Transport & Environment — 2025-06-24
News from Brussels
Investment priorities for more connected and resilient networks
Europe’s railway infrastructure is at a critical moment. After decades of underinvestment, the network is expected to deliver greater reliability and capacity, while also becoming more resilient to natural disasters and external threats, including sabotage.
This report assesses the current state of rail infrastructure across EU member states and sets out how the EU should prioritise future investments to strengthen connectivity and resilience across the rail network. It is based on data from the EU Agency’s Registers of Infrastructure (RINF), Eurostat, and OpenStreetMap, covering EU-27 countries as well as Switzerland, Ukraine, and Moldova for selected indicators.
Key findings:
Overall, our analysis finds that despite the strategic importance of rail and annual investments of €40 billion across the EU, the rail system remains fragmented. Large portions of national networks also fall short of meeting the requirements set out in the EU’s core infrastructure policy, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). At the same time, strong performance on specific indicators in some member states demonstrates that faster progress is achievable.
The most notable results include:
Fewer than 20% of TEN-T corridors are equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS), which is essential to allow trains to run across borders and to increase safety, capacity and reliability.
The average speed of rail lines often remains low, with eight member states achieving a maximum speed of only 80 km/h on the majority of their lines, far below the goal of 160 km/h for the TEN-T.
Just over half of the European network is electrified, although electrified lines are more reliable and curb pollution and noise from trains.
These gaps undermine rail’s capacity to offer fast, reliable and clean transport and to remain resilient in the face of disruptions. A targeted approach to investment is therefore essential.
Policy Recommendations:
This report identifies six priority areas for investment that can unlock a more reliable, connected, and competitive EU rail system. They are summarised in the infographic below.
With the European Commission preparing new proposals to support rail investments, a strategic and focused approach is critical:
The upcoming Connecting Europe through high-speed rail plan should prioritise the removal of interoperability and capacity barriers, particularly the slow rollout of the European Train Control System (ETCS). The next EU budget should earmark investments accordingly and increase co-funding rates to at least 60% under the Connecting Europe Facility budget.
Infrastructure upgrades should be prioritised over newly built megaprojects to make an impact across most of the rail networks in the short- to mid-term.
Dual-use considerations should be integrated into rail infrastructure investments. An increase in rail investments is expected due to the EU’s new emphasis on military mobility, and these funds should be directed toward dual-use infrastructure that also benefits civilian rail services and helps address the challenges identified in this report.
Read the whole report here.