So I wrote previous stories about Germany’s trains — the biggest article was on the 9 Euro fare for the whole summer of 2022. The studies came out — carbon savings were fantastic, ridership went up, pretty much all positive, except the cost of running the trains wasn’t being covered by the low fare. So now this spring the permanent fares/solutions are coming out.
The initial push was to counter inflation caused by the disruption of oil from Russia due to the war, it basically sped up existing plans to improve pubic transport to fight climate change. Now the announcement was made going forward the monthly cost will be €49.
The 2023 one-month ticket will cover all but the fastest trains, plus U-Bahnand S-Bahn networks in the cities. It also includes trams, most buses and even ferry services on the River Elbe in Hamburg.
While the ticket does not cover intercity expresses, any journey across Germany is possible using slower regional express trains.
The deal is open to all, regardless of nationality, and there is no need to book in advance.
But now that experiment is over and the final version out, the German’s and French are not done — they have announced a new experiment — announced that 60,000 free train tickets will be made available to those under the age of 27 this summer. It will only be available to French and German citizens and it will be by lottery. The tickets are for train travel between France and Germany. It is a one off experiment for this summer, if successful may become part of a permanent feature, to promote train travel between EU countries. (There are talks with Italy on a scheme of this nature as well — but no dates announced)
Also announced in 2024, a direct high-speed train line linking Paris and Berlin will open, while a night train connecting the two capitals will be launched at the end of this year.
Also France announced new legislation that would ban short-haul flight on a number of domestic routes to help the country cut levels of planet-heating pollution.
For the ban to apply, the EU insisted the air route in question must have a high speed rail alternative that makes it possible to travel between the two cities in less than two and a half hours. There must also be enough early and late-running trains to enable travelers to spend at least eight hours at the destination. Few routes currently qualify for this, but there are several new high speed routes in the works. Spain and Austria have also talked about joining the ban, and are improving their train lines.
In January this year, the European Commission announced that it decided to support a total of ten pilot projects to establish new rail services and improve the existing ones.
Can you image such a forward thinking infrastructure project in the US? Nothing but envy coming from this train lover.