Rail transport

Rail transport: The map showing the distance between Brussels and the rest of Europe

Leaving from Brussels, how long does it take to reach another point in Europe? Using data provided by the [ Swiss Transport API, Peter Kerpedjiev has published on his blog a map showing the journey times by train to Europe's major cities.

3 June 2015 – VoxEurop 4

Rail Transit: End of the line for Europe’s night trains?

Night trains, which helped a generation of young Europeans travel abroad (does anyone remember the Interrail pass?) may soon be no more than a memory. Economic […]

13 November 2014 – VoxEurop Terra Eco, International Railway Journal 70

Estonia: The Green City not yet on the right track

Despite Tallinn public transport becoming free from January 1, 2013, the number of city residents who use it have failed to increase. Why has this social and ecological experiment not transformed the city? Because town planners forgot to factor in what users actually needed.

12 November 2013 – Postimees (Tallinn) 12

Baltic States: Snail’s pace progress over high-speed railway

A high-speed rail link connecting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could economically revitalise eastern Europe, strengthening its EU ties and ease its reliance on Russia. Instead, the Rail Baltica project is trundling along, beset by bickering between the three neighbours.

21 October 2013 – The Economist (London) 10

Spain: ‘The track to trial’

The judge investigating the July 24 Santiago de Compostela train accident has summoned staff from Adif, the Spanish state-owned firm that manages Spain's railway infrastructure, […]

21 August 2013 – Presseurop La Gaceta 1

Santiago de Compostela disaster: Crash of the high speed miracle

After China, Spain holds the record for the largest quantity of high-speed railway lines. This has been an ambition bordering on an obsession for the governments of both left and right for 20 years. Today, it is the economic model that is in question.

29 July 2013 – El País (Madrid) 7

Spain: ‘All Galicia weeps’

A total of 80 people were killed in the high speed Alvia train crash near Santiago de Compostel in northern Spain's Galicia region on July […]

26 July 2013 – Presseurop La Voz de Galicia 1

Spain: ‘Tragedy in Santiago’

At least 77 people were killed and nearly 120 injured after a high-speed Alvia train derailed as it approached the station at Santiago de Compostela […]

25 July 2013 – Presseurop ABC 17

Train travel: Berlin – Tallinn: four days of blisters on the bum

Travelling from Germany's capital to Estonia by train is possible. But more than the landscapes, it’s the slowness of the journey and the need to harmonise the European railways that stays with the Estonian journalist who braved the trip.

5 July 2013 – Eesti Päevaleht (Tallinn) 81

Belgium: ‘Contaminated fire extinguishing water claims one life’

A man has died and 49 have been hospitalised after inhaling toxic fumes released when a train carrying chemicals derailed and caught fire in Wetteren, […]

6 May 2013 – Presseurop De Standaard

European Union: ‘More rights for air passengers’

The European Commission wants to reinforce the rights of passengers who seek refunds or compensation in the event of delays. In particular, it is planning to […]

13 March 2013 – Presseurop Süddeutsche Zeitung

Spain: ‘Maximum tension on first day of Iberia strike’

Yesterday workers clashed with security forces in Barajas airport in Madrid as they began a series of three five-day strikes to protest against plans to […]

19 February 2013 – Presseurop Cinco Días 5

Romania: ‘Front runners in the wooing of CFR Marfă’

More than half of Romania's state-owned freight rail transport network is scheduled to be privatised by the end of June. The freight transport branch of the […]

7 February 2013 – Presseurop România libera

Germany: ‘The most expensive hole in Germany’

The flagship project the "Land of Baden-Württemberg", the Stuttgart 21 train station, is expected to cost up to €11bn – much higher than the €2.45bn […]

6 February 2013 – Presseurop Handelsblatt 1

Article: Back on track

It was the last bastion to hold out against liberalisation, but by 2019, it will finally be brought into line. The free market has been introduced […]

1 February 2013 – Presseurop 13

Railways: High-speed fiasco in Benelux

Less than six weeks after its launch — and a multitude of technical problems later — the high-speed Fyra train between Amsterdam and Brussels has been taken off the tracks. A flop that brings into question the way international supply contracts are handed out.

22 January 2013 – NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam) 6

Air travel: Brussels suspends CO2 tax for foreign airlines

The European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, announced on November 12 a one-year exemption from the European ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) for non-EU airlines […]

13 November 2012 – Presseurop De Volkskrant, El País 8

Article: Today's front pages

Designated to succeed John Dalli as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, the Maltese Foreign Minister will be questioned by a European parliamentary committee […]

13 November 2012 – Presseurop

Rail travel: Lisbon to Kiev — departure delayed

The planned high-speed train that was supposed to link Lisbon to Kiev will not be pulling away from the platform anytime soon. The crisis and the many obstacles on a route that promised to take travelers from the Atlantic to the Russian steppe mean that the European rail corridor has almost ground to halt.

6 June 2012 – La Repubblica (Rome) 14

Air travel: China strikes first blow against EU tax

“China bars airlines from EU tax plan,” headlines the Financial Times, after the Chinese government ordered national airlines not to comply with the European Union […]

6 February 2012 – Presseurop Financial Times 10

Air travel: Threats fly between Washington and Brussels

As January 1, 2012 approaches, a date from which the EU intends to bring airlines into the CO2 emissions trading markets, the quarrel between Europe […]

20 December 2011 – Presseurop Financial Times Deutschland, Financial Times Deutschland 3

Travel: Europe – the Ryanair way (3/3)

Nine countries for 500 euros. The two Le Monde journalists conclude their tour of the continent with the observation that the Irish airline will take you everywhere ... but leave you a long way from anywhere.

15 July 2011 – Le Monde (Paris) 16

Travel: Europe – the Ryanair way (2/3)

After Beauvais, Trapani and Frankfurt, our two intrepid Le Monde journalists continue their tour of the world of low-cost, where many surprising encounters await…

14 July 2011 – Le Monde (Paris) 1

Travel: Europe – the Ryanair way (1/3)

With its apparently unbeatable fares, the Irish airline has played an essential role in increasing European mobility. But what is the reality of low-cost travel in Europe? Having spent only 500 euros on flights, two journalists from Le Monde report on their experience of visiting nine countries in five days.

13 July 2011 – Le Monde (Paris) 10

Infrastructures: Holes in the great train network

The European Commission has identified ten rail infrastructure projects as a priority, aiming to facilitate the flow of passengers and merchandise, all the while accelerating European integration. An ambition that is facing political and public opposition.

6 July 2011 – La Stampa (Turin) 1

Air travel: EU-China deadlock over CO2

"The trade war between China and Europe will not break out over manufacturing industry, customs duties, dumping or the yuan exchange rate, but on a […]

7 June 2011 – Presseurop La Stampa

ICELAND: Europe under threat from new eruption

One year after Eyjafjallajokull eruption, which paralysed air traffic in 2010, European airspace has now come under threat from another Icelandic volcano, Grimsvötn, one of […]

23 May 2011 – Presseurop Morgunblaðið

Railways: Berlin-Moscow soon at high speed

“Moscow closer to Paris thanks to rail,” thus Gazeta Wyborcza welcomes a plan of opening a new railway connection between Moscow and Berlin via Poland […]

26 April 2011 – Presseurop Gazeta Wyborcza

Air travel: Heavy cloud forecast for Europe's single sky

One year after air traffic was shut down across Europe following the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, airlines and European authorities are simulating a new ash cloud over the continent. Objective: better coordination. But that’s yet to be seen.

