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EU strengthens rail transport at the expense of air transport

 

According to the Commission's action plan, rail transport is to be further strengthened. The maximum speed on the railways is to double by 2030 and triple by 2050. In addition, a minimum speed of 160 km/h will apply from 2040. This should make air traffic within 500 kilometres superfluous.

 

In the future, Europe will be connected via nine so-called rail corridors. The core network will be completed by 2030 and the entire network by 2050. Austria, for example, is connected to four of these high-speed train routes, three routes run through Vienna, one route through Tyrol. In addition, the North Sea-Mediterranean, Baltic Sea-Adriatic Sea, Rhine-Danube and Scandinavia-Mediterranean corridors are included.

 

The corridors are embedded in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), which has now been revised. It consists of EU-wide transport routes on rail, shipping routes and roads. 424 major cities will be connected to ports, airports and railway stations. Travelling by rail is to become faster. It will be possible to travel from Copenhagen to Hamburg in two hours and from Vienna to Berlin in five hours. The expansion will cost 45 billion euros.

 

According to Transport Commissioner Adina Valean, this new "EU infrastructure" will make it possible to reach cities more quickly and reduce commuting emissions significantly. The transport sector is one of the main contributors to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. With the expansion of the rail network, the EU wants to achieve its goal of reducing transport emissions by 90 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.