Infrastructure: Commissionaire Valean: Trains in Romania must run at 160 km/h by 2030, a pan-European obligation

  Trains in Romania must circulate at 160 km/hour until 2030, this being a pan-European obligation, stated on Friday the European commissionaire for Transport, Adina Valean. "The European Union has a very clear plan for transport infrastructure. This is called the European transport network - TEN-T network. This plan contains precise maps for all Member States on road, rail transport infrastructure, for all Member States agreed of course with the respective countries, with obligations and opportunities, in the sense that obligations mean building this infrastructure to certain standards, including innovation, i.e. introducing intelligent transport systems for both rail and road, standards related to the use of this network. Because we are talking about rail, for example, the whole European rail network that is the main network has speed standards, for example, of 160 km per hour. We look at the infrastructure map of Romania in this network and we see which railway lines have to be 160 km/hour. Until when? By 2030, another pan-European obligation. The core network must be completed by 2030", said Adina Valean at the "Innovation in EU Transport Policies" event.   According to her, there is another essential secondary or extended network with completion deadline in 2040 and the extended network which covers the rest of the infrastructure with a deadline in 2050.‘Everything is with a standard but they also mean opportunities, as there is financing for each of these offers. The projects have joint governance, as if you want to apply for regional cohesion funds and so on with a certain degree of co-financing, for the European interconnection mechanism funds, when you want to apply for PNRR funds, similarly, the projects are clearly defined. So, practically, we know what we have to do, we know the deadlines, we know the standards – and in the case of Romania we know there is approximately a sum of 12 billion euro European funds with co-financing for various projects from this infrastructure with various deadlines for absorption in this financial period’, said the European commissionaire for transport during her visit to Romania last week.