail standard (160 km/h line speed), the introduction of the P400 
loading  gauge  (allowing  circulation  of  semi-trailers  on  railway  wagons)  as  well  as  the  extension  of  some  rail 
standards from core to comprehensive network, coupled with the extension of the latter, is projected to increase 
rail transport activity. This  is also reflected in a higher rail share in the modal split to the detriment of the road 
sector.  Although  the  modal  share  of  inland  waterway  and  maritime  transport  stays  broadly  stable,  the 
implementation of new standards allows the sector to absorb the projected growth of EU27 traffic volumes and of 
intra-EU  maritime  traffic.  Moreover,  the  shift  from  road  to  less  emitting  modes  enabled  by  the  bundle  of 
measures included in PO3 are projected to result in CO2 emissions and air pollution emissions reductions. The 
reduction in the external costs of CO2 emissions is estimated at around €387 million relative to the Baseline over 
the  2021-2050  period,  expressed  as  present  value,  while  the  reduction  in  the  external  costs  of  air  pollution  at 
around  €420  million.  In  addition,  improvements  of  road  safety  are  brought  by  the  extension  of  the  motorway 
standard and the related safety features to all network sections above a certain daily traffic threshold reducing 
the  number  of  fatalities  and  injured  persons.  The  reduction  in  the  external  costs  of  accidents  is  estimated  at 
around  €3,930  million  relative  to  the  Baseline  over  the  2021-2050  period,  expressed  as  present  value.  The 
reduction in the external costs of inter-urban road congestion is estimated at around € 2,891 million relative to 
the baseline over the 2021-2050 period. 

What are the costs of the preferred option (if any, otherwise main ones)?  
The preferred option strikes the  best  balance between the achieved objectives  and  the overall implementation 
costs.  The  investments  to  implement  all  measures  under  PO3  are  estimated  at  €247.5  billion  relative  to  the 
Baseline, expressed as present value over 2021-2050. In addition, the administrative costs for the private sector 
are estimated at €8.6 million relative to the Baseline, expressed as present value over 2021-2050, and those for 
the public authorities at €25.4 million. Other impacts, related to noise emissions and potential biodiversity loss, 
are expected to remain very limited. It is however difficult to quantify them since noise impacts strongly depend 
on the local (traffic) situation and biodiversity on the specific location and characteristics of the infrastructure. In 
both cases, measures, also respecting the DNSH principle, are included in the TEN-T revision.  

How will businesses, SMEs and micro-enterprises be affected?  
The upgrade of the infrastructure for combined railway transport and of terminals will generate opportunities to 
establish  services  for  SMEs  even  though  in  some  segments  also  large  players  exist.  Main  stakeholders 
concerned  are  the  railway  undertakings  in  the  freight  market,  the  rail  freight  terminal  operators,  trucking 
companies  and  operators  at  passenger  terminals.  In  the  road  sector,  improving  the  rest  areas  and  parking 
situation  for  regional  and  long-distance  trucking  will  benefit  the  large  number  of  small  driver-owned  trucking 
companies,  which  are  actually  among  the  smallest  enterprises  in  the  transport  domain,  as  they  depend  on  a 
dense and quality network of parking areas.  

Will there be significant impacts on national budgets and administrations?  
The  additional  administrative  costs  relative  to  the  Baseline  are  moderate,  especially  compared  with  the 
ambitious  revision  plans  under  PO3.  Expressed  as  present  value  over  2021-2050,  administrative  costs  for  the 
public authorities are estimated at €25.4 million (i.e. €15.8 million for the European Commission and €9.6 million 
for Member States public authorities). In addition, the  largest part of investments is estimated to originate from 
public  funding  (national  public  funds,  EU  funds)  and  would  amount  to  €244.2  billion  relative  to  the  Baseline, 
expressed as present value over 2021-2050. 

Will there be other significant impacts?  
PO3 adds an important dimension to the cohesion objective of TEN-T through the identification of urban nodes 
and the integration of passenger  / freight terminals  on the whole EU territory playing a crucial role for regional 
connectivity. PO3 also stimulates best the resilience and climate change adaptation of the TEN-T infrastructure. 
Finally,  PO3  adds  important  value  to  ensure  coherence  with  other  policies  by  reviewing  the  TEN-T  network 
design (e.g. through the creation of European Transport Corridors, replacing the two existing types of corridors – 
Core Network Corridors and Rail Freight Corridors).  

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When will the policy be reviewed?  
The legislative proposal for the revision of Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 is expected for December 2021. 

D. Follow up 

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