Specifically, the plan envisages connecting the main transport nodes at speeds of 200 kilometers per hour or higher
The European Commission wants the European Union (EU) to be connected by high-speed rail lines by 2040, including the connection between Lisbon and Madrid, and to create a single intermodal ticket to combine different companies and modes of transport.
“The new action plan for high-speed rail defines the necessary steps to create, by 2040, a faster, interoperable and better connected European network. The objective is to reduce travel times and make the train a more attractive alternative to short-haul air travel, thus increasing the number of passengers and boosting regional economies and tourism”, says the community executive in a statement.
Specifically, the plan envisages connecting the main transport nodes at speeds of 200 kilometers per hour or higher, which will allow in the future to travel from Lisbon to Madrid in three hours (in 2034, with five hours expected in 2030), as well as from Madrid to Paris in six hours.
Other new connections will be in the Baltic countries: from Tallinn to Riga in one hour and forty-five minutes, from Riga to Vilnius in two hours and from Vilnius to Warsaw in four hours.
Furthermore, EU passengers will be able to travel from Berlin to Copenhagen in four hours instead of the current seven, and from Sofia to Athens in six hours instead of the current 13 hours and 40 minutes, according to the plan.
“In addition to reducing travel times, the plan will alleviate congestion and free up capacity on conventional lines, facilitating night trains, freight transport and military mobility, while strengthening European competitiveness in tourism and industry”, says the European Commission.
To move forward with the plan, Brussels asks EU countries to eliminate cross-border bottlenecks, to develop a coordinated financing strategy including private ones, to improve conditions for industry and railway operators and to facilitate authorizations.
At a press conference in Brussels, the European Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, revealed that the European Commission will present, at the beginning of 2026, a proposal “so that all passengers can, with a click on their cell phone or computer, book and buy a cross-border ticket through different companies and in a multimodal way”.
This means that, “if someone wants to book a trip and needs to use a plane for one part of the journey and a train for the other, they can do so with a single ticket”, he added.
According to Apostolos Tzitzikostas, “the priority, at this moment, is to ensure that citizens, when they want to use the train for cross-border connections through different companies, can book it as a single ticket”.
“We will present [uma revisão da lei] of passenger rights to support this new way in which people travel and it is exactly our objective, to move forward with a proposal at the beginning of 2026”, he added.
Today, Brussels also adopted an investment plan in sustainable transport, to boost investment, with a focus on aviation and maritime transport, when it is estimated that 20 million tons of renewable and low-carbon fuels will be needed by 2035, at a cost of 100 billion euros.
The institution’s objective is to mobilize at least 2.9 billion euros through EU instruments by 2027, and hopes to raise 500 million euros with a pilot project launched later this year.