15 April 2011 – Der Spiegel (Hamburg)

Air travel: Brussels to harmonise passenger surveillance

The EU wants to keep information on passengers on flights within and also to and from union space, reports the Dutch daily Trouw. Arguing that […]

3 February 2011 – Presseurop Trouw

Germany: All aboard the crazy train

“Crazy train,” headlines Die Zeitin a report on the poor management of Deutsche Bahn AG, renamed “Wahn AG” (Crazy PLC). The “population has been driven […]

28 January 2011 – Presseurop Die Zeit

Spain: Bullet train, white elephant

Spain now boasts the biggest high-speed rail network in Europe. But does it make ecological or, more to the point in these times of crisis, economic sense?

12 January 2011 – El País (Madrid)

Spain: Barcelona, 7 million visitors can't be wrong

"Barcelona announces record tourist figures to end 2010," headlinesEl Periódico. According to the Barcelona daily, with more than seven million visitors, the Catalan capital has […]

20 December 2010 – Presseurop El Periódico de Catalunya

Spain: Army to keep control of Spanish skies

"Another month’s state of emergency",headlines Público on thecabinet decision to petition parliament to extend thestate of emergency declared on 4 December to 15 January to […]

15 December 2010 – Presseurop Público

Spain: Air traffic controllers in doghouse

"The price of mutiny," headlines Público, after the wildcat strike of air traffic controllers on 3 December. 442 out of 2,300 controllers are to be […]

6 December 2010 – Presseurop Público 1

Air travel: Battling with Russia for open skies

“European Commission declares war for open sky”, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna on the Commission’s plan to make Russia sign an agreement on equal treatment of […]

5 November 2010 – Presseurop Dziennik Gazeta Prawna

Switzerland: Light at end of longest rail tunnel

"Switzerland has fulfilled its promise to Europe,"writes Le Temps: “by cutting the world’s longest railway tunnel [57 km] through the Alps.” The Geneva daily explains […]

15 October 2010 – Presseurop Le Temps

Air Transport: Ryanair slashes 13 Marseilles routes

“Ryanair defies courts by closing French lines,” headlines Les Echos. In the wake of legal proceedings filed by French authorities at the end of September, […]

14 October 2010 – Presseurop Les Echos

Spain: Sagrada Familia survives the tunnel

"The Sagrada Familia survives the first AVE test," announces El Periódico de Catalunya, referring to Spain’s high speed train network – Alta Velocidad Española. The […]

13 October 2010 – Presseurop El Periódico de Catalunya

Aeronautic Industry : Airbus pushes ahead of Boeing

Thanks to the A380, the European consortium Airbus has beaten American rival Boeing in the jumbo jet sector. Still, no American carrier has yet invested in the Superjumbo.

16 September 2010 – Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (Warsaw)

Railways: France and Germany go to war

France's SNCF and its German rival Deutsche Bahn are locked in a struggle to corner the high-speed train market. London weekly The Economist argues they would better off merge.

9 September 2010 – The Economist (London)

Article: Ash cloud's silver lining

In The Independent earlier this week, British journalist Hamish McRae remarked that "Europe is huge." Only the prevalence of air travel, which has taken over […]

23 April 2010 – Presseurop

Aviation: A single sky for all?

The paralysis of air traffic across Europe since the eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull in Iceland is due in part to the absence of a single policy regarding the European airspace. Some in the Austrian and French press argue that it's now time to move forward with this long postponed project.

20 April 2010 – Presseurop ()

ICELAND VOLCANO: A Europe without planes

The disruption of air traffic triggered by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcanic ash cloud reveals not just how big Europe is but also its social and economic weaknesses, argues columnist Hamish McRae

20 April 2010 – The Independent (London) 1

Europhrenia: No fly ban, the sleep of reason

Early January I found myself on the main road from Sligo in the Republic of Ireland to Dublin. Outside, the temperature was minus five. The […]

19 April 2010 – Presseurop Notebook

ICELAND VOLCANO: Air travel – computer says No

The aviation standstill was not caused by facts, but by a computer simulation. Increasingly powerful computers now take decisions off our hands. Not only in the air, but in everyday life, too. So we need an overseer to control computer decisions, urges the FAZ.

19 April 2010 – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt) 3