EIRP Proceedings, Vol 6 (2011)

Abstract

The increasing need for transportation and mobility of citizen gives raises the importance of
transportation policy. The development of the European transportation policy has a great significance for the
European Union. The common transportation policy of the European Union is reviewed and updated every
nine years. The first common transportation policy of the European Commission was published in December
1992. Besides the railway sector, most of the objectives listed in this policy were realized in ten years. In
2001, the European Commission proffered a new transportation policy with sixty new measures. Thus, this
paper shows the importance of transportation projects -especially in the field of railways- for European Union
member states. In accounting, cross-border sections of projects are more or less neglected, as member states
tend 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 hardest
modal to interoperate between the member countries. Therefore it is not a surprise that the objectives listed in
the first European transportation policy were not realized in the railway sector. There were enormous
differences between railway systems before the European Union. Some of them still have an influence on
current railway infrastructure and operations today. To sum up, this research shall deal with the crucial
aspects of common transportation policies as well as problems of its implications.