According to a report released by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), there is no realistic long-term EU plan for high-speed rail, but an ineffective patchwork of national lines not well linked since the European Commission has no legal tools and no powers in the decision making to ensure that Member States make rapid progress towards completing the core network corridors set out in the TEN-T Regulation. “As a result, there is only a patchwork of national high-speed lines, planned and built by the Member States in isolation,” the report says.
Since 2000, the EU has provided EUR 23.7 billion of co-funding to support high-speed rail infrastructure investments. ECA says that the EU’s current long-term plan is not supported by credible analysis, is unlikely to be achieved, and lacks a solid EU-wide strategic approach.
The EU added value is at risk since three out of seven completed lines having low passenger numbers leading to a high risk of ineffective spending of EUR 2.7 billion EU co-funding. Moreover, nine out of 14 lines and stretches have insufficient high numbers of passengers, and 11 000 national rules still exist, although the Court already asked in 2010 to lift these technical and administrative barriers.
ECA says that the cost-efficiency is at stake, because not everywhere very high-speed lines are needed, as the cost per minute of saved travel time is very high, going up to EUR 369 million, and as the average speeds only amount to 45 % of the maximum capacity, while cost overruns and construction delays are the norm rather than the exception.
Although the length of the national high-speed rail networks is growing, the Commission’s 2011 target of tripling the number of kilometres of high-speed rail lines by 2030 will not be reached as 9 000 km of high-speed line are currently in use, and around 1 700 km of line was under construction in 2017.
On average, it takes around 16 years for new high-speed lines to proceed from the start of works to the beginning of operations.
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