| Rail transport in Europe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| System length | |
| Electrified | 57% (EU average)[1] |
| Track gauge | |
| Main | 1,435 mm / 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge |
| High-speed | standard gauge |
| Electrification | |
| Main | Mixed (see text) |
| Features | |
| Longest tunnel | Gotthard Base Tunnel 57.09 km (35.47 mi) |
| Longest bridge | Crimean Bridge 18.1 km (11.25 mi) |
| Highest elevation | Jungfraujoch |
| at | 3,454 m (11,332 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | Privolzhskaya Railway (Volga Railway) |
| at | ca. −28 m (−92 ft) |
Rail transport in Europe has diverse technological standards, operating concepts, and infrastructures. Common features are the widespread use ofstandard-gauge rail, high operational safety and a high proportion ofelectrification. Electrified railway networks inEurope operate at many different voltages, bothAC andDC, varying from 750 to 25,000volts, andsignaling systems vary from country to country, complicating cross-border traffic.
TheEuropean Union (EU) aims to make cross-border operations easier as well as to introduce competition to national rail networks. EU member states were empowered to separate the provision of transport services and the management of the infrastructure by theSingle European Railway Directive 2012. Usually, nationalrailway companies were split into separate divisions or independent companies for infrastructure, passenger and freight operations. The passenger operations may be further divided into long-distance and regional services, because regional services often operate underpublic service obligations (which maintain services which are not economically interesting to private companies but nonetheless produce societal benefit), while long-distance services usually operate without subsidies.[citation needed]
Across the EU, passenger rail transport saw a 50% increase between 2021 and 2022, with the 2022 passenger-kilometers figure being slightly under that of 2019 (i.e. before theCOVID-19 pandemic).[4] The trend is expected to continue and rapid investments in European Union railways are under way.[5]
Switzerland is the European leader inkilometres traveled by rail per inhabitant and year, followed byAustria andFrance among EU countries.[6] Switzerland was also ranked first among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index, followed byDenmark,Finland andGermany.[7]
Nearly all European countries have operationalrailway lines, the only exceptions beingAndorra (which never had one),Cyprus,Iceland,Malta andSan Marino (whose single or multiple railway lines were either entirely or mostly dismantled).Liechtenstein,Monaco andVatican City, despite having operationalrailway lines, they don't have their own nationalrailway companies, due to their small size and network, with their railways being operated by their bigger neighbours (Austria,France andItaly respectively).Russia, Germany and France have thelongest railway networks in Europe.[8] Apart from the islands ofGreat Britain,Ireland and Denmark, operational island railways are also present onCorsica,Isle of Man,Mallorca,Sardinia,Sicily andWangerooge.
Public transport timetables, including rail, are amended yearly, usually on the second Sunday of December and June, respectively. TheEuropean Rail Timetable publishes rail schedules for all European countries.[9]
Eurail andInterrail are bothrail passes for international rail travel in Europe for tourists.
Europe was the epicenter of rail transport and has today one of the densestnetworks (an average of 46 km (29 mi) for every 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) in theEU as of 2013).[10] Because of its history, European railway systems often differ between countries regarding their main linetrack gauges,loading gauges,electrification systems andplatform heights, among others (see below).
Interoperability on itsconventional network and further development of itshigh-speednetwork are current issues.
The 2017 European Railway Performance Index ranked the performance of national rail systems as follows:[7]
Most railways in Europe use1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge, while in some other countries, like on theIberian Peninsula, or countries whose territories used to be part of theRussian Empire orSoviet Union, widespreadbroad gauge exists (exceptSoutheastern European countries). For instance, Eastern European countries likeRussia,Ukraine,Armenia,Moldova,Belarus,Finland, and theBaltic states (Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania) use a gauge width of1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) or1,524 mm (5 ft), also known asRussian gauge. Spain and Portugal both use the1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) track gauge, also known as theIberian gauge.Ireland uses the somewhat unusual5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge, referred to in Ireland as "Irish Gauge" (but is an island with no external cross-border links).[11][12] There are also manynarrow-gauge railways in Europe, especially in mountainous regions.
