Transport in Europe provides for the movement needs of over 700 million people[1] and associated freight.
The political geography of Europe divides the continent into over 50 sovereign states and territories. This fragmentation, along with increased movement of people since theIndustrial Revolution, has led to a high level of cooperation between European countries in developing and maintaining transport networks.Supranational and intergovernmental organisations such as theEuropean Union (EU),Council of Europe and theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe have led to the development of international standards and agreements that allow people and freight to cross the borders of Europe, largely with unique levels of freedom and ease.
Road, rail, air and water transportation are all prevalent and important across Europe. Europe was the location of the world's first railways and motorways and is now the location of some of the world's busiest ports and airports. TheSchengen Area enables border control-free travel between 26 European countries. Freight transportation has a high level ofintermodal compatibility and theEuropean Economic Area allows the free movement of goods across 30 states. Of all tonne-kilometres transported in 2016, 51% were by road, 33% by sea, 12% by rail, 4% by inland waterways, and 0.1% by air.[2]
A review of critical success factors for the delivery of transport infrastructure projects in Europe is presented in a 2017 report.[3]
In October 1998 AccesRail, a Canadian company, launched a solution on the airline industry'sGlobal Distribution Systems (GDS) that allowed major airlines, travel agents, and other online booking websites to book and ticket intermodal travel arrangements, such as flights, railways, and/or buses on the GDS primary screens together in one common booking.[4][5]
Powered rail transport began in England in the early 19th century with the invention of the speed train. The modern European rail network spans almost the entire continent, with the exception ofAndorra,Cyprus,Iceland,Malta, andSan Marino. It provides movement of passengers and freight. There are significanthigh-speed rail passenger networks, such as theTGV inFrance and theLAV inSpain. TheChannel Tunnel connects theUnited Kingdom with France and thus the whole of the European rail system, and it was called one of the seven wonders of the modern world by theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers.[7] The longest railway tunnel in the world, theGotthard Base Tunnel, crosses theAlps inSwitzerland.
Various method ofrail electrification are used as well as much unelectrified track.Multi system locomotives andEMUs allow for cross-border services.Standard gauge is widespread in Central and Western Europe,Russian gauge predominates in parts of Eastern Europe, and mainline services on theIberian Peninsula and the island ofIreland use the rarerIberian gauge andIrish gauge, respectively. In mountainous areas,narrow-gauge railways are common. TheEuropean Rail Traffic Management System is an EU initiative to create a Europe-wide standard for train signalling.
Rail infrastructure, freight transport and passenger services are provided by a combination of local and national governments and private companies. Passenger ticketing varies from country to country and service to service. TheEurail Pass, a rail pass for 18 European countries, is available only for persons who do not live in Europe,Morocco,Algeria orTunisia.Interrail passes allow multi-journey travel around Europe for people living in Europe and surrounding countries.
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).[8] The trend is expected to continue and rapid investments in European Union railways are under way.[9]
Switzerland is the European leader inkilometres traveled by rail per inhabitant and year, followed byAustria andFrance among EU countries.[10] Switzerland was also ranked first among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index, followed byDenmark,Finland andGermany.[11]
Nearly all European countries have operationalrailway lines, the only exceptions beingIceland,Cyprus and themicrostates ofAndorra (which never had one) andMalta andSan Marino (whose single railway lines were either entirely or mostly dismantled).Russia, Germany and France have thelongest railway networks in Europe.[12] 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.[13]
Eurail andInterrail are bothrail passes for international rail travel in Europe for tourists.
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.
TheInternational E-road network is a numbering system forroads in Europe developed by theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reachesCentral Asian countries likeKyrgyzstan, since they are members of the UNECE.
Main international traffic arteries in Europe are defined by ECE/TRANS/SC.1/2016/3/Rev.1 which consider three types of roads:motorways,limited access roads, and ordinary roads.
