The European Commission desires to make rail journeys between main European cities sooner and simpler for worldwide travellers, and has launched a brand new technique with this goal in thoughts.
The Commission stated its new plan would “speed up the event of high-speed rail throughout the EU” by “boosting quick, snug, protected and dependable rail providers.”
The technique can also be in keeping with local weather targets, it stated, noting that it helps the EU’s objective of attaining local weather neutrality by 2050.
“High-speed rail isn’t just about slicing journey instances – it’s about uniting Europeans, strengthening our economic system, and main the worldwide race for sustainable transport,” EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas stated in a assertion.
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He added that, with the plan, “we’re turning ambition into motion: breaking down boundaries, mobilising investments for contemporary infrastructure, and making cross-border rail the spine of a carbon-neutral, aggressive, and safe Europe.”
In the assertion, EC gave a number of examples of connections which it stated may see their rail journey instances reduce in half within the coming years.
These embrace slicing journey instances from Athens to Sofia to 6 hours and Copenhagen to Berlin to only 4 hours.
How the European Commission expects rail journey between main European cities to look within the coming years, in keeping with a brand new assist programme introduced in November 2025. Image: European Commission press launch
The Copenhagen-Berlin rail hyperlink will finally undergo the Femahrn Belt tunnel, which is at the moment below building between Denmark and Germany.
A delay was introduced on that mission earlier this 12 months, which means its completion is not anticipated till late 2032 on the earliest, though the Commission stated in its announcement that it expects the drastically shorter journey time between the 2 capitals to be prepared “by 2030”.
Rail passengers travelling between Copenhagen and Berlin at the moment journey through western Denmark and Hamburg, which means for much longer journey instances till the Femahrn Belt connection is accomplished.
Other developments will embrace cross-border connections between the Baltic international locations and a Paris-Madrid-Lisbon direct route, based on the plans, which construct on the trans-European transport community (TEN-T), an present EU transport initiative.
To obtain the objectives set out within the plan, measures will embrace binding timetables designed to scale back bottlenecks. These will probably be in place by 2027.
An EU financing technique for the plan will probably be introduced within the coming months “supported by a strategic dialogue with Member States, trade and monetary actors,” the Commission stated.
