Traditionally, the train was the Interior mobility dorsal spine In Europe. The development of the infrastructure allowed population movements for decades and, although the low-cost flights They have made a large part of the cake, there are European movements for recovering trains. An example is the NOX Night Trainbut another is the Starline project, a high speed ‘subway’ network that connects the main European capitals. Appeals everything that Europe is looking for: interconnection, transport of goods and sustainability. And it sounds too good to be true.
Precisely, there is the problem.
Starline. 21st Europe It is a Danish group architect of the Starline project. In his web They claim that Starline is not a matter of convenience, but a strategic need for current Europe. It is a high -speed train that will link the main European cities thanks to machines capable of traveling at 400 km/h (superior to that of the bird, for example) connecting, in principle, 39 destinations.
To achieve these speeds, the idea is to minimize the closed curves and slopes as much as possible, achieving a great average speed that shortens the times between destinations. In the proposed map we can see that they have used a system of segments such as the one we can find In the subwayas well as stations that allow connections with other lines.
The train. The idea is the most attractive, being able to go from Madrid to Istanbul without getting out of the train, or arriving Helsinki transforded in Vienna. As much as they reach 400 km/h, the journeys would be long and, for this, they have thought of wide -seat cars, quieter areas, others open for teleworking or for families with young children and cafeteria.
They also propose that there is no seat division based on the classic hierarchy of airlines. And the reason why design should be blue is to distinguish trains and turn them into an icon, such as Red London Buses or the yellow yotk taxis. In addition, they would be connected and travelers could see the train status in real time at all times.
Stations? Cultural centers. That experience for the passenger would start directly at the station. Instead of being a mere point of passage, what 21st Europe proposes is that they are public spaces with their own identity.
If they advocate infrastructure with the trains, with the stations advocate places designed by the most reputed architects and designers of the different countries, creating buildings that are identity of each of the countries where there is space for stores and restaurants, but also for museums, concert halls, conferences or sports venues. Going directly to a concert or a match of whatever is directly from station to station is a great idea.
Goods. Positive points are not limited to travelers. From the group, they detail that rail transport is four times more efficient than classical road transport in Europe, but only 18% of the goods move by train. Thus, they consider that the system could be used as way to transport goods in high speed Without resorting to the truck, the plane or the ship, implementing cargo and unloading hubs directly at the stations and strengthening Europe with a large new commercial network.
China’s example. Placing the stations outside the large urban centers, it is achieved that they remain accessible, but avoiding the disturbance of traffic that exists in the central stations of the large European capitals. In addition, they consider that they would be an economic engine for those cities, and all thanks to the data that come from China.
The Asian giant has gone expanding its high -speed rail network In record time and, from 21st Europe, they claim that cities with connections to that network experienced an increase of more than 14% in GDP and that each new line connected to the total contributed with an additional 7.2% to that growth of urban GDP. Now, China’s investment has been (and is being) huge, and has the big problem of Periodic maintenance cost.
Sustainability, the great asset. In it Ride of decarbonizationthere are countries that are looking for replace short distance flights with the trainand Starline enters perfectly in such proposals. It is estimated that, in Europe, the commercial flight sector represents 4% of the total Greenhouse Emissions and about 14% of transport emissions. The calculation is that European flights contaminate five times more by passenger/kilometer than the train, and that is where Starline points.
They detail that it must be independent at the energy level, betting on renewable sources that integrate solar, wind storage and batteries in their stations and operational infrastructure. With all this in mind, they estimate that short -journey flights could be replaced by a high -speed rail, reducing 95%emissions. In Spain, The bird is winning the game to the plane.
You have to wait sitting. The 21st Europe project does not leave a stick without touching and it seems that it has no fissure. Everything is positive and sounds great, but there is a problem. Well, two. The first, regardless of complication when governments and companies agree to offer a unified service, is financing. The Danish group points out that the network must be financed through a combination of EU infrastructure budgets, financing of the European Investment Bank and long -term EU bonds. In addition, the governments of each country should co -finance their regional stations and connections, and all this maintaining a lower ticket price than the short -journey flights.
The second big problem, and the key in this matter, is that this is an idea thrown into the wind. 21st Europe is something known as a ‘Think Tank‘, a group of experts who design visionary projects on the future of the continent. They have other proposals as an infrastructure of public parks called ‘Continent of Play‘, but basically that is, a project, an idea to initiate a conversation in the political spheres, but without the capacity for what they propose is launched.
We will see if someone collects the witness in the European Chamber, but the priorities Now go more on the rearme side. And it is a shame, since that idea of the high -speed European subway does not sound bad.
Images | 21st Europe
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