There are different technical solutions whenever abreak of gauge occurs. Between Eastern European countries that use standard gauge and Belarus and Ukraine, thebogies of passenger trains are exchanged in a time consuming procedure. For theRail Baltica project, a new international standard gauge railway is currently built that connects the Baltic states with the European standard gauge network. In some places, trains withvariable gauge bogies are used, such as between France and Spain[12] (also used between narrow and standard gauge railways, for example theGoldenPass Express in Switzerland). Some lines havedual gauge in place.European high-speed railway lines outside ofRussia are all built in standard gauge.
While most European countries use right-hand traffic ondouble-track railway lines, some have left-hand traffic.Liechtenstein,San Marino andVatican City havesingle-track railways.
| Left-hand traffic | Right-hand traffic |
| Belgium |France |Great Britain |Ireland |Italy |Monaco |Portugal |Slovenia |Sweden |Switzerland | Albania |Armenia |Austria |Azerbaijan |Belarus |Bosnia and Herzegovina |Bulgaria |Croatia |Czech Republic |Denmark |Estonia |Finland |Georgia |Germany |Greece |Hungary |Kosovo |Latvia |Lithuania |Luxembourg |Moldova |Montenegro |Netherlands |North Macedonia |Norway |Poland |Romania |Russia |Serbia |Slovakia |Spain |Turkey |Ukraine |
The percentage ofelectrification of lines varies between countries.[13] Nearly 57% of railway lines in theEuropean Union are electrified,[1] whereas inSwitzerland about 99% are electrified.[14]
Likewise, theelectrification systems of lines varies between countries.[15]15 kV AC has been used inGermany,Austria,Liechtenstein, Switzerland,Norway andSweden since 1912, while theNetherlands andFrance use 1500 V DC. France,Portugal,Lithuania, most of Southeastern Europe (Hungary,Croatia,Serbia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro,Kosovo,North Macedonia,Greece,Bulgaria,Romania) andTurkey (also parts of theCzech Republic,Slovakia andUkraine) use25 kV AC, whileSpain,Belgium,Wales, most ofEngland,Poland,Italy,Slovenia,Moldova, theSouth Caucasus (Armenia,Azerbaijan,Georgia) andRussia (also parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine) use 3 kV DC. As of 2024, railway lines inAlbania are not electrified and the same is true for most lines inIreland and the greater part ofScotland. All this makes the construction of truly pan-European vehicles a challenging task and, until recent developments in locomotive construction, was mostly ruled out as being impractical and too expensive.
The development of an integratedEuropean high-speed rail network is overcoming some of these differences. All high-speed lines outside ofRussia, including those built inSpain and Portugal, use1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge tracks. Likewise all European high-speed lines, outside of Germany, Austria and Italy use 25 kV AC electrification (Electrification ofhigh-speed rail in Italy is mixed 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC). This means that by 2020, high-speed trains can travel from Italy to theUnited Kingdom, or Portugal to the Netherlands without the need for multi-voltage systems or breaks of gauge — or they could, if they did not have to transfer from one high-speed line to the next over "classical" lines using a different voltage and/or frequency.
Multiple incompatibletrain protection systems are another barrier to interoperability. A unified system,ETCS, is theEU's project to unify train protection across Europe. The specification was written in 1996 in response to EU Directive96/48/EC. ETCS is being developed as part of theEuropean Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) initiative, and is being tested by multiple railway companies since 1999. All new high-speed lines and freight main lines funded partially by the EU are required to use ETCS Level 1 or Level 2.[16] AlsoSwitzerland, not being part of the EU, has implemented the ETCS.[17]
The loading gauge on the main lines ofGreat Britain, almost all of which were built before 1900, is generally smaller than in mainland Europe, where the slightly largerBerne gauge (Gabarit passe-partout international, PPI) was agreed to in 1913 as a general minimum standard (individual lines can and do adhere to larger loading gauge standards) and came into force in 1914.[18][19] As a result, British (passenger) trains have noticeably and considerably smaller loading gauges and smaller interiors, despite the track being standard gauge.
