New announcement by the European Commission on connecting Europe by train
![](https://maas-alliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/rail_pilots_map-2023-02-13.png)
The European Commission recently announced that 10 pilot projects will be supported in order to establish new rail services and improve existing ones. This action will improve cross-border rail connections across the EU, making them faster, more frequent and more affordable.
The Commission has selected the following proposals for cross-border pilot services:
- Hungarian Ministry of Transport, new services connecting Hungary, Austria and western Romania;
- Connection Germany – Denmark – Sweden, with participation of SJ (new night train service Stockholm – Copenhagen – Berlin and day train Hamburg – Gothenburg (and potentially Oslo, in co-operation with DSB and DB), Snälltaget (enhanced night train service Stockholm – Copenhagen – Berlin), České dráhy (new service Prague – Berlin –Copenhagen, in co-operation with DB and DSB) and Flixtrain (new service Leipzig – Berlin – Copenhagen– Stockholm)
- Midnight Trains, new night train service Paris – Milan – Venice;
- Flixtrain, new service Munich – Zurich;
- WESTbahn, new service Munich – Vienna – Budapest, extension of existing service;
- Nederlandse Spoorwegen, enhancement of the existing Amsterdam – London service, in cooperation with Eurostar;
- European Sleeper, new night train service Amsterdam – Barcelona;
- Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane /Deutsche Bahn, new services Rome – Munich and Milan – Munich, with a possible extension to Berlin;
- ILSA, new services Lisbon – A Coruña and Lisbon – Madrid;
- Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, new services connecting Catalonia and the South of France.
The proposals comes in response to the Commission’s Action Plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail, adopted in December 2021.
Source: European Commission