EIRP Proceedings (May 2011)
European Transportation Policy for better Integration. Shifting the Balance between the Modes of Transport
Abstract
The increasing need for transportation and mobility of citizen gives raises the importance oftransportation policy. The development of the European transportation policy has a great significance for theEuropean Union. The common transportation policy of the European Union is reviewed and updated everynine years. The first common transportation policy of the European Commission was published in December1992. Besides the railway sector, most of the objectives listed in this policy were realized in ten years. In2001, the European Commission proffered a new transportation policy with sixty new measures. Thus, thispaper shows the importance of transportation projects -especially in the field of railways- for European Unionmember states. In accounting, cross-border sections of projects are more or less neglected, as member statestend to prioritize the development of sections of the projects, which are economically viable for themselves,thereby delaying the overall connectivity of the trans-European network. The railway modal is the hardestmodal to interoperate between the member countries. Therefore it is not a surprise that the objectives listed inthe first European transportation policy were not realized in the railway sector. There were enormousdifferences between railway systems before the European Union. Some of them still have an influence oncurrent railway infrastructure and operations today. To sum up, this research shall deal with the crucialaspects of common transportation policies as well as problems of its implications.
