Efforts to link up Europe's transport networks - road, rail and waterway - are behind schedule and over budget, according to an EU report presented by transport commissioner Jacques Barrot.

The price tag attached to such efforts has climbed 16.8 percent on original projections to around ¤400 billion.

Additionally, large sections of the network have yet to be completed, according to the report.

"It is very clear today that significant parts of the 30 priority projects will not be completed until 2015 or even 2020," read the report, which covers the state of play of some 30 transport projects.

The commissioner, who presented the report on Tuesday (6 May) at an informal meeting of European transport ministers in Brdo, Slovenia, warned that EU member states had to maintain momentum for the completion of the remaining sections, highlighting the importance of transnational corridors as "a precondition for efficient and sustainable freight flows."

"This fall of investments in Europe is not a good sign," said commissioner Barrot.

"If you don't have true corridors, you'll have trouble making the shift from road to rail," he said, according to Reuters news agency.