According to their proposal in March this year, the Commission sees 2021 as the European Year of Rail, an idea which supports the delivery of its European Green Deal objectives in the transport field. A series of events, campaigns and initiatives in 2021 will promote rail as a sustainable, innovative and safe mode of transport. It will highlight its benefits for people, the economy and the climate and focus on the remaining challenges to create a true Single European Rail Area without borders.
Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, stated, ‘There’s no doubt that railway transport means huge benefits in most areas: sustainability, safety, even speed, once it’s organised and engineered according to 21st century principles. But there’s also something more profound about railways: they connect the EU together not only in physical terms. Setting up a coherent and functional network across all Europe is an exercise in political cohesion. The European Year of Rail is not a random event. It comes at an appropriate time, when the EU needs this kind of collective undertaking.’
1. Rail – sustainable and safe
As one of the most sustainable and safest modes of transport we have, rail will play a major role in Europe’s future mobility system. Rail is not only environmentally friendly and energy-efficient – it is also the only mode of transport to have almost continuously reduced its CO2 emissions since 1990, at the same time as it increased transport volumes. Rail connects people, regions and businesses all across the EU. Moreover, it is proof of European engineering expertise and part of our European heritage and culture.
This is an excerpt from an article originally published on Travel tomorrow.Â
