Investment in transport infrastructure

Indicator definition

The term “transport infrastructure” refers only to infrastructure that is open to the general public. It covers buildings and other constructions, as well as machinery and equipment, but it excludes vehicles and rolling stock.

Investment in infrastructure covers expenditure on new construction, and the extension of existing infrastructure, including reconstruction, renewal and major repairs to infrastructure.

For rail, infrastructure includes land, permanent-way constructions, buildings, bridges and tunnels, as well as immovable fixtures, fittings and installations connected with them (signaling, telecommunications, catenaries, electricity sub-stations, etc.) as opposed to rolling stock.

For road, maintenance includes surface maintenance, patching and running repairs (work relating to the roughness of the carriageway wearing course, roadsides, etc.).

For inland waterways, expenditure on locks is included.

Units

Expenditure is measured in millions of euros.

Policy context and targets

Context description

Traditionally, EU transport policy has been concerned with providing transport infrastructure and services to support the development of the internal market and ensure the proper functioning of the Community’s transport systems. Transport infrastructure investment is also seen as important in reducing disparities between regions.

During past decades, transport investment policies focused on extending infrastructure capacity, particularly roads, as a response to increasing traffic demand. However, there is strong evidence that new transport infrastructure, again particularly roads, generates new demand for travel, and often serves simply to shift congestion problems from one place or point in time to another.

As of January 2014, the European Union has a new transport infrastructure policy that connects the continent between East and West, and North and South. This policy aims to close the gaps between Member States' transport networks, remove bottlenecks that still hamper the smooth functioning of the internal market and overcome technical barriers such as incompatible standards for railway traffic. It promotes and strengthens seamless transport chains for passengers and freight.

As an EU policy, the trans-European networks (TENs) – in transport, energy and telecommunication – have existed since 1993. The new TEN-T (transport) guidelines (Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013) clearly state the essence of the policy:

The planning, development and operation of trans-European transport networks contributes to the attainment of major EU objectives — as set out in, inter alia, the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Commission White Paper entitled "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system" ("the White Paper") — such as the smooth functioning of the internal market and the strengthening of economic, social and territorial cohesion. Their specific objectives also include allowing the seamless, safe and sustainable mobility of persons and goods, ensuring accessibility and connectivity for all regions of the EU, and contributing to further economic growth and competitiveness in a global perspective. These specific objectives should be achieved by establishing interconnections and interoperability between national transport networks in a resource-efficient and sustainable way. For example, rail interoperability could be enhanced by innovative solutions aimed at improving compatibility between systems, such as on-board equipment and multi-gauge rail tracks.

Growth in traffic has resulted in increased congestion in international transport. In order to ensure the international mobility of passengers and goods, the capacity of the TEN-T and the use of that capacity should be optimised and, where necessary expanded. This should be done by removing infrastructure bottlenecks and bridging missing infrastructure links within and between Member States and, as appropriate, neighbouring countries, and taking into account ongoing negotiations with candidate and potential candidate countries.

As stated in the White Paper, the efficiency and effectiveness of transport can be significantly enhanced by ensuring a better modal integration across the network, in terms of infrastructure, information flows and procedures.

Targets

There are general targets for investments enabling a modal shift to more environmentally friendly transport modes such as rail, waterways and sea transport. Targets also exist for investments enabling an integrated TEN-T.

The European Commission published a Transport White Paper in March 2011 (European Commission, 2011), which includes a number of objectives and targets for transport. In particular, there are a number of objectives aimed at ‘Optimising the performance of multi-modal logistic chains, including by making greater use of more energy-efficient modes’, which will, in most cases, have a direct impact on transport infrastructure investment and capacity. These include:

• 30 % of road freight over 300 km should shift to other modes such as rail or waterborne transport by 2030, and more than 50 % by 2050, facilitated by efficient and green freight corridors. To meet this goal will also require appropriate infrastructure to be developed.
• By 2050, complete a European high-speed rail network. Triple the length of the existing high-speed rail network by 2030 and maintain a dense railway network in all Member States. By 2050, the majority of medium-distance passenger transport should travel by rail.
• A fully functional and EU-wide multi-modal TEN-T ‘core network’ by 2030, with a high quality, high capacity network by 2050 and a corresponding set of information services.
• By 2050, connect all core network airports to the rail network, preferably high-speed; ensure that all core seaports are sufficiently connected to the rail freight and, where possible, inland waterway systems.

According to the latest TEN-T guidelines, EU transport policy objectives should be achieved by establishing interconnections and interoperability between national transport networks in a resource-efficient and sustainable way.

Related policy documents

• 884/2004/EC
  Decision No. 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 1692/96/EC on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network
• COM(2009) 44
  Green Paper, TEN-T: a policy review: Towards a better integrated trans-European transport network at the service of the common transport policy, EC COM(2009) 44 final
• COM(2010) 212 Consultation on the future trans-European network policy
  COM(2010) 212 Consultation on the future trans-European network policy
• COM(2010) 2020 final, Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
  European Commission, 2010. Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. COM(2010) 2020 final. 
• COM(2011) 144 Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system
  PREPARING THE EUROPEAN TRANSPORT AREA FOR THE FUTURE
• New TEN-T guidelines and CEF
  As of January 2014, the European Union has a new transport infrastructure policy that connects the continent between East and West, North and South. This policy aims to close the gaps between Member States' transport networks, remove bottlenecks that still hamper the smooth functioning of the internal market and overcome technical barriers such as incompatible standards for railway traffic. It promotes and strengthens seamless transport chains for passenger and freight, while keeping up with the latest technological trends. This policy is vital for Europe to re-boost its economy and to generate new jobs. The budget of €24.05 billion up to 2020, in combination with funds from other EU sources and the European Investment Bank, should significantly stimulate investments and ensure a successful implementation of the new infrastructure policy.
• Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013
  Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU Text with EEA relevance (OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 1–128)
• Report on the Green Paper on the future TEN-T policy (2008.2218(INI) by the Committee on Transport and Tourism, A6-0224/2009
• SEC(2011) 101 Trans-European Transport Network Policy
  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The New Trans-European Transport Network Policy Planning and implementation issues

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Data are collected by the OECD's International Transport Forum on an annual basis. There is a two year delay in data availability. The data collected includes information on absolute infrastructure investment (million EUR) per EEA-33 member country for rail, road, inland waterways, maritime ports and airports. Unfortunately, there are gaps in the data and therefore gap filling has been undertaken where required. 

Methodology for gap filling

As described above, gap filling has been employed to ensure data completeness. In all cases, data from the latest year available are used as a proxy and assumed to be the same in all consecutive missing years. 

Methodology references

• Transport infrastructure investment and maintenance spending The International Transport Forum (ITF) collects annual data on investment and maintenance spending on transport infrastructures from all its Member countries. Data are collected from transport ministries, statistical offices and other institutions designated as an official data source.

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

It is important to note that data coverage varies significantly from one country to another. This is mainly due to the lack of more detailed common definitions and the difficulty countries face in changing their data collection systems.

In addition, there is no purchasing-power parity-corrected general index for transport infrastructure investment. This makes comparing investments between countries on a consistent basis very difficult.

Data sets uncertainty

Data cover a broad spectrum and, therefore, general trends can be obtained. However, the accuracy and robustness of the data on a country level is questionable. This is because there are often differences in the methodology for collecting information at country level and this will influence data quality. 

More comments on data set uncertainty due to gap filling can be found in the ‘Methodology for gap filling’ section.

Rationale uncertainty

n.a.