EU Commission to cut rail travel times to reduce flights

The European Commission on Wednesday presented a plan to significantly reduce travel times by train between major European cities by 2040 to reduce the necessity of short-haul flights.

“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 European Commission Vice President Raffaele Fitto.

The plan aimed to connect big cities at speeds of 200 km/h or more.

Passengers are to be able to travel from Berlin to Copenhagen in 4 hours instead of the current 7 hours.

The travel time from Sofia to Athens is to be cut from currently 13 hours and 40 minutes to 6 hours, and Vienna and Berlin are to be connected by a trip lasting 4 hours.

Also 30 minutes instead of the current 8 hours and 10 minutes.

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

The commission has emphasised that rail transport currently accounts for 0.3 per cent of emissions in the transport sector.

Road transport accounted for 73.2 per cent and civil aviation for 11.8 per cent.