The European Commission has unveiled the EU high-speed rail plan to deliver a well-functioning and faster network by 2040. This means that the high-speed rail network would triple and require EUR 546 billion investment.
To finalise the currently planned TEN-T high-speed rail network by 2040, the European Commission estimated that EUR 345 billion will be required. According to external estimates, going beyond the TEN-T and tripling the size of the existing EU high-speed rail network at speeds of 250 km/h or well above, would even cost EUR 546 billion. Such investment is expected to create employment and return a net positive benefit to society in the range of EUR 750 billion.
The new plan sets the ambition of significantly cutting the duration of popular rail journeys across Europe, with measures that eliminate market barriers and reduce costs, to ensure a thriving and globally competitive rail industry and affordable choices for passengers. To this end, the plan sets out specific high-speed infrastructure priorities and calls for achieving high-speed connections among EU capitals and major urban nodes.
“With today’s plan, we are turning ambition into action: breaking down barriers, mobilising investments for modern infrastructure, and making cross-border rail the backbone of a carbon-neutral, competitive, and secure Europe. Citizens across the Union will benefit from faster, safer, and more affordable journeys that bring Europe closer together,” Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said.
The plan includes four pillars tackling all issues for an integrated high-speed rail across the EU.
The first pillar is focused on accelerating the investment and harmonising a truly interoperable European high-speed rail network through removing cross-border bottlenecks through binding timelines to be set by 2027. Here, the Commission also proposed identified of options for higher speeds, including well-above 250 km/h when economically viable. A dedicated EU financing strategy will be prepared in the coming months, supported by a strategic dialogue with Member States, industry and financial actors. The Commission will prioritise high-speed rail projects in a 2026 CEF call, paving the way for further investments in high-speed rail in the EU’s next long-term budget for 2028-2034.
The EC urges Member States to assess and plan for the possibility of exceeding TEN-T minimum requirements, with the aim of upgrading or building, where economically feasible, new high-speed connections including at speeds well above 250 km/h.
On the interoperability issue, the EU high-speed rail plan proposes a research call in 2026 through Europe’s Rail to support the development of next-generation high-speed rolling stock. EU rules will be revised in 2026 to simplify train driver certification and next year the 2026 European ERTMS Deployment Plan will be released.
For an attractive and competitive framework for rail services, legislation will support the development of a second-hand market for rolling stock. The Commission will propose, in 2027, measures to ban anticompetitive scrapping of functioning and safe rolling stock, and to establish transparent conditions for its resale and operation across all Member States. In 2026 a proposal will be introduced to improve cross-border rail ticketing and booking systems. In addition, an environment to removing entry barriers for new high-speed operators will be essential through better coordination.
The last pillar refers to strengthening EU-level governance to coordinate and deliver the vision. This covers coordination for better use of rail infrastructure capacity, removing barriers to the establishment of new services between key cities. The Commission will establish a scoreboard to monitor progress on high-speed rail and the mandate of ERA will be also revised next year, enabling the Agency to remove redundant national rules and issue authorisations and certifications more efficiently, thereby supporting the implementation of innovation.
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