In most countries, the roads carry the European route designation alongside national designations.Belgium,Norway andSweden have roads which only have the European route designations (examples:E18 andE6). The United Kingdom, Albania and the Asian part of Russia only use national road designations and do not show the European designations at all. All route numbers in Andorra are unsigned.Denmark only uses the European designations on signage, but also has formal names for every motorway (or part of such), by which the motorways are referred to, for instance in news and weather forecasts. In Asia, Turkey and Russia show the European designations on signage; this is not the case in many other Asian countries.
Other continents have similar international road networks, e.g., thePan-American Highway in the Americas, theTrans-African Highway network, and theAsian Highway Network.
UNECE was formed in 1947, and their first major act to improve transport was a joint UN declaration no. 1264, the Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries,[14][15] signed in Geneva on 16 September 1950, which defined the first E-road network. Originally it was envisaged that the E-road network would be amotorway system comparable to the USInterstate Highway System.[citation needed] The declaration was amended several times until 15 November 1975, when it was replaced by the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries or "AGR",[16] which set up a route numbering system and improved standards for roads in the list. The AGR last went through a major change in 1992 and in 2001 was extended intoCentral Asia to include theCaucasus nations.[citation needed] There were several minor revisions since, last in 2008 (as of 2009[update]).
In the early 2010s, many countries in Europe decided to liberalize the market for medium/long distancecoach (intercity bus) transportation, obliged to do it by the EC directive 1370/2007[17] (Public Service Obligations in Transport). This move has already proven to be helping both the economies and the Europeans.
The bus is the cheapest method of transportation and slower than the train in countries that have high-speed rail. However, many companies have made adjustments so that their coach fleets can be as comfortable as trains. Toilets and power have been added to the coaches, and some are equipped with WiFi.
Despite an extensive road and rail network, 43% of international travel within the EU was by air in 2013.[18]Air travel is particularly important for peripheral nations such asSpain andGreece and island nations such asMalta andCyprus, where a large majority of border crossings are by air.[18] A large tourism industry also attracts many visitors to Europe, most of whom arrive into one of Europe's many large international airports –major hubs includeLondon Heathrow,Istanbul,Paris-Charles De Gaulle,Frankfurt andAmsterdam Schiphol. The advent oflow cost carriers in recent years[when?] has led to a large increase in air travel within Europe. Air transportation is now often the cheapest way of travelling between cities. This increase in air travel has led to problems of airspace overcrowding and environmental concerns. TheSingle European Sky is one initiative aimed at solving these problems.[19]
Within the European Union, the completefreedoms of the air and the world's most extensivecabotage agreements allowbudget airlines to operate freely across the EU.[20] Cheap air travel is spurred on by the trend for regional airports levying low fees to market themselves as serving large cities quite far away.Ryanair is especially noted for this, since it primarily flies out of regional airports up to 150 kilometres away from the cities they are said to serve. A primary example of this is theWeeze-Skavsta flight, where Weeze mainly serves theNijmegen/Kleve area, while Skavsta servesNyköping/Oxelösund. Ryanair however, markets this flight asDüsseldorf-Stockholm, which are both 80–90 kilometres away from these airports, resulting in up to four hours of ground transportation just to get to and from the airport.
ThePort of Rotterdam,Netherlands is the largest port in Europe and one of the busiest ports in the world, handling some 440 million metric tons of cargo in 2013. When the associatedEuropoort industrial area is included, Rotterdam is by certain measurements the world's busiest port. Two thirds of all inland water freight shipping within theEU, and 40% of containers, pass through the Netherlands.[21] Other large ports are thePort of Hamburg inGermany and thePort of Antwerp inBelgium. They are all a part of the so-called "Northern Range".
TheEnglish Channel is one of the world's busiest seaways carrying over 400 ships per day[22] between Europe'sNorth Sea andBaltic Sea ports and the rest of the world.
As well as its role in freight movement, sea transport is an important part of Europe's energy supply. Europe is one of the world's majoroil tanker discharge destinations. Energy is also supplied to Europe by sea in the form ofLNG. TheSouth Hook LNG terminal atMilford Haven, Wales is Europe's largest LNG terminal.[23]
TheRhine is an important route for cargo ships, transporting goods fromRotterdam (Netherlands) upstream as far asBasel (Merchant Marine of Switzerland).
