The European Commission wants to make rail trips between major European cities faster and easier for international travellers, and has launched a new strategy with this aim in mind.
The Commission said its new plan would “accelerate the development of high-speed rail across the EU” by “boosting fast, comfortable, safe and reliable rail services.”
The strategy is also in line with climate targets, it said, noting that it supports the EU’s goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
“High-speed rail is not just about cutting travel times – it is about uniting Europeans, strengthening our economy, and leading the global race for sustainable transport,” EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas said in a statement.
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He added that, with the plan, “we are turning ambition into action: breaking down barriers, mobilising investments for modern infrastructure, and making cross-border rail the backbone of a carbon-neutral, competitive, and secure Europe.”
In the statement, EC gave several examples of connections which it said could see their rail journey times cut in half in the coming years.
These include cutting journey times from Athens to Sofia to six hours and Copenhagen to Berlin to just four hours.
How the European Commission expects rail travel between major European cities to look in the coming years, in line with a new support programme announced in November 2025. Image: European Commission press release
The Copenhagen-Berlin rail link will eventually go through the Femahrn Belt tunnel, which is currently under construction between Denmark and Germany.
A delay was announced on that project earlier this year, meaning its completion is not expected until late 2032 at the earliest, although the Commission said in its announcement that it expects the drastically shorter journey time between the two capitals to be ready “by 2030”.
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Rail passengers travelling between Copenhagen and Berlin currently travel via western Denmark and Hamburg, meaning much longer journey times until the Femahrn Belt connection is completed.
Other developments will include cross-border connections between the Baltic countries and a Paris-Madrid-Lisbon direct route, according to the plans, which build on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), an existing EU transport initiative.
To achieve the goals set out in the plan, measures will include binding timetables designed to reduce bottlenecks. These will be in place by 2027.
An EU financing strategy for the plan will be presented in the coming months “supported by a strategic dialogue with Member States, industry and financial actors,” the Commission said.