This results in increased costs for purchasing trains as they must be specifically designed for the British network, rather than being purchased "off-the-shelf". For example, the new trains forHS2 have a 50% premium applied to the "classic compatible" sets which will be able to run on the rest of the network, meaning they will cost £40 million each rather than £27 million for the captive stock (built to European standards and unable to run on other lines), despite the captive stock being larger.[20] Similarly prior to the construction ofHigh Speed 1 (then also known as the "Channel Tunnel Rail Link") to continental European standards, thefirst generation Eurostar trains were required to have several custom modifications compared to the TGV trains they are based on, including narrower loading gauge and provision forthird rail electrification as used in southeast England. The successorEurostar e320 is an almost "off the shelf"Siemens Velaro and is thus incompatible with most of the British legacy rail network but can run on most of Europe's high speed rail network.
TheEuropean Union Commission issued a TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) that sets out standardplatform heights for passenger steps on high-speed rail. These standard heights are 550 and 760 mm (21.7 and 29.9 in). As the map indicates, there are several areas where 550 mm and 760 mm platform heights overlap and many trains serve stations with platforms of both heights posing challenges forstep-free access. Where trains optimized for 760 mm platforms have to serve 550 mm platforms (or vice versa)accessibility is often limited.[21][22][23] Due topath dependency a mixture of platform heights will continue to exist for the foreseeable future.
There are specific railway corridors forfreight operations across Europe.[24] Overall, only about 18% of European cargo moves by railway. In comparison, in theUnited States, 38% of cargo (byton-kilometer) moved via rail in 2000. The differences are primarily due to external factors such as geography.[25]
The percentage of freight railway transportation varies between European countries. For example, inFrance the percentage is much lower than the European average, while it is much higher in other countries such asLithuania, where over 70% of domestic cargo is transported by train.[26] The relative weakness of rail freight is due to the lower price of truck transport whichexternalizes a larger share of costs than rail,[27][28][29] as well as the high usage of coastal and inland shipping. SimilarlySwiss railroads carry about 40% (by ton-kilometres) of domestic freight[30] and even more than 70% of the (mostly international) freight traffic across theSwiss Alps: 74.4% in the first half of 2021.[31][32] The Swissnew railway link through the Alps includes theGotthard Base tunnel, one of thelongest tunnels in the world, and was built specifically to shift freight traffic across theAlps from road to rail.[33][34] As of 2024, two otherbase tunnels crossing the Alps are under construction: theBrenner Base Tunnel (between Austria and Italy) and theMont d'Ambin Base Tunnel (between Italy and France). In addition, two tunnels in Austria (Koralm Tunnel,Semmering Base Tunnel) will shorten travel time in the near future.
A big problem for long-distance international freight services – despite theEuropean Single Market allowing freedom of movement of goods, capital, labor and people and theSchengen area drastically reducing internal border controls – is the variety of differing standards forelectrification,loading gauge,signaling,driver certificates and even gauge. Finland (Russian gauge), Portugal and Spain (Iberian gauge) use their ownbroad gauges, as do theBaltic States and several non-EU members (mostlyRussian gauge).Rail Baltica is an EU-funded project to provide astandard gauge rail link in and through the Baltic countries, potentially connecting to aHelsinki-Tallinn tunnel. While attempts to unify the divergent standards date back to at least the 1880s with theConférence internationale pour l'unité technique des chemins de fer (lit. 'international conference for the technical unity of railroads') inBern, Switzerland, setting minimum standards for loading gauges (the so-calledBerne gauge) and the so-called "Berne space" (the space reserved for railroad workers inbuffer and chain couplers[35]), most standards still differ widely between and even within countries as many rules only apply to newly-built infrastructure, as much of Europe's rail infrastructure was built in the 19th century, and upgrading it would be costly and disruptive.
