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Report unravels how Europe prioritises road-building over railways

Photo by Jack Anstey

A new report discovered how European governments have spent money on expanding road networks at the expense of railways. Railway construction has been deprived of the funding necessary to continue the process.

German think tanks Wuppertal Institute and T3 Transportation cooperated to work on the report. They have discovered how the length of motorways in Europe increased by 60% from 1995 to 2020.

At the same time, the length of railways diminished by 6.5%. In this regard, European governments spent €1.6 to build roads for every €1 they used for constructing railways.

Lorelei Limousin, Greenpeace EU senior climate campaigner, said that this trend threatens railways for public transportation in the long run.

As the report’s commissioner, Limousin said that the prioritization of road-building is a “political choice.”

“We see the consequences today with the climate, but also with people who have been left without an alternative solution to cars,” added Limousin.

The disparity between the funding for constructing railways and roads is evident. EU-27, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK allocated €1.5 trillion for road system extension from 1995 to 2018. Concurrently, railways extension only earned €931 billion during the same period.

Different trends in Europe

The growth of road networks in European countries has been substantial. From 1995 to 2020, motorways in 30 European countries have expanded from 51,494 km to 82,493 km. The most extensive growth is located in Ireland, Poland, and Romania. On the contrary, the lowest growth is located in Belgium, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Starting from 2018 to 2021, another ongoing trend was the reduction of the average gap in investment for both means of transportation. During this period, countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the UK prioritized investing in railways.

The report mentions that Luxembourg and the UK are interesting cases as both countries spend more than double for rail maintenance. Experts assume it comes from the shift in political commitments and priority for building public infrastructure.

Dr Giulio Mattioli, a transport researcher at the Technical University of Dortmund, said that most European countries have actively pushed the use of cars in recent years. This is supported by the expansion of motorway infrastructure to make traveling by car more convenient.

Furthermore, Mattioli said investment in railways and bike lines was always heavily criticized and questioned. Conversely, there was no similar treatment for investing in building roads.

“This absolutely needs to change if we are to meet climate mitigation targets in the transport sector,” said Mattioli.

As the length of motorways increased in 15 European countries over the years, the number of train stations reduced since the mid-90s. In this development, over 2,500 train stations have been shut down and 8,523 miles of regional passenger railway lines have been closed.

However, a rough estimation by scientists revealed that about 4,536 miles of these railway lines could be reopened “with relative ease.”

The aggressive push for constructing roads has been at odds with the EU’s goals to combat climate change. The EU planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% to 1990 levels by the decade’s end. But, the road construction and subsequent use of cars will hamper such efforts.

In a report by the European Environment Agency, the EU can only reduce transport emissions to below 1990 levels by 2029. Such emissions will not originate only from the EU but also from planes and ships that regularly visit the region for travel and trade.

Pushing for public transport

As the climate change issue continues to intensify, more affordable and environmentally friendly means of transport are becoming a concern.

In addition, non-physical eSIM for Europe is also becoming necessary to reduce waste from physical temporary SIM cards tourists use when traveling to the EU. e-SIM is gaining popularity among regular tourists around the world.

To ensure that people move away from cars to public transport, European governments need to build an infrastructure to accommodate that need, said Limousin.

“We need the government to stop closing train lines and stations, reopen those which have been closed and that we can easily reopen… and massively increase the public funding in real solutions,” added Limousin.

Several European governments have attempted to entice people to use public transport. Recently, the French government launched a German-style cut-price monthly rail pass to make traveling by train more affordable.

The pass costs €49 a month and offers unlimited travel on TER regional trains and intercity trains, according to French transport minister Clément Beaune.

Meanwhile, last summer in Germany, the government launched a rail pass for €9 a month for local and regional travel. However, the price then spiked to €49.

Mattioli, however, commented that what matters is not about the affordability of these rail passes, but constructing the infrastructure to make public transport more accessible and convenient.

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