{"id":67253,"date":"2021-12-17T23:34:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T23:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eco123.info\/en\/?p=67253"},"modified":"2021-12-24T23:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T23:39:09","slug":"no-118-derailed-how-eu-states-are-sabotaging-european-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eco123.info\/en\/mobility\/no-118-derailed-how-eu-states-are-sabotaging-european-rail\/","title":{"rendered":"N\u00ba 118 – Derailed \u2013 how EU states are sabotaging European rail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, the 18th dezember 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2021 has been proclaimed as the “Year of the Railway” by the European Commission. A \u201eEurope Express\u201c trip taking in 100 cities and towns between Portugal, Slovenia and France was supposed to promote a new era in European rail. Yet the PR tour turned into a disaster. The promotional train demonstrated the the EU governments\u2019 failure in railway policy. The journey through 26 states and across 33 borders required no fewer than 55 locomotives. For on Europe\u2019s railway tracks, nothing really fits or connects with each other.<\/p>\n

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Strange that, when EU politicians fall over each other when it comes to emphasising the significance of the railway in reaching climate goals. Marking the departure of the special chartered train EU transport commissioner Adina Valean said: \u201eThe railway is our future, our way to deter climate change and to build a carbon-neutral transport sector.\u201c The European Commission\u2019s head of the climate portfolio, Frans Timmermans, warns: \u201eWe have to restrict short-haul flights and make trips under 500 kilometres climate neutral.\u201c And this spelled out \u201emore trains\u201c.<\/p>\n

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Adina V\u0103lean, European Commissioner for Transport, photographed in the Connecting Europe Express at Oriente Station in Lisbon, Portugal on September 2, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past months the \u201eInvestigate Europe\u201c news agency has been researching why despite decades of planning and announcements the European railway is but \u201ean ineffectual patchwork\u201c, as the recent verdict given by the European Court of Auditors puts it. The responsible parties, the report said, were lacking in cooperation.<\/p>\n

Why do things have to be this way? Why can\u2019t passengers in Europe simply purchase a ticket from Lisbon to Berlin online? Why are there hardly any night trains left that could serve to replace flights? Who benefits from the decades of neglect that the railway network has suffered? And how serious are the responsible parties in their promises of changing things?<\/p>\n