High-speed trains and EU Green Deal: new railways for environmental sustainability

At the end of 2024, a high-speed train departed from the crowded Paris Gare de l’Est station bound for Berlin, inaugurating a new 1,100-kilometer route that connects the two capitals in just eight hours. A similar service will resume in the spring, with SNCF (the French National Railway Company) and Trenitalia once again offering connections between Milan and Paris, with a travel time of seven hours and seven minutes. These are two concrete examples of the continuous expansion of the EU high-speed rail network, which currently covers 15,200 kilometers across the European Union, with an additional 3,000 kilometers under construction.

After all, the development of high-speed rail lines is one of the strategic pillars of the European Green Deal, which aims to reduce transport emissions by 90% by 2050. To achieve this, the plan clearly states the need to double the high-speed network by 2030 and triple it over the following two decades.

The European Commission’s commitment to this goal was recently reaffirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who highlighted the development of high-speed rail networks as one of the key projects of her second term in Brussels. Her economic agenda for the next five years includes a plan explicitly dedicated to high-speed trains, with projected investments of €500 billion by 2050.

The plan, overseen by the new EU Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, is expected to generate economic benefits worth €750 billion by 2070 and contribute to environmental sustainability by saving over 100 million tons of CO₂ annually. Additionally, it is estimated to create 1.5 million jobs.

According to the latest Eurostat data, between 2013 and 2023, the European high-speed rail network grew steadily, expanding from 2,744 km to 8,556 km (+47.2%).

Spain and France have seen the most significant expansion and together account for nearly three-quarters of the EU’s high-speed network (Spain: 37.3%; France: 32.1%). Spain leads the way with 3,190 km (+66% compared to 2013), making it second only to China worldwide. France follows with 2,748 km, Germany with 1,163 km, and Italy in fourth place with 1,097 km (+63% compared to 675 km in 2013). In contrast, countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark have not made significant progress in their high-speed rail networks over the past decade.

However, it is important to note that only a few EU countries have dedicated high-speed rail lines. In 2023, high-speed tracks accounted for 19.8% of Spain’s total rail network, 10% in France, and just 2.3% in Italy.

The construction of new high-speed rail connections is part of the broader Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) development project, which will link 424 European cities via ports, airports, and railway terminals. Nine major corridors of this network include large-scale high-speed rail lines.

For instance, in France, work is underway to extend the Bordeaux-Toulouse line (222 km), expected to be operational by 2032. In Spain, construction continues on the “Basque Y” (182 km), which will connect three cities in the Basque Country (Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Donostia-San Sebastián).

In Italy, major projects include several being developed by the Webuild Group, such as:

– The Brenner Base Tunnel (55 km), the world’s longest underground rail link, crucial for transnational connections between Italy and Austria.
– The Verona-Padua line (76.5 km).
– The Milan-Genoa line (53 km, of which 36 km is in tunnels).
– The Naples-Bari line (145 km), which will reduce travel time between the two cities from approximately four hours to just two.
– The 1a Battipaglia-Romagnano section (35 km) of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria line, which, once completed, will cut travel time between the two cities from over five hours to just three hours and 40 minutes.