Another problem is that unlike aviation, whereAviation English is ade facto global standard with few non-English holdouts, rail operations virtually always use the local language, requiring train operators either to bepolyglots[36] or necessitating a change of staff at every (language) border. Another impediment to freight rail in Europe is thecoupling system commonly used. While theScharfenberg coupler, a mostly automatic system, is now commonly used on passenger trains,[37] its relatively low limit on the maximum tonnage it can pull makes it unsuitable for most freight operations. While American freight railroads largely useJanney couplers, European freight trains primarily still usebuffer and chain couplers, which require railway workers to screw each connection open and shut again duringshunting, reducing speed and efficiency and increasing labor cost,[38] though unlike Janney couplers they allow for workers to adjust the slack between railcars.[39] There are plans to replace these couplers with a newdigital automatic coupling system, but those have taken longer than expected and are still far from completion.[40][41] Apilot project regarding the digital automatic coupling system was launched by theGerman Federal Ministry of Transportation in 2020 and is to last until 2022.[needs update][42][43]
Train lengths in Europe are limited by the size ofpassing loops andrefuge sidings as well as the placement ofsignals.[44][45] There are plans to allow trains up to 740–750 m (2,430–2,460 ft) long to use the main freight lines by upgrading the requisite infrastructure;[46][47] various construction projects to that end have already been completed.[48][49] 750 meters is still much shorter than thelongest trains worldwide; however most European rail infrastructure is not built to allow for longer trains without severe disruption. In addition, longer trains are considered to be more dangerous, as they provide more opportunities for freight cars to derail and make brake applications slower. Therefore, shorter freight trains may be an advantage rather than a disadvantage if safety is the priority.[50]
Double stack rail transport, where twointermodal containers are stacked on top of another, either onflatcars or specifically designedwell cars, is virtually unheard of in Europe as theloading gauge of most lines does not allow it. While theBetuweroute in the Netherlands was built with height clearances allowing double stacking,[51] it does not (as of 2021) connect to any rail line that allows double stacking, and no double stack container trains have ever run along it.
Unlike countries such as theUnited States, where mainline freight railelectrification is nonexistent, a relatively large percentage of European freight rails are electrified because freight trains usually use the same lines as passenger trains (nearly 57% of railway lines in theEuropean Union are electrified).[1] Since the percentage of electrified railway lines varies between countries, freight operations may sometimes also be performed using diesel locomotives. InSwitzerland, nearly all railway lines are electrified except for somesidings to industrial areas. Therefore, freight trains are typicallyhauled byelectric locomotives butshunting is sometimes done withdiesel locomotives.
Because of differences in railway electrification between countries (or regions), electric locomotives need to bemulti-system locomotives or otherwise alocomotive change is required atborder stations.
Passenger trains in Europe are assigned to different categories or train types by railway companies, depending on the usedrolling stock, speed, distance of travel, stopping pattern and other criteria. Train categories or types often have specific abbreviations, such as EC (EuroCity) or IC (InterCity), which are frequently also shown onpassenger information systems. Some lines are additionally numbered.
Manycities across Europe have arapid transit system, commonly referred to as a metro, which is an electric railway. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, was opened in London in 1863. It is now part of London's rapid transit system that referred to as theLondon Underground, the longest such system in Europe. After London, the largest European metro systems by track length are inMoscow,Madrid andParis.
Majormetropolitan areas in most European countries are usually served by extensivecommuter/suburban rail systems, includingBG Voz inBelgrade (Serbia), theS-Bahn in Germany, Austria and German-speaking areas of Switzerland,Proastiakos in Greece,RER in France and Belgium,Servizio ferroviario suburbano in Italy,Cercanías andRodalies (Catalonia) in Spain,CP Urban Services in Portugal,Esko inPrague andOstrava (Czech Republic),HÉV inBudapest (Hungary),DART inDublin (Ireland) and several more in theUnited Kingdom.
