EU rail transport plan - High-speed network will "rival" short-haul flights
The European Commission has adopted a new High-Speed Rail Action Plan, to create a single, faster European network by 2040. The project aims to reduce travel times and make rail a more attractive alternative to short-haul flights. The investment will include the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) to better connect key nodes at speeds of 200 km/h or more.
“Europe’s 12,000 kilometres of high-speed rail are still concentrated in just a few Member States: Spain, France, Italy and Germany. Central and Eastern Europe remains, unfortunately, poorly connected. This must change,” said a European Sustainable Transport official. “Imagine travelling from Berlin to Copenhagen in four hours instead of seven: the train would undoubtedly be preferable to the plane. This will become a reality in 2030. And by 2035, Sofia and Athens will be just six hours away by train, instead of the current nearly 14 hours,” he added.
The Commission also says the plan will reduce congestion and free up capacity on conventional lines, facilitating night trains, freight transport and military mobility. To this end, the EU executive proposes removing cross-border barriers through binding deadlines, to be set by 2027, and identifying options for higher speeds, above 250 km/h, when economically viable.
It is also necessary to improve investment conditions with "a more attractive regulatory environment, improving the cross-border ticketing and reservation system, and accelerating digital management systems."
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