Italian experience of high-speed rail for an effective rail transport system in Europe

CER has the pleasure to launch the sixth of our 'CER Essays', a series of articles co-authored by business leaders and renowned scholars, in view of providing high-level policy input on EU transport issues and beyond.

The initiative, where academic analysis meets business insight, features articles written by CER members and a national academic partner on different topics, ranging from modal shift, high-speed rail, climate policy, demography and more.

This sixth essay results from a collaboration with Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and is titled: 'High-speed rail as a strategic tool for achieving European transport policy goals: smart, integrated and sustainable mobility'.

Written by Luigi Ferraris, CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, and Professor Oliviero Baccelli from Bocconi University, this latest CER essay shows the Italian experience with high-speed rail, promoting multimodality and rail as a solution to reach our climate goals.

High-speed rail services have designed a new way of living, working and moving around Europe, improving the accessibility of major cities and connecting European capitals. Such services are an essential part of the solution to some of Europe's most pressing mobility challenges and to reaching our ambitious transport goals, including those set out in the European Green Deal.

This latest CER essay gives an overview of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane experience with high-speed rail, connecting the main Italian cities, and gradually expanding to new international rail connections. It also focuses on the experience in Italy of high-speed services being integrated with land and air solutions to promote multimodality.

At the same time, when looking at externalities of different transport modes, railways need to be supported with adequate policy measures promoting modal shift towards more sustainable transport modes to reach EU targets on decarbonisation. High-speed rail has the potential to replace private cars and short-range air travel and policy makers can play a role in banning, when certain conditions arise, the less sustainable mode of transportation, as has happened in France in relation to flights on some specific routes.

The essay was launched during a high-level breakfast debate with MEPs and other stakeholders in the European Parliament in Brussels, with a lively debate around high-speed rail and the Italian experience, especially with collaboration with road and rail transport for multimodality solutions.

Read the full essay here.

www.cer.be

  Ask For More Information…