Improved decision-aid methods and tools to support EVAluation of investment for TRansport and ENergy networks in Europe

Summary and conclusions The European Union needs harmonised guidelines to improve the appraisal of large-scale infrastructure dedicated to the Trans-European Networks (TEN); in order to contribute to such guidelines, EU-funded EVA-TREN analyses ex-ante studies and projects outcomes at European level. EVA-TREN’s First Experts ’ Workshop brought together experts on large-scale infrastructure planning and operation in the domain of transport and energy. Examination of their practices highlights the following issues: first, the appraisal frameworks EU countries apply for transport and energy projects differ considerably in scope, sophistication, methodology and parameter values; second, the EU Member States share only a small part of all research results; and third, transnational projects are still problematic within the Union. As a result, cost overruns appear in the majority of projects. Investigation of the EU Cohesion Fund programme reveals that one project in four costs more than 20 % above budget, while only one in five costs below + 10%. The main problems are modifications to the project (30%) and delays (25%); inadequate cost estimates and technical reasons are blamed for only 20 % of cost overruns. Sustainability does not explicitly appear in the appraisal process, even though it i