Just seven rail megaprojects received more than €6.6bn – or 31% – of the European Union’s (EU) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) transport budget between 2021 and 2023, while 84 critical rail infrastructure upgrades shared just 27%, according to a new report by Transport & Environment (T&E).
The Brussels-based NGO warned that the current funding approach risks delaying widespread connectivity, capacity and resilience benefits by disproportionately favouring high-cost, long-term developments such as the Rail Baltica, Brenner and Lyon-Turin tunnels.
These megaprojects, while necessary for completing Europe’s core rail network, often oversubscribe the CEF and take years to deliver results.
Meanwhile, investment in upgrades like the EU’s standardised signalling system, ERTMS, remains limited.
Despite being a key enabler of cross-border services and network efficiency, ERTMS received just €0.7bn – 3% of the CEF envelope – over the three-year period.
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While T&E expects this to increase in 2024, funding still trails behind that for electrification and megaprojects.
Carlos Rico, rail policy officer at T&E, said: “Megaprojects have helped give rail the boost it needs, but they’re draining resources from other vital parts of the network.
“The EU must address this imbalance and ensure that the Connecting Europe Facility supports all necessary upgrades along TEN-T corridors — especially the accelerated roll-out of the ERTMS.”
T&E recommends increasing the CEF rail budget by 25% in the next EU financial period to support dual-use projects and critical upgrades without jeopardising ongoing large-scale schemes.
The group also called for ERTMS to be included in future military mobility funding rounds to enhance both network resilience and defence preparedness.
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