Can't wait to go on a train trip through Austria-Hungary 0:39

Imagine a Europe with Shinkansen class rail across the whole continent. What a beautiful future that would be

2:40 Why is the Estonian flag in Poland, the Latvian flag in Lithuania and the Lithuanian flag in Latvia?

So happy that Bratislava got included in 3 main European routes. It is so important for Slovakia

That Berlin-Munich railway is actually insane already. I used to drive this route at least once a month. Horrible traffic jams out of munich.. especially when you just want to get home to your family on friday and at least a 6 hour drive (if you're willing to use the NO-Speedlimit regulations ... driving fast is exhausting!) .. ofthen you need 8 hours, sometimes more. Now you can just WALK from the office to your train, sit back, relax and be in Berlin around 4 hours later

It’s crazy because in Europe, Ryan air tickets are usually cheaper than train tickets.

One thing people forget is building high speed lines will allow more space on regular main lines for commuter and local services.

Also remember that boarding a train is much faster procedure, and train stations are right in the center of the city, while airports are usually several km away. Once you get off the train you're already in the city, you don't need a taxi. Trains are also more relaxing, if you watch outside tye window you can enjoy the countryside.

0:39 casually uses a modernised 1913 map, lol

Trains are better than cars and planes tbh

As I got a job in the Netherlands, and I lived in Budapest before, so I've tried several options. Plane: last year I had to wait 4 hours for the security check in Schipol, then my 250eur 2-hours KLM flight delayed by 2 hours, standing on the runway full of passengers. (cheapest Wizzair option is around eur60-80 from Eindhoven). By car: I have to stop at a friend's in Germany to have a rest. Two days, about eur150 spent on fuel, plus tolls. Train: varies from eur80 to eur200, depending on the season and the connection, but from Amsterdam to Vienna, there's a comfortable Nightjet service from öbb. If you're not quick enough on booking, even the most expensive eur160-eur200 places with alacarte breakfast are gone. I ended up travelling by train, as no more security checks, and I can carry as much luggage as I'm able to carry myself. In Holland, my rental apartment is just 5mins from a station, and in Budapest, I can also access the central station easily by public transport. The whole trip is about 1400km. Please, EU, taxate kerosine as car fuels, and make the booking of rail tickets easier, as I sometimes have to book at different providers for the connections.

1:11 that is actually a 78,9% decrease since you usually divide by the former value

Tbh i think the main problem is the ticketing. If you could just book whatever journey with one ticket, even if you had to change trains...it would make the travel much easier and less risky in terms of connections

1:11 You might want to go and check your numbers there again. A decrease of more than 100% would be truly groundbreaking..

In Austria you can buy a year ticket for less than 1000€ and it gives you access to every train ride within the country. I think a standardized year ticket within the EU, which just lets you use every train ride in every EU country would massively boost train use. I know there are problems, but you could theoretically trip from sweden to portugal if you have the flexibility ( you could do computer work on the train, which you cant driving a car, so you dont have to waste your time on the ride). Trains with Wifi can be a really comfortable experience

The Italian high speed network is excellent. I live very near the Swiss border, and thus I can catch local trains to Milan, and from there to Rome, Napoli and the south, or to Venice and thus Trieste. Or to Lyon and Paris. I can also get a bus across the border to Lugano and catch services to Zurich and from there to Germany and Berlin, or to Munich and beyond. Love train travel, and the tickets are easily bookable in advance and affordable on most routes.

I'm traveling by train since my childhood... I always prefer trains because they're comfortable, you can walk free in them and you can use bistro/restaurant cars on most long distance trains. On a flight you're seatbound most of the time. Sure, planes are faster, when you take flight time only... I live in Salzburg, Austria and a flight from there to Leipzig, visiting my family there, would be with a change in Frankfurt (1 hour stay there) and would cost a minimum of 360€ - going by train has a maximum price of 140€ on the direct route with one change in Munich... full travel time by train? 5 hours 30 minutes or 6 hours, depending on which train is used from Salzburg to Munich (long-distance trains like DB's Intercity/Eurocity or ÖBB's Railjet or the private Westbahn is 30 minutes faster then the private BRB RE5 with many more stops...)

One other perk: easy stopovers along a route right in the city center. I love hopping off exploring a city then hopping back on and resuming my journey

2:38 Firstly, you got Latvia and Lithuania the wrong way round Secondly, you put the Estonian flag in Poland. Thirdly, the route does not go through Lithuania's capital. It goes through the second largest city, Kaunas. The capital (and largest city) is Vilnius.

The map shown when Rail Baltica is mentioned does not actually show the actual corridor alignment which will be built. Riga and Tallinn will be connected almost by a straight line via Pärnu. I think the map is showing an old alternative alignment. IMHO that more direct alignment was a good decision.

02:31 Someone doesn't know their Baltic Geography.

Considering they managed to integrate various countries' electricity networks, which were also very different (had to build interconnectors, establish cross-border coordination on maintenance, development, operation and market, developed a common format for the exchange of the network models), I think they'll achieve success with the rail too.

This video is pretty accurate. Recently interrailed through Europe from Portugal to Finland and I learned fascinating things Trains are much faster and frequent than you'd think but they're also more expensive and crossing borders is a pain. From Italy I made it all the way to Sweden while From Portugal to Italy I had to take three busses (All border crossings)

Fantastic the Italian Frecciarossa, it takes you directly to the Grand Canal at Venice

This will take decades, but in the end it will work.

HST in Italy basically killed the most used flight route from Milan to Rome. Now you can go from city centre to city centre in 3 hours without all the annoyances of travelling by plane.

Just did a 2 month Interrail train trip starting from Hannover ending in Lisbon and it went way smoother than I thought, minus a few strike days etc. but having a universal ticket reservation system would have been waaaay helpful. In Spain seat reservations could only be made in person at stations with high speed rail so we almost didnt get a spot on our trains. There was a sale for the europass interrail tickets so it felt worth it to do trains instead of flights with more hiddens costs (taxis, luggage, etc). Its very exciting to see all the projects they have planned!

I love the railway I am from Poland where, especially at the end of the last century, the railway fell into decline due to many neglects. Today, several interesting railway projects are being implemented, including investments in the metropolis of Katowice and neighboring cities, only here work is to last until 2026. The topic is very interesting and I hope that it will help in the development of many regions of Europe by expanding such a railway system

1:12 Its important to note that the 100kg of CO2 are PER PERSON

Who remembers when DB wanted to start a London-Frankfurt route? What a great idea!

Awesome info and editing. Thank you! 😉👍

Another problem is the cost of rail travel. I was living in Cologne and looking for trips to do. Standard regional train trips from Cologne to other German cities were like 60 euros. Yet Ryanair were running direct flights to other countries for like 20 euros. Of course I'd take the flight further!

We're taking the 1400 km train from Stockholm to Berlin in two weeks. Own sleeper coupe and we sure will check out the bar onboard. I also heard they have great restaurant. This was far more common in the 90s says my parents. Cinema onboard and very cheap tickets to go around Europe how much you want on a monthly continent wide ticket.

I hope it really takes off. Trains are the only thing I really miss from my time in Moscow, trains were plentiful and cheap

But have you seen the prices!! I spend 4x as much getting train London to Munich- flight would have been about £50 I paid about £250 for the train 😢

Nice video but I have some corrections.extras. 1. One of the reasons for heavy high speed rail investment in Spain was to improve connection with other countries, which is why the line use standard gauge and not the wide Iberian ones. The problem is with France as they do whatever they can to prevent such connection. The high speed connection through the Mediterranean corridor was open 10 years ago with the completion of the line from Barcelona to Perpignan (which is about 25km from the border with Spain) from there trains used the regular lines prolonging travel time. France was suppose to finish a full high speed connections within a few years but they didn't. Today the high speed line ends in Perpignan anf starts again after Nimes, more than 200km away. That is pretty good compared to the connection of the Atlantic corridor at Irun (basque country) as there is no sign of any type of plan to build the high speed connection there. A few weeks ago they said that both connections will not be finished before 2045. Now only SNCF operates two trains from Barcelona to Paris while the French drag their feet approving Renfe to also operate on this line, even though they operated trains on it for years, before SNCF ended unilaterally the agreement between SNCF and RENFE. 2. There are problems with compatibility and the EU is working to unify the main corridor lines to standard gauge, 25 kV AC and ETCS signaling but this will take time but there are solutions for the transit period. Trains that support multiple signaling systems, gauges and electric systems do exist and the Spanish solution for fast gauge change while on the move - that is used all over Spain (the train passes through a small shed with a on the go mechanism at low speed with passengers without stopping). 3. The rail corridors are not only for passenger trains but also for freight as the EU want's to increase rail transport all over Europe. 4. One of the main elements of the plan is open access, where rail infrastructure is separated from the national rail operator allowing different rail operators to compete on the same lines paying for usage of the tracks and stations. In Spain prices have dropped to as low as 9€ on lines with multiple operators.

The first step is to tax kerosene, as all other energies in Europe (even electricity). Then a tax must be added to plane tickets to take into account the pollution and the impact on climate change. Using train must cost less than flying, otherwise most people will fly even if it is less convenient. BTW, for my job (public University researcher), I am suppose to use the cheapest solution to be refund when traveling for work, so I often need to argue not to fly. Another big issue is the lack of interoperability, booking a train ticket crossing borders must be as easy as booking a plane ticket, while for now it is often a nightmare.

1:12. You do know, 474% down = negative(!) 407.66 kilograms of CO2. You meant to say 79% reduction.

As an half Italian, I'm very proud that you chose to put our lovely Frecciabianca E414s in the timetable of your video 😀

2:35 as shown on the map, the line does not pass through Vilnius, thus not linking the baltic capitals. (Seems to pass Kaunas instead)

474%... damn math isnt your strong suit, is it ?

Comparing amount of co2 is not fair. The tremendous amounts of co2 required to build and maintain a high-speed railway should be included, too.

Love your channel❤

trains are the transport of the future

This will turn the peripherical countries even more peripheral. That's really good for unify European countries.

excellent explanation of the difficulties of the developing an European railwaysystem! thanks for that!

In germany there are some Tickets from Lufthansa to go by train Like Berlin Frankfurt have a nonstop highspeed train conection a few Times a day

Europe is the number one place for personal freedoms! i love it

1:10 you never write reduction as more then 100% so it is 79% less.

This is amazing !

GREAT IDEA GREAT VIDEO!

All good stuff BUT the narrative here revolves around future potential transformations in Europe's rail network and infrastructure, primarily in the form of NEW dedicated high speed (250km/h or greater) lines facilitating real High Speed Rail services between major population centres - removing these existing obstacles would go a long way to achieving the desired goal of drastic carbon emissions reduction - these existing obstacles effectively prevent High Speed Rail from competing with short-haul air ON A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD - they ALL share a common feature and it is the lack of and/or complete absence of coordinated pan-European political backing? 1. Missing High Speed Rail lines - there are still significant gaps in the high speed line network and these need significant investment to overcome - they are being addressed but the solution takes time - think of the section between the Spanish border at Figueres and Montpellier, or the lack of links between the Basque region and Acquitaine, or the lack of links between the Italian and French high speed line network - the Mont D'Ambin base tunnel will help here but what about the line along the Cote-D'Azure coast and onward to Ventimiligia - then look at the lack of links across the Alps - the Brenner Base Tunnel will also help here - everywhere you look there a large gaps which frustrate real competition 2. No common pan-European ticketing system - it's a no-brainer that what European travellers want/need is a simple one stop shop where they can both plan their journey and purchase their tickets from - you could even go further and conceive of a network where passenger's baggage could be loaded at origin and be picked at destination, seamlessly? 3. The continued prevalence of Nationally oriented rail transport policy - why for example is significant investment going into rail lines in both Germany and France, on either side of the Rhine river when there only needs to be one significant rail artery that could operate as a major north-south conduit in any future European high-speed rail network? 4. Taxation policy - Aviation fuel is NOT taxed but the energy driving potentially carbon neutral trains IS taxed - how is that a fair competitive arena - in addition many National and sub-National state actors subsidise short-haul air links, in the misguided view that such subisidies help to promote localised economic activity. Short haul air dumps it waste products into the wider environment yet it pays nothing into central coffers to help mitigate the environmental damage it causes. These fiscal tools should be effectively co-ordinated on a pan-European scale to assist High Speed Rail and hinder short-haul air travel - put additional tax on short-haul air and use the revenues generated to fund construction of NEW, additional High Speed Rail lines?

That map in 0:39 is sus

Excellent video!!! Please make more videos on railway and public transportation in general. Especially those in the EU and China.

In addition to the high speed day trains it is necessary to develop a long distance low or average speed trains with night routes and short stops (no more than 15 minutes). Night/sleeping trains with a speed about 100 km/h can be very comfortable for traveling for a distance up to 1000 km (one night) - sleep and travel.

0:39 Wrong map 1:11 Wrong maths 2:40 Wrong flags Your intentions are great but you need to polish your content before publishing, if you really want to stand out in this topic

2:10 The line goes from Paris to Budapest not Bratislava But great video even with the europe 1900s map

We need a high speed train line around the world from Buenos Aires to Cape Town. Crossing Alaska to Russia and Spain to Morroco will be tricky

Thank u for sharing😍 Another useful content besides European rail offer video😌 Hope everyone enjoy their travel to Europe 🚂

They need to make traveling by train much cheaper and easier to book. Having many options and arriving as fast as possible is not everything.

dude i hope they will. Sucks that often trains are still much slower than driving with a car. And planes suck cause you always have 3 hours fixed you need to be there before no matter how short the flight. All trains should be 300 kmh, it would be a dream come true.

You can catch a fast train to go and watch a champions league game in football in another country in a few hours with train systems like that.

5:14 Wrong. There is Interrail, which you can use to buy any rail ticket in central and south europe for both regional and continental trains

For short distances (5-600km) if, railway exists, it's better and more or less the same time spending. Usually train station is at the centre of a city while the airport outside of the city (extra time and money) plus you have to be 2hours earlier, disembarking plus time to take your luggage and again you have to use a bus or train to go to city centre will be the same time if you had a fast train. I have to mention also that train tickets are very expensive, I know that airplanes fuels are very cheap so this makes cheap flights but the solution is not to taxate the cirosine in order train to be cheaper!

Even if the trains are as fast as planes, people will still choose planes since they are so much cheaper. Anytime I compared, flight is just so much cheaper... no idea what makes train tickets (even for slow trains from 1970s) so expensive...

Standard (no 't') gauge is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches, courtesy of George Stephenson's pioneer Liverpool & Manchester line in 1829. It was exported from Britain to Europe and the United States with the export of British locomotives.

Amazing video

It’s funny how the term short haul flights has different meaning in different countries. Here in Australia a short haul flight would be say Brisbane to Sydney or Sydney to Melbourne. Both of which are over 1000km. A train 🚂 journey between in either of those routes takes about 12 hours vs 1.5 hours for a plane ✈️

I took the train from Amsterdam to Vienna, and let me tell you, there’s still a lot of things that needs to be fixed. The ICE is a nice train, but you’re literally stopping at every station in every small village along the way. Also the train broke down twice along the way, which can happen, but it happens all the time with DB. Than there’s the price, it was at least twice as expensive as the plane. From Amsterdam I would only consider taking the Thalys to Paris, or the Eurostar to London. If it’s a destination further than that, I would still take the plane as it’s still that much quicker and more predictable. In my opinion we should focus on making aviation more sustainable & getting EU regulated taxation on all flights within Europe, or drastically change the way we use the train.

I would take the train if it was cheaper than flying. In Germany the train can sometimes even be more expensive and take longer. The Germany wide ticket coming next month is great, but only is valid for the slow trains. Could still do a lot more to make it more attractive in Germany...

Great video, but quick note - at 02:40 the Baltic flags are completely mixed up. Estonia is the most north (with the capital Tallinn), then Latvia sits in the middle (with the capital Riga) and finally Lithuania is most south (with the capital Vilnius).

Tbh it's not that train lines are lacking, it's just that train is generally pricier than airplaine for inter countries travel...

I'd love to cross from the UK to the EU on rail, if Eurostar didn't cost so much

good video, could you add sources on the description?

As a Brit, I wish we were part of the European project, I worked on on an EU harmonisation project from 2010 to 2012, it’s sad to see how we have become on the outside!

I would LOVE to see EU implement such infrastructure quickly... the reality is the EU is lacking true ambitions. Governments remain too much "sovereign" and don't want to see that the future of continental Europe is to unite not only economically but also politically, socially, tax wise, and at the defense level. WAKE-UP EUROPE!

The reason Madrid and Lisbon have no direct train is because, during the Napoleonic wars the portuguese constructed their railway tracks with a different width. This was done so that a french invasion was more difficult to achieve.

it would be great if you put sources in the description of the video, really interesting video though!

I live in the Netherlands and I am really satisfied with the rail system, from my home city of Arnhem j can take a direct train to Frankfurt ( Germany ) and Basel (Zwitserland ) with a high speed ice train or an fast intercity ride to amsterdsm where I can take a high speed train to London, Paris and Brussels or a sleeper train to viena, or a intercity to Berlin witch is not that fast.

Since Europe is eliminating nuclear energy where is the clean energy going to come from? Also, what's the point in having an EU (or Nato for that matter) if HRS can't be uniform and transborder compatible?

An electric train will always be better and an electric car and electric plane

Students in Bavaria are getting a Germany ticket for 29€ this winter !! Can't wait. Trains are awesome. So as a trains lover this is a dream coming true.

I have just one question; WHY no mention of Transrapid MagLev? It climbs steeper gradients and turns tighter circles than conventional wheel-on-rail technology.

I'd be curious to know if the emission comparison factors in the emissions generated in constructing the new train network.

Would love to see a tunnel link between Ireland and Europe. A real middle finger to Brexit and the UK 😏

2:40 It takes a lot of effort and sheer skill and knowledge to make a map of Baltic states this bad

I always travel by train. Love it

What about security in these trains? It strikes to me that with no security check, they could turn easily into really dangerous/possible targets for you know who..

Point to point under 500km trains are cheaper, more comfortable, and faster.

Yes, long-distance trains are expensive, if you book last-minute, but so do planes! If you book around 2 weeks in advance and avoid weekends or public holidays, a 700KM train ride from Hamburg to Munich costs only €17, and I even took the same journey in 1st class for €30!

Hey, video looks great but I can't help noticing that the ultra-modern-computery looking map at 0:39s illustrates pre-1914 Europe. No Poland at all, for instance. Where does this map (and choice) come from ?

is the manufacturing and maintenance of the rail roads accounted for, as far emissions go ?

awesome, cheaper than flights, no time consuming boarding hassle security checks and other boring stuff, can travel with folding bike awesome in general

I love Europe! Most civilised and developed continent & people

I love the map shown for a second at 0.39: Imperial Germany, Imperial Russia and Austria-Hungary - high speed rail in the year 1914 :)

0:39 interesting map :)

I would love to see long distance routes like Amsterdam-Rome or Berlin-Barcelona served by sleeper trains. Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-Lyon-Rome could be done in 8 and a half hours at an achievable 240Km/h. It might make sense. Energy costs plummet during nighttime. It could be convenient for some business travelers, since it saves accomodation costs, also for non EU travelers on their Euro trip. It could give more alternatives to the in-between cities... I don't know, in the end I don't think there's enough demand for this travel times and this North-South, East-West connections, but man I would love to see it done. And well done, like 2st century enhanced experience giving you more privacy options but keeping the social component of it.

Geez I'm so envious of European advancements.

I think cost will be the main hindrance. In the UK, for example, its cheaper to drive on your own and pay for parking then use rail networks

Love train travel around Europe would love to see a rail link to Ireland but cant see it ever happening because of the cost