Train on bridge – Image by Yves from Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission announced Tuesday support for 10 pilot projects to establish new cross-border rail services or improve existing connections between large EU cities including Paris, Munich and Rome.
The selected projects will allow for additional train connections between large EU cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich, Milan or Rome, with some planned to be operational before summer.
“While demand for green mobility is growing, we need the rail market to respond much better and much faster, especially for long and cross-border journeys,” said Transport Commissioner Adina Valean: “This is why the European Commission now wants to help rail companies create new international train connections by day and by night by breaking down the many barriers to cross-border rail.”
The 2021 Action Plan identified obstacles to the uptake and operation of cross-border passenger rail services, such as capacity allocations and poor coordination between infrastructure managers. The Commission says the new pilot services will serve to illustrate how these existing obstacles can be overcome, allowing for new services to emerge and railway operators and authorities to break down remaining barriers.
The EU executive says the 10 pilots are only a first step, with the aim of gathering valuable experience for future projects.
The following proposals for cross-border pilot services, in order of planned starting date:
- Hungarian Ministry of Transport, new services connecting Hungary, Austria and western Romania;
- Connection Germany – Denmark Sweden, with participation of SJ (new night train service Stockholm Copenhagen Berlin and day train Hamburg Gothenburg (and potentially Oslo, in co-operation with DSB and DB), Snälltaget (enhanced night train service Stockholm Copenhagen Berlin), Ceské dráhy (new service Prague Berlin Copenhagen, in co-operation with DB and DSB) and Flixtrain (new service Leipzig Berlin Copenhagen Stockholm)
- Midnight Trains, new night train service Paris Milan Venice;
- Flixtrain, new service Munich Zurich;
- WESTbahn, new service Munich Vienna Budapest, extension of existing service;
- Nederlandse Spoorwegen, enhancement of the existing Amsterdam London service, in cooperation with Eurostar;
- European Sleeper, new night train service Amsterdam Barcelona;
- Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane /Deutsche Bahn, new services Rome Munich and Milan Munich;
- ILSA, new services Lisbon A Coruña and Lisbon Madrid;
- Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, new services connecting Catalonia and the South of France.
Connecting Europe by train:10 EU pilot projects to boost cross-border rail (map)
Action Plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail
