logo
Will Europe's high-speed ‘Metro-style' rail network really happen?

Will Europe's high-speed ‘Metro-style' rail network really happen?

Local France26-03-2025
'A truly integrated rail system is no longer just a matter of convenience; it's a strategic necessity for Europe's resilience in the 21st century," reads
the 'Starline' report
.
'Designed like a Metro system, Starline changes how Europeans perceive their own continent – not as a collection of distant capitals, but as a single, fast-moving network where every connection, whether for people or goods, is within easy reach.'
Sounds great, and the
think-tank has published a map to demonstrate how 39 cities across Europe, from Dublin to Kyiv and Helsinki to Lisbon, could be connected - the map uses a common diagrammatic Metro map style, which is known to sometimes ignore real-world geography in favour of easier understanding for travellers.
So how realistic is this proposal?
Map of the proposed Starline European connections. Map: 21st Europe
Geography
Munich to Milan via Zurich is a straight vertical line on the map, which ignores the existence of Innsbruck and the minor geographical obstacle that is the Alps.
Advertisement
It also connects Estonia's capital Tallinn with Finland's Helsinki via a still-on-the-drawing-board €20 billion tunnel that – if it is completed, with earliest projections setting a date sometime in the 2030s – would be the longest rail tunnel in the world.
The project would also require a tunnel under the Irish Sea, which drops at its deepest point more than 300m below sea level, to connect Liverpool and Dublin.
A possible future direct link between Glasgow and Belfast, meanwhile, would face the same problems as former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's dead cat plan for a
bridge or tunnel to connect Scotland and Northern Ireland
.
What actually is it?
Starline's proposal appears to involve being a train operator - the trains would be blue, with 'quiet carriages' and family spaces - while also coordinating European ticketing systems and building quite a lot of new infrastructure.
In addition to the new tunnels and tracks required, the proposal specifies: "The trains will arrive at new stations built just outside major cities with connections to existing urban transport systems."
It would also create an 'open' ticketing system, where passengers could buy tickets for anywhere in Europe on a single platform - similar to the British online platform Trainline, which also sells tickets in Europe.
It is not specified exactly how this would fit in with the existing rail operators that already run services around Europe, many of whom are publicly funded, other than to say that national rail operators would be "responsible for specific routes under a common framework".
They add that "harmonised labour agreements" would be required for rail employees - we'll let them break that one to the famously militant French rail unions.
Advertisement
Who pays?
Which brings us to the question of funding.
According to its Starline blueprint, 21st Europe
proposes 'central coordination for trains, passenger experience, and technology while allowing national rail operators to run routes under a franchise model.'
It adds: "Starline should be structured as a publicly funded, privately operated system, designed to maximise efficiency while ensuring strong public oversight".
Many European countries do, of course, already provide public funding for rail operators - such as France's SNCF, Spain's Renfe and Germany's Deutsche Bahn.
Advertisement
Starline's proposal would seem to involve
the hundreds of billions in infrastructure spending being publicly funded, and operated by national rail companies – all overseen by an as-yet non-existent European Rail Authority (ERA).
'Now, we begin building the network to push for real change, bringing together policymakers, designers, and industry leaders to turn vision into action,' the think tank said.
Reasons for change
Some slight issues of practicality aside, the Starline report does identify many real problems with Europe's rail network.
Ticketing issues, a lack of co-ordination and integration across borders means travelling between countries in Europe can be 'fragmented, slow, and expensive'.
The think tank says unifying design is key to a cross-border travel network.
'Stations feel disconnected, trains vary wildly in design, and the journey itself is rarely considered as part of the experience,' it says of the current system.
And it is looking to build on an existing EU initiative to unify transport across the bloc, known as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
TEN-T, which Starline lambasts as lacking in speed and ambition, seeks to develop a network of railways, inland waterways, short sea shipping routes and roads linking urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals for the 'efficient transportation for people and goods, ensures access to jobs and services, and enables trade and economic growth'.
It seeks to work with European state and private rail operators, offer funding for infrastructure projects and create Europe-wide systems such as a common rail signalling system.
Even with all these problems, cross-border rail travel is rapidly growing in popularity as travellers become more conscious of their environmental impact.
'A bold shift to high-speed rail might be Europe's best chance to meet its 2050 net-zero goals while ensuring mobility remains both fast and green,' the think tank said.
In 2022, the transport sector contributed approximately 29 per cent of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the European Environment Agency.
There are good economic reasons for it too -
'When China expanded its high-speed rail network, cities with HSR connections experienced a 14.2 percent increase in GDP, and each new HSR line contributed an additional 7.2 percent to urban GDP growth,' the think tank explained in its online brochure.
'A European project of similar scale could drive investment, unlock regional economies, and make the single market feel like a single market – physically, not just economically.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Anti-dog flyer resurfaces online, attracts hateful rhetoric toward Canadian Muslims
Anti-dog flyer resurfaces online, attracts hateful rhetoric toward Canadian Muslims

AFP

timean hour ago

  • AFP

Anti-dog flyer resurfaces online, attracts hateful rhetoric toward Canadian Muslims

