Single ticket for traveling within EU by 2021 – Traffic routes to Serbia not included in strategic trans-European projects

A single travel ticket should be implemented within the European Union by 2021, Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, announced on the margins of the Ljubljana meeting TEN-T Days, concerning the future of transport in the EU. The requirement for the implementation of a single travel ticket, according to Bulc, is the digitalization of the transport infrastructure in the territory of the EU, which is in progress.

– Our vision is simple, quick and inexpensive transport for EU citizens – Bulc said and announced that the usage of electric vehicles in the EU would also expand by 2021. This should be incited by the recent decision of the EC concerning an increased use of electric cars in the operations of public institutions and agencies of the EU members.

When it comes to strategic traffic routes in the EU, the Ljubljana meeting did not bring any changes to the previously defined plans, which envisage nine key trans-European transport corridors. These are the Atlantic (from southern Portugal to Strasbourg), the Rhine-Alps, the North Sea-Baltic, the Orient-east Mediterranean, the Mediterranean (from Portugal to the border between Poland and Ukraine), Scandinavia-Mediterranean, the Baltic-Adriatic, the Rhine-Danube and the North Sea-Mediterranean.

At the moment, the most valuable investments in all trans-European corridors are the construction of the river route between France and Belgium, worth around a billion euros, the expansion of the Brenner tunnel (EUR 879 million) and the construction of the high-speed railway Lyon-Turin, worth EUR 814 million. Of the investments in transport in the new members of the EU, Romania has secured the biggest one. The investment in the reconstruction of the Brasov-Simeria railway is worth close to EUR 800 million.

Brussels expects the realization of all nine corridors to create 13 million new jobs and realize new economic activities of 8% of the GDP in the EU by 2030.

Although a gathering concerning the traffic connections of the EU and the Western Balkans was also held within the Ljubljana meeting, traffic routes that would go towards B&H, Serbia and Macedonia and further, to Turkey, were not included in the strategic trans-European projects. According to Violeta Bulc, this might happen in 2020 or 2021.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

European Commission

Violeta Bulc

European corridors

single travel ticket within the EU

Atlantic corridor

Rhine Alps corridor

North Sea Baltic corridor

Orient east Mediterranean corridor

Mediterranean corridor

Scandinavia Mediterranean corridor

Baltic Adriatic corridor

Rhine Danube corridor

North Sea Mediterranean corridor

expansion of the Brenner tunnel

Brenner tunnel

construction of high speed railway Lyon Turin

Lyon Turin railway

reconstruction of Brasov Simeria railway

river route between France and Belgium

trans European corridors

traffic connections between EU and Western Balkans

strategic trans European projects