An unprecedented €11.9 billion (around £9.5 bn) of EU funding has been earmarked to improve European transport infrastructure across nine major “transport corridors”.

The aim is to remove bottlenecks, revolutionise East West connections and streamline cross border transport operations for businesses and citizens throughout the EU, according to the European Commision (EC).

EU member countries must submit bids for the funding, which is the largest single amount ever to be allocated to transport by the EU.

“Member states need to seize this opportunity to bid for funding to be better connected, more competitive and provide smoother and quicker journeys for citizens and businesses,” said commission vice president and head of transport, Siim Kallas.

“Transport is fundamental to an efficient European economy, so investing in transport connections to fuel the economic recovery is more important than ever. Areas of Europe without good transport connections are not going to grow or prosper.”

The nine ‘transport corridors’ where improvements are set to happen will form a core transport network and represent the “economic life-blood of the Single Market”, the EC said. They include:the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor, the North Sea-Baltic corridor, the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor, the Baltic-Adriatic corridor, the Orient/East-Med corridor, the Rhine-Alpine corridor, the Atlantic corridor, the Rhine-Danube corridor, and the Mediterranean corridor.

Allocation of funding will be announced in summer 2015, and must be co-financed by member states who have until 26 February 2015 to submit their bids.

The announcement is the first wave of transport funding to be made available after the budget was tripled from €8 bn to €26 bn for the period 2014 to 2020.

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