Imagine being able to travel seamlessly from one side of the European continent to the other, whether by road, railway, water, or air. That could soon become a reality thanks to an incredible, but eyewateringly expensive, megaproject currently under way.

Europe is on the verge of a transportation revolution thanks to a groundbreaking investment in the Trans-European Network (TEN-T), the EU’s multi-billion-pound project that aims to create a massive seamless network of roads, railways, airports, ports and waterways, throughout its 27 member states, stretching from the Atlantic to Europe’s borders with Asia. The megaproject has been in development for several decades. The European Commission adopted its first action plans on the network in 1990, followed by adoption by the European Parliament and Council six years later.

The core network, connecting the key links between major cities and hubs, is scheduled for completion by 2030. The extended core network is targeted for completion by 2040, followed by the comprehensive network, which links all EU regions to the core network by 2050.

To manage such a vast project, the EU uses a “Corridor Approach.” These corridors integrate rail, road, and water to move goods across borders efficiently. These are: the Atlantic (Portugal to France), North-Sea-Baltic (Finland to Belgium), Baltic-Adriatic (Poland to Italy), Mediterranean (Spain to Hungary), Orient-East-Med (Germany to Cyprus), Scandinavian–Mediterranean (Finland to Malta), Rhine–Alpine (Italy to Netherlands), Rhine–Danube (France to Romania) and the North Sea–Mediterranean (Ireland to Belgium).

Four new transport corridors have even been extended into Ukraine and Moldova, to aid integration and reconstruction.

A revision of the plans last year introduced several “must-have standards” to support modernised European travel. This included high-speed rail lines being able to support speeds of at least 99.4mph by 2040. All new lines must also adopt the European standard track gauge to eliminate delays at borders. Major airports with over 12million passengers annually must be connected by long-distance rail. Finally, all major cities along the network will develop sustainable urban mobility plans to encourage zero and low-emission transport.

“Imagine travelling between Berlin and Copenhagen in four hours instead of seven,” Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, told a press conference. “This will be a reality by 2030.”

The primary funding engine is the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The estimated cost to complete the ambitious project is €345billion (£301billion) by 2040, but this could rise to €550billion (£480billion) in the following decade, according to We Build Value.