The EU needs more high-speed trains.
There is an EU petition going around to get the European Commission to put in place a legally binding act to establish a European high-speed train network, connecting EU capitals, as quickly as possible.
The link to the petition, as well as the site with more information, are in the pinned post.
These official EU petitions are actually meaningful, and are not your typical online petition, as they require confirmation of identity (e.g., through DigID). It is only open to residents of the EU.
Please consider signing it if you are a resident of the EU.
Obviously this initiative would only be part of the solution. What we really need are more regional trains throughout Europe, and better public transit for everyone.
Nevertheless, a trunk of high-speed train routes between capitals would go a long way towards building a viable alternative to flying and driving within Europe. Just as the Shinkansen (literally “new trunk line”) do in Japan.
My point here is: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Please sign and share the petition, and let’s get the EU committed to trains.
Petition: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/035/public/#/screen/home
More information: https://www.connect-capitals-hsr.eu/
Jason of Not Just Bikes on YouTube
It’s not a petition, it’s an European citizen initiative, a formal and official way to present a law to be discussed by eu commission.
I’m saying this because it’s a powerful tool, unlike the usual common petitions (like the change.org ones)
This needs to be combined with a “frequent flyer tax” and carbon taxes on petrol that subsidises cheaper train tickets for all
It’s only open to EU citizens (regardless of place of residence) unfortunately non citizen residents cannot sign it.
I really hope this succeeds!
I’ve signed, this is really important. Trains are vital for domestic travel, but also really important for international travel, about once a year I’ll need to go to another EU country and look for a rail option, often it’s not feasible. I really hope this succeeds, flying is unsustainable.
Meanwhile in France…
Coming from California…good luck to you guys.
Thanks for sharing, I signed and shared as well.
As an American visiting Europe, please do! Dealing with multiple airports here sucks so much!
@poVoq @Vittelius i don’t think high speed trains and low speed have to exclude each other. For example between Kassel and Frankfurt are high speed and low speed trains. Currently the only obstacle is that both are so popular that it maxes out the capacity of both ways (one line goes through Fulda and the other through Marburg and giessen). The high speed trains only halt in a few trainstations, while the low speed trains at least cover all of the stations between to high speed stops.
@poVoq @Vittelius i life near of one of the low speed halts. Lets say I want to go to Sylt. I take a low speed train to an high speed stop and then use the train to go to sylt. from the local trainstation to sylt i have 3 stops and in 7 hours im there. Coexisting is possible.
It’s gonna be a while before this is implemented. We also have to unify on rail gauge, electricity delivery & control system. While there is ongoing efforts to unify all of those system, it will probably be decades before we will be able to propertly utilize any new high speed rail lines from this proposal. Always a good idea to improve things for the next generation.
@ManInTheMiddle @Vittelius the rail gauge is mostly one size already: 1435 mm, only spain and portugal are missing.
The train control systems must be replaced by etcs, this is an european regulation.
The electrification is the only Problem that needs to be solved. We have many different power systems that use highly different voltages. (750V to 25 kV)
