The objective is to develop rail transport infrastructure projects on the Core Network of the TEN-T.

studies and / or works, related to:

• construction/upgrading of cross-border and missing links;
• capacity and performance upgrade of existing lines, including removal of level-crossings and upgrades necessary for 740 meter long trains and upgrades necessary to facilitate international rail passenger and freight transport;
• capacity increase in nodes, including as regards a better articulation of long-distance and local traffic;
• interconnections between rail and other modes of transport, in particular inland waterway and maritime transport and projects aimed at the integration of the rail and air networks to make the feeder network for long-haul flights more sustainable. Projects located exclusively within the perimeter of inland ports and maritime ports must be submitted under those priorities respectively;
• connections of freight terminals to the TEN-T Network, including the construction/upgrade of the railway infrastructure component of the terminals;
• electrification of line tracks and upgrade/construction of electrification systems.

Support will not be given to railway stations, except for railway infrastructure components. If the project includes such components, they should be presented as a separate work package. Support will not be given to activities related to the Class B systems nor to rolling stock.

Support to track side ERTMS deployment, interlockings and/or GSM-R components will only be granted under ERTMS (section 6.2.1 ‘Projects related to smart and interoperable mobility’ of the Work Programme), in the form of Unit Contribution^[1].

Projects shall comply with the provisions of Directive (EU) 2016/797^[2] and with the related Technical Specifications for Interoperability. Where relevant, projects should also be compatible with the alignment of operating procedures across borders in order to ensure the most effective use of the supported infrastructure.

In accordance with Article 9(2), point (a)(i) of the CEF Regulation, projects addressing the Core Network may include related elements on the Comprehensive Network, when necessary to optimize the investment. These elements may form up to 10% of the total eligible costs of the project and should be presented as a separate work package.

Facilities and infrastructure supported under CEF must be accessible for use by all operators on a non-discriminatory basis.

[1] Decision authorising the use of unit contributions to support the deployment of ERTMS, electric vehicles recharging infrastructure and the retrofitting of noisy wagons under CEF Transport – 22 July 2021, https://transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-07/2021-07-22-ertms-af-noise.pdf

[2] Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union (OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 44) which replaces Directive 2008/57/EC as of 31 October 2020.