A new report by the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) highlights the imbalances in European rail funding. Between 2021 and 2023, seven mega-projects took up 31 % of the European Interconnection Mechanism envelope (EIM), the EU's main transport fund, amounting to 6.6 billion euros. At the same time, 84 urgent improvement projects received only 27 % of these funds.
The seven mega-rail infrastructures concerned by a third of the investment budget are located throughout the European Union.
These are Rail Baltica (Estonia-Finland-Latvia-Lithuania), the Lyon-Turin tunnel, the new Brenner base tunnel (Austria-Italy), the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line, the railway junction Stuttgart 21the Fehmarnbelt tunnel (Germany-Denmark) and Y Vasca, the new high-speed line linking Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian in the Basque Country.
Where did the European funds for rail between 2021 and 2023 go?
While these projects are essential to building a truly integrated rail network, their cost and duration are a heavy burden on the European budget. And on investment in smaller-scale projects... which, according to T&E, are just as essential.
The gigantic funds committed to the 7 mega rail projects would therefore limit the development of projects that could be implemented more quickly. But with immediate benefits for passenger connectivity.
The most striking example is the deployment of theERTMSthe European signalling and traffic management system. Key to improving the capacity and safety of cross-border lines, it has received only 700 million euros over the period studied, barely 3 % of the funds from the Interconnection Mechanism. Although ERTMS should equip most of Europe by 2030, the NGO notes significant delays in its implementation in Germany, France and Poland.
More resources for the European signalling and traffic management system ERTMS
For Carlos Rico, Head of Rail Policy at T&EThe mega-projects have certainly given a boost to the railways, but they ". drain resources from other vital parts of the network ".
The organisation is calling for a rebalancing, particularly in the context of the EU's multi-annual budget negotiations. An increase of 25 % in the MIE's rail budget would, in its view, double the appropriations. for essential improvements, without jeopardising the continuation of major projects.
Especially since, according to T&E, ERTMS is also useful for military mobility. The system strengthens both the resilience of the European network and its ability to respond to external threats.
" Stimulating the railways is vital for Europe's economy and defencebut its financing must correspond to the objectives "Carlos Rico.
