On 29 May 2013, an agreement was reached between Parliament and the Irish Presidency on the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) guidelines. Europe needs to build the missing links and remove bottlenecks in our transport infrastructure, as well as ensuring the sustainability of the system. The newly agreed EU infrastructure policy aims at creating a real network and no longer focuses on isolated projects.
A core transport network is to be established by 2030, which will become the backbone for transportation within the single market. A comprehensive network of routes, to be completed by 2050, will feed into the core network at regional and national levels. The new policy focuses on the most critical elements: cross-border projects, interoperability and inter-modality between different means of transport. It also sets standards and technical requirements for each mode of transport which will create a safer, smoother network.