“We will have to make an effort for the rail network, a major effort. It is absolutely necessary”, declared the CEO of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou host of a “European rail summit” organized at the headquarters of the French public group. This is “the request that we all make, both to the European Union and to the executives of our member states”, he added. “Now is the time to catch up with the level of rail networkand to develop it, and to modernize it”, explained the leader.
“It is absolutely necessary, if we want to meet our objectives (…), the current European network does not allow it”, he insisted, recalling “the major role that rail can bring in decarbonization, for passengers and goods”.
The climate emergency is here and rail is part of the solution.”
“The climate emergency is there and the railway is part of the solution”, repeated Mr. Farandou. “We need additional resources,” added Austrian ÖBB boss Andreas Matthä. The CEO of the German Deutsche Bahn – yet quite well off – Richard Lutz, for example, has calculated the delay in investment at home at 60 billion euros.
“We have to develop what pollutes the least“, approved the Minister Delegate for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, for whom it is necessary “a network in good condition, well interconnected”. His Belgian counterpart Georges Gilknet insisting on the need to “think regarding the development of rail for the less mobile and the less connected”, in order to “not leave anyone on the platform”. “Our railway infrastructure is one of the best infrastructures in the world, but it still suffers from insufficient investment,” acknowledged European Transport Commissioner Adina Valean.
European network
She recalled that Brussels had the particular objective of “boosting long-distance cross-border passenger services”, to create “a genuine European rail network”, “efficient”, “interoperable” and “digitized”, by 2040, with trains of passengers traveling at least 160 km/h between the main cities, and also an effort on freight.
“Some €80 billion of European Union funds might support rail investments between 2021 and 2027,” the commissioner added.
With AFP.