TEN-T corridors and secure truck parking

What the TEN-T network is

The trans-European transport network, known as TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network), is the European Union plan to build a continuous transport infrastructure network across its territory. It covers roads, railways, inland waterways, sea and inland ports, airports and intermodal terminals.

Its aim is for goods and people to move across Europe without physical gaps, bottlenecks or missing links, and for the different modes of transport to work as one system. For road haulage, the TEN-T sets which motorways and main roads form the backbone of freight traffic between countries.

The current policy is governed by Regulation (EU) 2024/1679, adopted on 13 June 2024 and in force since 18 July 2024. It replaces Regulation (EU) 1315/2013 and introduces, for the first time, specific obligations on secure truck parking.

Three layers, three deadlines

The network is organised in three layers, each with its completion date:

• Core network, with the most important links: 2030.
• Extended core network, which completes it: 2040.
• Comprehensive network, which reaches every region of the EU: 2050.

The European transport corridors are drawn on the first two layers, where long-distance flows and investment priorities concentrate.

The nine European transport corridors

The 2024 revision merges the former core network corridors and the rail freight corridors into nine European transport corridors. Each crosses at least two borders, combines several modes of transport and has a European coordinator overseeing its development.

Four of these corridors extend into Ukraine and Moldova, while cross-border links with Russia and Belarus have been moved down a level of the network.

A secure parking every 150 km

Article 31 of Regulation 2024/1679 requires Member States to ensure that, by 31 December 2040, safe and secure parking areas certified to European standards exist along the core and extended core network. The maximum average distance between two of them will be 150 km, and they must be on the road itself or no more than 3 km from the nearest exit.

The measure answers a problem the sector knows well: there are not enough secure spaces. A study for the European Commission published in November 2025 puts the shortfall at about 390,000 spaces, the equivalent of some 3,250 parking areas, and expects it to reach about 483,000 by 2040 if demand grows as forecast.

For transport companies, the shortfall means drivers who cannot find where to take their mandatory rest, cargo and fuel theft in unguarded areas and, on routes to the United Kingdom, the risk of stowaways.

What a certified secure parking is

Safe and secure parking areas, SSPA, follow a European standard that sets requirements on two fronts:

• Security: surveillance, lighting, access control and perimeter protection.
• Driver services: toilets, showers and food, among others.

Certification is granted by an independent body after an audit, and there are several levels depending on the degree of security. The Union co-funds the creation and upgrade of these areas through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Nection on the TEN-T corridors

Every Nection parking sits on a TEN-T corridor, next to a motorway exit and where freight changes country or waits to cross: the Pyrenees border, the English Channel or the way into Slovenia.

• Llers Spain Mediterranean
• Calais France North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean
• Latisana Italy Mediterranean Baltic – Adriatic
• Alessandria Italy Mediterranean North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean
• Hoče Slovenia Baltic – Adriatic
• Moerdijk Netherlands North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean North Sea – Baltic
• Donzère France Mediterranean North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2024/1679; European Commission, report on rest facilities and secure parking for professional drivers (November 2025).