TEN-T Regulation
The TEN-T Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 of 13 June 2024 — is the EU law that defines the trans-European transport network and sets binding infrastructure standards and completion deadlines for it. It entered into force on 18 July 2024, repealing Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013.
The TEN-T Regulation divides the network into three layers with fixed deadlines: a core network to be completed by 2030, an extended core network by 2040 and a comprehensive network by 2050. The 2040 layer is new, introduced to pull large cross-border projects forward of the 2050 horizon.
For rail on the core network, the regulation sets concrete technical requirements rather than aspirations: freight lines must accommodate trains of 740 metres, line speeds must reach at least 100 km/h for freight and 160 km/h for passenger services, and the core network must be fully electrified by 2030.
Nine corridors, one governance
The regulation organises the core and extended core networks into nine European Transport Corridors, each led by a European Coordinator accountable for progress against the deadlines. The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is thereby managed as a set of multimodal axes rather than a map of individual projects.
The 2024 regulation also amended Regulation (EU) No 913/2010, folding the previously separate Rail Freight Corridors into the European Transport Corridors. Freight coordination and infrastructure investment planning now sit in the same corridor structure instead of running in parallel.
The regulation’s funding link runs through the Connecting Europe Facility, whose legal basis it amended: EU infrastructure grants are targeted at closing the gaps the regulation identifies. Without the regulation, EU rail investment would lack both its map and its deadlines — Member States would build to national priorities, and cross-border links would remain the last item on every national list.