Skip to content
DRAFT REPORT (2026/2003(INI))

On connecting Europe through high-speed rail

TRAN-PR-785224

Committee on Transport and Tourism · Rapporteur: Vicent Marzà Ibáñez

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 25 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This is a draft report by Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism on connecting Europe through high-speed rail. It welcomes the Commission's 2025 communication and calls for a genuine European high-speed network that is interoperable, accessible and intermodal. It asks the Commission to set binding EU objectives for high-speed rail deployment by 2027 and a 2040 modal-shift target, and to make the network serve all urban areas of at least 250 000 inhabitants. It calls for a European industrial master plan, a European high-speed rail deal to address a EUR 345 billion investment gap, and financing from Emissions Trading System revenues and green rail bonds. It seeks accelerated ERTMS delivery, mandatory climate stress-testing for EU-funded rail projects from 2027, and a reinforced role for the European Union Agency for Railways in vehicle authorisation.

Committee position. The rapporteur welcomes the Commission's 2025 communication as a roadmap towards completing the network by 2040 and endorses its direction, while identifying four areas for reinforcement: a binding modal-shift benchmark, social and territorial safeguards, financing commensurate with the EUR 345 billion gap, and reducing internal market fragmentation.

Key points

  1. Welcomes the 2025 Commission communication and calls for a genuine European high-speed rail network that is interoperable, accessible and intermodal, connecting capitals and regions.
  2. Stresses the network must serve all major urban areas with at least 250 000 inhabitants, with mapping of uncovered areas and connectivity timelines.
  3. Calls for a 'network-first' approach so high-speed rail complements conventional, regional and suburban services, with intermodal standards at stations and funding to upgrade existing lines.
  4. Calls on TEN-T coordinators to identify abandoned or underserved cross-border connections and channel Connecting Europe Facility funding to low-cost, high-impact projects.
  5. Calls for public authorities to be formally consulted during planning and deployment, and for high-speed stations to function as intermodal hubs.
  6. Calls on the Commission to set, by 2027, EU objectives for high-speed rail deployment and a 2040 modal-shift target covering intra-EU short-haul aviation and long-distance road transport.
  7. Supports competitive corridors with top speeds of at least 250 km/h and an ambition of 350 km/h, subject to independent cost-benefit analyses.
  8. Calls for fiscal alignment between transport modes under the 'polluter pays' principle, including revision of the Energy Taxation and VAT Directives.
  9. Expects legislative work on ticketing to deliver mandatory through-ticketing, a legally enforceable onward-travel guarantee for missed connections, and access to open data and public booking platforms.
  10. Calls for a European industrial master plan and a European high-speed rail deal to address the EUR 345 billion investment gap, and for mobilising ETS revenues, green rail bonds and an electricity-crediting mechanism.
  11. Calls for accelerated ERTMS delivery with binding milestones for decommissioning Class B legacy signalling and Connecting Europe Facility funding conditionality linked to ERTMS from 2028.
  12. Calls for climate resilience as a binding design and operational criterion, with mandatory climate stress-testing for EU-funded rail projects from 2027, and for a green industrial strategy, harmonised trainsets and a second-hand rolling stock market by 2027.

Who is affected

  • EU rail passengers, who would gain through-ticketing, onward-travel guarantees and access to open booking data.
  • Regional and new-entrant rail operators, who would benefit from a second-hand rolling stock market and dedicated financing.
  • The European Union Agency for Railways, which would gain technical oversight and exclusive competence for EU-wide vehicle authorisations.
  • Member states, whose taxation measures require unanimity in the Council.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 345 billion — the high-speed rail investment gap the report cites.
  • 250 000 inhabitants — the minimum size of urban areas the network must serve.
  • 250 km/h — the minimum top speed for competitive high-speed corridors.
  • 350 km/h — the speed ambition for connections, subject to cost-benefit analyses.
  • 2027 — deadline for the Commission to set EU high-speed rail objectives and a second-hand rolling stock market framework.
  • 2040 — target year for the modal-shift objective covering intra-EU short-haul aviation and long-distance road transport.
  • 2030, 2040, 2050 — binding ERTMS deadlines for the core, extended core and comprehensive TEN-T networks.
  • 2027 — start of mandatory climate stress-testing for EU-funded rail projects.