All Articles

A Dutch startup wants to do to the train what easyJet did to the plane. Investors and incumbents are watching. A new operator quietly pulled out of Amsterdam Centraal last week and, in doing so, accelerated a debate that has been building across European transport policy for years: why does a flight from Amsterdam to Berlin still cost less than the train? GoVolta launched its inaugural Amsterdam–Berlin service on 19 March, followed a day later by an Amsterdam–Hamburg route, w

Brussels, 19 March 2026 — In one week's time, a small Belgian-Dutch cooperative will attempt something that Europe's state railways decided was no longer worth the trouble. On 26 March, European Sleeper launches its Paris–Berlin night train, reviving a route abandoned by Austrian national operator ÖBB after the French government withdrew its funding subsidy at the end of last year. The optics are striking. Where a state-backed giant retreated, a startup is advancing — and th

China's CRRC has cracked Western Europe's long-distance rail network. The question now is whether Siemens and Alstom can respond — or whether Brussels will simply close the door. When Austria's private open-access operator Westbahn quietly rolled four Chinese-built double-deckers onto the Vienna–Salzburg corridor last November, many in the European rail industry hoped the story would fade. It has not. As Westbahn simultaneously announces a high-speed expansion southward throu

A Czech open-access operator has drawn the sharpest battle lines yet in Poland's long-running rail liberalisation fight, launching commercial services on the country's most strategically important domestic corridor. Leo Express began regular services on the Warsaw–Kraków route on 1 March 2026, becoming the first private challenger to take on state incumbent PKP Intercity on a corridor that functions as the spine of Poland's intercity network. Until now, PKP Intercity has effe

The Budapest–Belgrade flagship project finally moves freight — but a clash of signalling standards is casting a long shadow over its passenger future After four years of construction delays, cost overruns and post-Novi Sad political turbulence, freight trains began running on Hungary's section of the Budapest–Belgrade railway on 27 February. The milestone was swiftly cast in triumphant language by Budapest. The operational reality, however, tells a rather different story. The

Europe's rail industry is converging on Utrecht this week for the 16th edition of RailTech Europe, but behind the exhibition stands and panel discussions, a more urgent conversation is taking shape: whether Brussels will commit the funding needed to prevent the continent's rail technology leadership from slipping to China. At the heart of the debate is an 18 billion euro public-private investment proposal put forward by the EU-Rail Joint Undertaking, covering the period from

Trainline, Europe's largest independent rail ticketing platform, saw its shares tumble after chief executive Jody Ford announced his intention to step down, raising questions about leadership continuity at a critical juncture for the FTSE 250-listed group. Shares fell as much as 6.5 per cent to 190p on Wednesday — a four-year low — after the London-based company confirmed Ford would leave following more than six years at the helm. The board has begun a formal search for his s

The world's largest container lines are making an aggressive landside bet. CMA CGM, the French shipping group, is expected to complete its acquisition of Freightliner's UK intermodal division by the end of this month, securing the brand, locomotives, and container-focused operations of one of Britain's most established rail freight operators. Meanwhile, MSC's rail subsidiary Medway is expanding into France with eight new Stadler Euro6000 locomotives and increasing its footpri

Europe's railway operators and supply chain manufacturers have signed a landmark joint declaration committing to a coordinated overhaul of the continent's rail network, in what amounts to the sector's most ambitious collective pitch for public investment in years. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the European Rail Supply Industry Association (UNIFE) formalised the agreement in Brussels earlier this month, setting out shared priorities s

The Chinese-financed high-speed railway linking Budapest and Belgrade is entering its final weeks of commissioning, with freight services due to begin on February 27 and passenger trains expected to follow by mid-March. The opening will mark the completion of Beijing's flagship Belt and Road infrastructure project inside the European Union — and the most visible test yet of Europe's willingness to depend on Chinese-built transport corridors. The 350-kilometre line, largely fi

SNCF services severely disrupted as unions protest Macron government's renewed retirement age proposals France faces widespread rail disruption today as four major transport unions commenced coordinated strike action opposing government plans to incrementally raise the retirement age for railway workers from 57 to 62 by 2032. The 48-hour walkout has forced cancellation of approximately 60 percent of high-speed TGV services and 70 percent of regional trains, with Paris commute

Europe's second-largest high-speed network faces mounting scrutiny after Spain suffered its deadliest railway accident in over a decade, exposing critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and triggering nationwide labour unrest that threatens continental expansion ambitions. The 18 January collision near Adamuz in Córdoba province claimed 45 lives and injured 292 passengers when an Iryo service derailed on recently refurbished track, sending three rear carriages into the path o