Transport: Land

As part of my vision for the Transport Union #railways and #road #transport were one of the key modes of transport. As the mandate of the Juncker Commission is ending I am providing some insight in things done during my time as Commissioner for Transport.

KEY RESULTS

• VISION 0: zero pollution and emissions from transport by 2050. 
• R&I TRANSPORT INVESTMENTS: €6.3 billion from Horizon 2020, €1.6 billion from InnovFin. ELENA-transport gives technical assistance for innovative investments: six transport projects received €12.4m but leveraged €511m. 
• DISSEMINATION: knowledge-sharing, replication and scaling up through Lighthouse Projects (€1 billion in EU money, €4.5 billion total investment) and European Innovation Partnership (Urban mobility cluster). 
• NEW MFF: 27% increase for Horizon Europe (€97.6 billion); €15 billion for cluster ‘Climate, energy, mobility’. Mission-based approach and new European Innovation Council to promote breakthrough innovation and scale-up innovative start-ups. 
• NEW POST: creation of a new post within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for a European Commission official working on autonomous mobility.  
• GREEN TRANSPORT INVESTMENTS: CEF invested a total of €18 billion in 381 projects linked to decarbonisation: €15.7bn in 236 railway projects, €0.3bn in 62 multimodal projects and €0.4bn in 35 decarbonisation projects. 
• LOW-EMISSION MOBILITY STRATEGY: guiding principles for Member States on increasing efficiency, accelerating the deployment of alternative energy for transport, and moving towards zero-emission vehicles. 
• A GENDER-BALANCED SECTOR: Women in Transport – EU Platform for change launched.

RAILWAYS

• FOURTH RAILWAY PACKAGE: to complete the opening of the passenger services market by December 2019, and the competitive tendering of PSO contracts by 2023. Both will improve service quality and value for money from public investments. 
• TRANSFORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN RAILWAY AGENCY INTO AN EU RAIL SYSTEM AUTHORITY to improve rail safety & ensure interoperability (14 000 national rules replaced by 1 600 rules). 
• SINGLE RAIL AREA replacing 14 000 national technical rules with 1 600 rules (1 200 national & 400 EU). This has been the biggest simplification of rail rules in history. 
• FURTHER DEPLOYMENT OF EU RAIL TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ERTMS) to ensure the EU TEN-T core network is equipped by 2030. 
• INVESTING IN YOUTH: DiscoverEU – initiated the idea and pilot project Move2Learn Learn2Move. 
• KEY LEGISLATION: 4th Railway Package

ROAD TRANSPORT:

• MOBILITY PACKAGE I containing eight legislative initiatives to improve the functioning of the road haulage market and workers' social and employment conditions by stepping up enforcement, fighting illicit employment practices, cutting the administrative burden for companies and bringing more clarity to existing rules.  
• MOBILITY PACKAGE II proposals establishing ambitious, realistic and enforceable rules to help secure a level playing field between industry actors in Europe. The package put Europe on track to achieve the EU's commitments under the Paris Agreement, and will stimulate both innovation in new technologies and business models, and more efficient use of all modes for the transport of goods.  
• MOBILITY PACKAGE III focusing on road safety, and in particular equipping new vehicles with advanced safety features, such as advanced emergency braking and lane-keeping assist system for cars, or pedestrian and cyclist detection systems for lorries. The proposals also asked Member States to systematically identify dangerous road sections and to better target investment.  
• VALLETTA DECLARATION ON ROAD SAFETY: political affirmation of road traffic safety measures from a technical and infrastructurerelated standpoint and of further increasing driver education. 
• NEW SET OF ROAD SAFETY MEASURES including a new roadworthiness package, professional driving licences and intelligent transport systems, supporting our objectives of halving the number of casualties between 2020 and 2030, and achieving Vision Zero by 2050. 
• AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY we have prepared the way for a move from connected to cooperative, automated and eventually autonomous mobility. 
• NEW POST creation of a new post within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for a European Commission official working on autonomous mobility.  
• DECOUPLING AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION, WITHOUT MONOPOLIES we mandated access to certain key data, made progress on standardisation and interoperability (e-documents, smart digital tachographs), and created the first legal framework for cooperative ITS services, preparing the ground for connected, cooperative, automated and autonomous mobility (CCAM). 
• EETS savings of €20-27 billion by 2040. 
• C-ITS first framework for trusted and harmonised C-ITS services. 
• MOBILITY WEEK and launch of project EDWARD (European Day without a Road Death). 
• KEY LEGISLATION: Mobility Packages I, II and III. 

 1. WHY EU SUPPORT FOR LAND TRANSPORT? 

The vast majority of both passengers and freight are transported by land in Europe, making land transport key for the competitiveness of the EU economy as a whole. At the same time, road transport is responsible for the largest share of transport externalities (congestion, accidents, noise, air pollution). While road safety in the EU has improved greatly in recent decades (and EU roads are the safest in the world), the number of deaths and injuries also remains far too high. 

2. WHAT HAVE WE DONE? 

Over the last five years, we have completed the legal framework for a single European Railway Area, adopting the 4th Railway Package. This removes market access barriers so that European rail undertakings can operate across the EU. The ERA will facilitate private investment and improve the attractiveness of a sector that is key to the decarbonisation of transport. 

We have also tackled the core challenges facing the road transport sector, with proposals for modernisation. The first Mobility Package was designed to improve the functioning of the road freight transport market, reducing the administrative burden on operators and improving working conditions for drivers. The package included new measures to accelerate the use of digital tools (smart tachographs, e-documents and e-notification systems, etc.). We have also promoted a user/polluter pays approach with a complete reform of road charging rules to encourage use of electronic tolling systems. These provide smart incentives to decarbonise transport. 

The second Mobility Package supports the implementation of our Low Emission Mobility Strategy, adopted in 2016. Proposed new measures improve efficiency, in particular in public transport bus and coach services, and through combined transport for freight. We also introduced more stringent CO2 standards for light vehicles, new public procurement rules to accelerate the deployment of low and zero-emissions vehicles, and new standards for the design of heavy goods vehicles. 

With the third Mobility Package came additional measures to accelerate the digitalisation of transport and improve road safety. Proposals ranged from the roadworthiness package to the EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety. This ‘systems approach’ is intended to halve the number of casualties between 2020 and 2030 and make Vision Zero a reality for the EU by 2050. 

We have tackled urban mobility through CIVITAS and SUMP, and we have further increased the popularity of European Mobility Week, with almost 4 000 towns and cities taking part in 2019. 

We have introduced smart mobility within the new EU-level project on smart villages. 

Strengthening the EU’s connectivity with its neighbours, we also signed a Transport Community Treaty with the six Western Balkan countries, exporting EU transport acquis on rail, cross-border mobility and road safety to the Western Balkan Region. 

Road safety has been a key priority throughout the mandate. We have supported the European Day Without A Road Death, in which 31 countries participated in 2018. Sadly 50 people lost their lives on European roads on this day, but this is lower than the average of 70.  

3. NEXT STEPS 

• Adoption of pending proposals from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd mobility packages. 
• New investment in rail infrastructure and in the digitalisation and decarbonisation of road transport through CEF 2. 
• Deployment of ERTMS on the TEN-T core network by 2030. 
• Introduction of seamless integrated services (integrated logistics, integrated ticketing) and MaaS. 
• Recommendations for (urban) micromobility.