EU Support for Traffic Infrastructure Projects

The European Commission has today selected 135 transport infrastructure projects for EU grants, from 399 project proposals submitted under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's funding instrument for strategic investment in transport infrastructure. Five of the winning projects are from Hungary.

The funding will support projects across all EU Member States along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). For example, in the context of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, several projects in Slovakia and Poland, will make it easier to transport goods between Europe and Ukraine.

Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean pointed out that "today, we are allocating EUR 5.4 billion to projects across Europe that will improve missing infrastructure links, make transport more sustainable and efficient, increase safety and interoperability, as well as create jobs. These challenging times have reinforced the importance of our EU transport sector and of having a seamless, well connected infrastructure network. In particular projects such as the upgrade of the rail-road transhipment terminal in Haniska pri Košicich will further facilitate our links with Ukraine."

Several projects will boost the EU's railway network, including the 18-km long Fehmarn Belt tunnel that will significantly cut travel times between Denmark and Germany. Further investment in the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System will make rail smarter, interoperable, and safer. Projects also include the creation of secure and safe parking infrastructure for lorries, upgrades of basic port infrastructure, including on-shore power supply to cut emissions from docked ships, improved cross-border inland waterway connections, and a series of pilot Digital European Sky Demonstrators for green aviation and urban air mobility.

Five initiatives were selected from Hungary. Three of the projects aim to create safe and secure truck parks, with grants of between EUR 3.5 and EUR 7 million each. Another is to draw up plans for the development of the Hegyeshalom-Szombathely-Zalaszentiván railway line, with a grant of EUR 8.5 million. The fifth initiative aims to prepare the final studies for the transformation of the new Nyugati railway station in Budapest into a multimodal underground transport hub offering better services to passengers, with a grant of EUR 2.8 million.

These grants represent the bulk of Connecting Europe Facility funding under the September 2021 calls for proposals, and follow investments in Military Mobility and alternative fuels projects in April 2022.