Rail transport plays a crucial role in the economies of new member states of the European Union – far more important than in many old EU countries. The development of high-speed railway transport can be an encouraging starting point, given the stated transport policy aims of the European Union, but at the same time it is a major challenge to preserve the high market share of the rail transport mode.
The objectives of developing a European high-speed railway transport network are also included in the TEN-T policy. The European Commission has been planning the review of the trans-European transport network policy (TEN-T guidelines and TEN-T financial regulation) since 2009. After two stakeholder consultations and two large conferences, the Commission revealed its first indicative thoughts on the definition of the future TEN-T network in a staff working document, which was presented to the European transport ministers at the Council meeting in Hungary in February 2011. The new White Paper on Transport, which was published in March 2011, also contains important elements that are relevant for the TEN-T review. The Commission proposal for the new TEN-T guidelines is expected to be published in late June/early July 2011. The timing of the publication of the proposal for a new TEN-T financial regulation depends on the publication of the multiannual financial framework (MFF), which is expected for late June 2011.
Community financing has focused on major high-speed railway projects, launching a new generation of passenger transport which can successfully compete with air transport or individual motorized vehicles. A TEN-T priority project such as the high-speed railway line linking Paris, Brussels, Köln/Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London, has not only interconnected national networks and represented the emergence of a new generation of cross-border railway transport, but at the same time, it has permitted citizens and commuters to feel the benefits of free travelling across Europe. High-speed stimulates the people’s mobility, just like an underground network organises a city, a high-speed railway network organises an entire region.
High-speed is a transport system tailored to the needs of the citizens living in the 21st century, a century of excessive speed already reflected in daily life. Perhaps, this isn’t the best example, but the Japanese travel by high speed train six times more than the Europeans.
In Western Europe, high-speed railway transport develops rapidly and it is often described as the “transport mode of the future”. However, such a system requires massive investments, most of the times through state budget funds, funds still unavailable in the East and South-East of Europe. There are three main and extremely important characteristics which influence the development of high-speed rail transport, namely safety, capacity (“velocity”), and sustainability (in particular respect to the environment). However high speed is not always well understood as a transport system and its performance is not fully taken advantage of, which limits the potential development of high speed, the development of “classic rail”, and all other transport modes.
by Elena Ilie
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