The Anonymous Widower

European Commission To Support 10 Cross-Border Inter-City Pilot Services

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.

This is the introductory paragraph, after a comprehensive map.

The European Commission has announced that it will support 10 pilot projects for new or improved cross-border passenger services.

The ten services are.

1. Day train – Reducing Budapest – Wien journey times and providing new or enhanced services from Budapest to Arad and Oradea in Romania.
2. Day and Night trains – Germany – Denmark – Sweden services.
3. Night train – Midnight Trains, new night train service Paris – Milano – Venezia.
4. Day train – Flixtrain, new service München– Zürich.
5. Day train – Westbahn, new service München – Wien – Budapest.
6. Day train – NS, enhancement of the existing Amsterdam – London service
7. Night train – European Sleeper, new night train service Amsterdam – Barcelona.
8. Day train – FS and DB, new services from Roma and Milano to München.
9. Day train – ILSA, new services linking Lisboa with A Coruña and Madrid.
10. Day train – FGC, new cross-border services connecting Barcelona and Catalunya with Figueras, Montpellier and Toulouse in France.

The services are in order of start date and are expected to be completed by 2029.

Note.

1. From my experience, they certainly fill in some big gaps.
2. Travel to Portugal and Romania by train will be much easier.
3. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest and Munich, which are all worth a visit or an overnight stop in their own right, will become important hubs.
4. The sleepers will allow long overnight jumps.

It is a good start.

Onward To Ukraine

I believe that after Vlad the Mad is put back in his box, Ukraine will see a lot of increase in passenger and freight traffic.

Good services to Budapest could be the start of a trip to Ukraine.

Rail Baltica

We mustn’t forget Rail Baltica, which is already being built to link Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

February 2, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barcelona, Budapest, Europe, Midnight Trains, Rail Baltica, Sleeper Train, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin