Together with European partner railways, German state railway DB has prepared a study on the expansion of the high-speed rail (HSR) network in Europe. The proposal for the Metropolitan Network includes the specific line expansion for fast passenger trains on the entire continent and the simulation of growing transport performance of environmentally-friendly rail. The starting point of the study is the Green Deal of the European Commission (EC). According to this deal, European HSR transport is to make an important contribution to CO2 reduction in the transport sector with a planned doubling by 2030 and a tripling by 2050. In the study, the specialists analysed what such a Green Deal network would have to be in order to achieve the EU targets. According to the study, all 230 metropolitan regions and the large cities in Europe should be connected to HSR services at least every hour. Around 60% of Europeans would thus have direct access to the HSR network. To achieve this, a total of 21,000 km of railway network must be newly built and expanded throughout Europe.