Passenger rail transport over many routes across European countries is facilitated throughInterrail (for travelers from Europe) andEurail (for non-European travelers)rail passes. Due to differences in railway electrification between certain countries, eithermulti-systemelectric multiple units (EMUs) or, in case ofpush-pull trains, multi-system locomotives are used for cross-border services.
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The main international trains operating in Europe are:
There are a number of cross-border services that are no longer in operation:
In addition to long-distance services, there are also many cross-border trains at the local/regional level. The city ofBasel inSwitzerland, for example, is at the center of atrinationalcommuter rail network (known asS-Bahn inGerman-speaking regions) connecting stations in Switzerland, France and Germany. Another trinational commuter rail network exists aroundLake Constance (Bodensee), theBodensee S-Bahn, which links stations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Also the Swiss city ofGeneva has acommuter rail network across the border with France.TILO also operates cross-border commuter trains between Switzerland and Italy. Trains crossing the border to Switzerland require narrowerpantographs.
Also theAustrianTyrol S-Bahn,Salzburg S-Bahn andVorarlberg S-Bahn commuter rail networks have services that extend into neighbouring countries (Italy, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland).
Some local lines, like the Gronau to Enschede line betweenGermany and theNetherlands, operate on the signaling system of the country the line originates from, with no connection to the other country's network, whilst other train services like the Saarbahn between Germany and France use specially equipped vehicles that have a certificate to run on both networks. When there is an electrification difference between two countries, border stations with switchableoverhead lines can be used.Venlo railway station in the Netherlands is one such example, the overhead on the tracks can be switched between the Dutch 1500 V DC and the German 15 kV AC, which means a change of traction (or reconfiguring amultiple-voltage vehicle) is necessary at the station. On the other hand, an increasing number of locomotives can change voltages "on the fly" without stopping, usually with temporarily lowered pantographs, for instance on theviaduct of Moresnet where freight trains change voltages between Belgian 3 kV DC and German 15 kV 16.7 Hz. A third possibility concerns networks using voltages of the same order of magnitude, such asBelgium (3 kV DC) and the Netherlands (1.5 kV DC): Belgian trains toMaastricht orRoosendaal (Dutch stations located near the border) can use the lower Dutch voltage, albeit with reduced power, on the short stretch from the border to their Dutch terminal station and back. Increasingly the European Union mandates unified standards (see below) for newly built high speed lines to allow smoother international passenger services.[citation needed]
As of 2025[update], cross-border luxury trains in Europe include theVenice Simplon-Orient-Express, which runs betweenLondon andVenice, as well as national luxury train services in theUnited Kingdom (Northern Belle),Spain (Transcantábrico),Switzerland (GoldenPass Express) andRussia (Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express, which follows theTrans-Siberian Railway).[56]
High-speed rail (HSR) is an increasingly popular and efficient means of transport. In Europe, the first HSR lines on the continent were built in the 1970s and since then an extensive HSR network developed, including several cross-border links. New international HSR tracks are still being built and upgraded to international standards as part of theEU'sTrans-European high-speed rail network (TEN-R). As of 2024[update],Spain operates the largest HSR network in Europe (3,966 km or 2,464 mi)[57] and the second-largest in the world afterChina.
The following countries have high-speed rail:
Train ferries allow for shorter routes across a large body of water. In some cases, they became obsolete once railway bridges overstraits were built, or for other reasons. They are still mostly used forrail freight transport, but also forpassenger trains. In western Europe, there is a train ferry across theBaltic Sea betweenTrelleborg (Sweden) andRostock (Germany). A second one exists betweenPuttgarden on the German island ofFehmarn andRødby on the island ofLolland, Denmark, known as theVogelfluglinie (lit. 'bird flight route'). This route was closed for passenger trains (ICE,EC) in December 2019.
