High speed rail as a strategic tool for achieving European Transport policy goals: smart, integrated and sustainable mobility

While infrastructure is the main prerequisite for a successful HSR system, regulation also plays an important role, and, over the past decade, the European Union interventions have been crucial for exploiting all the potential benefits offered by HSR services. Italy is a clear example of that. In Italy, in fact, the effects have been particularly positive in terms of increased traffic, reduced transport costs, flight substitution, and mitigation of the environmental impacts of transport, also thanks to the development of particularly efficient railway infrastructures, modern regulation systems, and competition between operators. EU and national governments should actively facilitate and stimulate HSR market development, eliminating any technical and regulatory barriers that could reduce the potential benefits of competition, with price reduction, quality enhancement, and organisational and technological innovations underlining the importance of the open market. An accelerated migration toward the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) is essential and strategic, considering the benefits that the system provides in terms of safety, improved interoperability, and increased performance, efficiency, and energy savings. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) budget should be rendered available for developing such implementation pilot studies, including the on-track and on-board ETCS (European Train Control System). In general, digitalisation is the way to make HSR mobility more attractive and easier to use, and to render the service more efficient overall. In addition to ERMTS, Digital Capacity Management, harmonisation of ticket sales, and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) are the technical tools that can generate positive spill overs for operators and customers, and will also encourage collaboration between air and rail operators. This collaboration is mainly based on joint infrastructure planning for efficient HSR stations at airports but is also favoured through integrated services that support automation and digitalisation (especially necessary for passengers with luggage). The role that high-speed rail services play in improving the accessibility of major cities in terms of time and cost savings compared to air transport is clear for journeys of up to 600-800 km at the EU level, while the improvement of the environmental performance levels of EU mobility due to HSR services as a replacement for air travel is always evident, regardless of the distances travelled. Integrated services should be supported, with general short-haul flights bans being introduced where efficient HS alternative is available, as has recently happened in France. Italy has a specific investment plan in place to promote complementary air/rail services, to strengthen the intermodal system, and to improve the level of service offered to users. The most ambitious Italian projects concern the country’s four largest international airports: Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Bergamo, and Venice. These projects increase overall accessibility at the national and international levels, in part thanks to the expansion of the land catchment areas of the airports with low emission accessibility. There is a considerable need for investments in order to meet the EU modal shift targets, and we are aware that the rail sector cannot rely on the budgets of the Member States alone. Increased rail capacity and enhanced connections at the Corridor level must be supported when meeting the TEN-T rail targets, providing European added value, with proper and sufficient funding, from both the public and private sectors, in order to ensure the timely completion of the rail network and the cross-border infrastructure projects. To this end, the next EU financial framework should still cover the TEN-T infrastructures beyond the current 2021-2027 budget, including the Connecting Europe Facility