"Residents of Vancouver, Canada, have spotted several signs around the city asking people to keep their dogs away, as dogs are considered filthy and 'haram' in Islam," reads the caption of a July 13, 2025 X photo. "Canadians, expected to give UP all you are to become what they fled from." The attached image shows a leaflet asking people to "be courteous to your Muslim neighbours" by keeping dogs on a leash and away from people practicing Islam supposedly due to religious convictions about the animals. Claims about the picture also appeared in online articles and on TikTok and Facebook where it was widely viewed in a post by American conservative commentator David J Harris Jr, who has previously spread misinformation. Comments on some of the posts disparagingly implied owners could bring their dogs wherever they liked and that Muslims needed to assimilate to Canada. Image Screenshot of an X post taken July 22, 2025 Other recent posts shared the image but claimed the flyer was seen in the United Kingdom. AFP previously fact-checked claims in Canada misrepresenting Muslims' beliefs and actions. As the country's once long-standing immigration consensus has broken down, misleading claims frequently circulate on newcomers in general. The recent posts about supposed anti-dog posters are similarly missing context. A reverse image search reveals images of the flyers have been online since 2017. , local media reported on the appearance of the signs at an off-leash park in the town of Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, outside of Vancouver. No one ever came forward to claim responsibility for the action, but the City of Pitt Meadows and the non-profit Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which were advertised as alleged sponsors of the campaign on the flyer both stated they do not endorse the leaflets' message. The image frequently reappears online and, in an August 2024 statement (archived here), said whoever created the sign was not authorized to use the city's logo and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been aware of the incident since 2017. "Pitt Meadows is a welcoming multi-cultural community and this post does not represent the City or its community members," the statement says. "Like other municipalities, the City of Pitt Meadows has a bylaw that asks dog owners to keep their pets on a leash, except in designated off-leash areas," it adds. The city also noted no physical signs have been found in Pitt Meadows since 2017. AFP reached out to CAIR for comment about the posters and did not receive a response but the non-profit previously told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation it did not participate in any sort of flyer campaign, while noting CAIR also speculated France24 reported on the resurgence of the Canadian sign in April 2025, along with several similar hoaxes in the United Kingdom, which were also recently covered by British fact-checking organization FullFact. In February, British organization Tell MAMA reported the highest-ever number of incidents of anti-Muslim hate in the United Kingdom, while Canadian groups have also raised about instances of Islamophobia (archived here). Statistics Canada recorded a steady rise in police-reported hate crimes targeting Muslims between 2020 and 2024, behind the number and increase of anti-Semitic incidents (archived here). Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.

Ex-star trader Tom Hayes cleared as rate-rigging convictions quashed
Ex-star trader Tom Hayes cleared as rate-rigging convictions quashed

Euronews

timean hour ago

  • Euronews

Ex-star trader Tom Hayes cleared as rate-rigging convictions quashed

Former trader for UBS and Citigroup Tom Hayes and ex-Barclays trader Carlo Palombo were both jailed in 2015 and 2019, respectively, for manipulating benchmark interest rates that underpinned $350 trillion (€298.5tr) of loans and securities at the time. They were among a group of traders prosecuted at the time for rigging interest rates. Ten years after Mr Hayes went to jail, the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) cleared both of their names by ruling that they had unfair trials and overturned their convictions. Hayes served five-and-a-half years in prison for rigging Libor, the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, which is now a defunct benchmark interest rate. It was an average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London and Hayes was one of the traders on the panel, submitting rates. He was found to be intentionally submitting rates to his own advantage. Mr Palombo was jailed later for rigging the Euribor, an average rate also influenced by a large panel of European banks that borrow funds from one another. The UK Supreme Court said on Wednesday, that the juries were misdirected by judges in both cases. 'There was ample evidence on which a jury, properly directed, could have found the appellant guilty of conspiracy to defraud. But the jury was not properly directed,' the UKSC statement read. 'That made the trial unfair and leads to the conclusion that Mr Hayes' convictions must be quashed.' In Mr Palombo's case, the court ruled similarly — 'essential errors' and 'ambiguities', adding that the 'conviction is also unsafe and must be quashed'.

France and Italy meet to defend "made in Europe"
France and Italy meet to defend "made in Europe"

Fashion Network

timean hour ago

  • Fashion Network

France and Italy meet to defend "made in Europe"

The two countries' ministers are also expected to discuss automotive issues, with the "shared objective" of "strengthening demand for clean vehicles with European content," and to tackle the question of "European preference," for example in public procurement. "Italy is moving closer and closer to France on a number of positions," said Parisian representatives, referring again to nuclear power, which Italy wants to revive. Italy also advocates, like France, that nuclear power should be treated in a similar way to renewable energies in European legislation. "The issue of competitiveness and technological neutrality is one of the subjects on which we agree with the Italians," added the French ministers' offices. Thursday's meeting in Paris will take place as part of the Quirinal Treaty, signed between the two countries in 2021. The treaty includes annual meetings between French and Italian ministers. Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron displayed their "shared commitment" and "strong convergences" during a long tête-à-tête in Rome in early June. The meeting was held in part to dispel the tensions of recent weeks, which have been amplified since Donald Trump 's return to the White House.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store