In Italy, there are train ferries between the mainland and the islands ofSicily andSardinia.[58]
Between 1869 and 1976 (with suspensions during the First and Second World Wars),goods wagons were transported by train ferries acrossLake Constance (German:Bodensee), a large lake between Austria, Germany and Switzerland. TheLake Constance train ferries became less economically feasible after the completion of the so-calledbelt railway around the lake, but was kept in operation for several decades as the railway lines could not accommodate additional traffic.
There are also train ferries across theBlack Sea, partly linking Europe with Asia. For example betweenVarna (Bulgaria) andOdessa (Ukraine) orBatumi (Georgia), betweenChornomorsk (Ukraine) andDerince (Turkey) and betweenSamsun (Turkey) andKavkaz (Russia).
EUrail subsidies amounted to €73 billion in 2005.[60] Subsidies vary widely from country to country in both size and how they are distributed, with some countries giving direct grants to the infrastructure provider and some giving subsidies totrain operating companies, often throughpublic service obligations. In general long-distance trains are not subsidized.[citation needed]
The 2017 European Railway Performance Index found a positive correlation between public cost and a given railway system's performance and differences in the value that countries receive in return for their public cost. The 2015 and 2017 performance reports found a strong relationship between cost efficiency and the share of subsidies allocated to infrastructure managers. A transparent subsidy structure, in which public subsidies are provided directly to the infrastructure manager rather than spread among multiple train-operating companies, correlates with a higher-performing railway system.[7]
The 2017 Index foundDenmark,Finland,France,Germany, theNetherlands,Sweden, andSwitzerland capture relatively high value for their money, whileLuxembourg,Belgium,Latvia,Slovakia,Portugal,Romania, andBulgaria underperform relative to the average ratio of performance to cost among European countries.[7]
| Country | Subsidy (€ billions) | Year |
|---|---|---|
 Germany | 17.0 | 2014[61] |
 France | 13.2 | 2013[62] |
 Italy | 7.6 | 2012[63] |
 Spain | 5.1 | 2015[64] |
 United Kingdom | 9.2 | 2016[65] |
 Switzerland | 4.3 | 2012[66] |
 Belgium | 2.8 | 2012[67] |
 Netherlands | 2.5 | 2014[68] |
 Austria | 2.3 | 2009[69] |
 Denmark | 1.7 | 2008[70] |
 Sweden | 1.6 | 2009[71] |
 Poland | 1.4 | 2008[70] |
 Ireland | 0.91 | 2008[70] |
Fourth Railway Package attempts liberalization of domestic passenger services in an attempt to reduce European rail subsidies.
As mentioned above, historically rules and standards on European railroads varied widely and thus the European Union has tried to harmonize and standardize those towards a single common European set of rules. The advent ofHigh Speed Rail added to the "classical" problems ofrailway electrification standards,gauge,loading gauge and "classical"signaling the additional problem oftrain protection systems, which are necessary for any train exceeding the speed limit of legacy signaling (79 mph in the United States, 160 km/h (99 mph) in much of continental Europe and 125 mph in Great Britain). Virtually every European country with significant high speed rail ambitions developed its own, incompatible, standard, be it GermanLZB, FrenchTVM or ItalianBACC. As there was resistance to choosing any of the pre-existing systems as a basis for a new European standard theEuropean Train Control System or ETCS was developed and is now mandatory for newly built high speed lines receiving EU funding.[72][73]
C'est, d'ailleurs, partant du constat que la part de marché du fret ferroviaire en France n'a cessé de s'éroder au profit du transport routier de marchandises, pour tomber à 9%, soit cinq fois moins qu'en 1974 et environ la moitié de la moyenne européenne
2008 data is not provided for Italy, so 2007 data is used instead
£6.7 billion, consisting of £4.3billion to network rail, and £2.4billion to train operating companies (TOC) using average of £1=1.366 euros for 2015-16
4.7 billion Swiss francs
2008 data is not provided for Italy, so 2007 data is used instead
Includes both "Railway subsidies" and "Public Service Obligations".
