EU Commission plans to cut rail travel times to reduce flights within the EU

The main goal is to reduce the necessity of short-haul flights within the European Union.

“Improving travel times between capitals across Europe is a tangible and pragmatic result of our will to make Europe more united and more efficient,” said Vice President of the European Commission Raffaele Fitto.

The plan is to have major EU cities connected by a high-speed rail network with trains traveling at least at 200km/h by 2040. Brussels puts the total investment at €345 billion. The budget would come from “more strategic” use of EU funds.

In the future, passengers will be able to travel from Berlin to Copenhagen in 4 hours, instead of the current 7 hours. The travel time from Sofia to Athens will drop from currently 13 hours and 40 minutes to 6 hours. Vienna and Berlin are to be connected by a trip lasting 4 hours and 30 minutes, instead of the current 8 hours and 10 minutes. It will also allow a quick train link from Paris to Madrid and Lisbon.

To achieve this, the European Commission wants member states to coordinate timelines across borders, develop financing strategies, improve investment conditions and set up a cross-border ticketing and booking system.

The Commission emphasized that rail transport currently accounts for 0.3 percent of emissions in the transport sector. Road transport accounts for 73.2 percent and civil aviation for 11.8 percent according to Commission data.