Four new high-speed rail projects are currently under construction and are due to open from as early as the European spring this year, Rail Europe has revealed.
Rail carriers across Europe are continuing to upgrade their fleet and services to meet increasing passenger demands for higher efficiency and better quality services.
The four new train services will add to Europe’s expanding portfolio of existing high-speed services, with the latest addition being the Gotthard Express in Switzerland, which started operations in December 2016.
The developments are expected to create even more demand for Europe rail travel, enabling travellers to take faster and more comfortable train journeys, as well as be able to travel further and spend more quality time enjoying local experiences.
The new Paris – Rennes service will commence operations in the European spring, reducing travel time between the two cities to 1 hour and 25 minutes, 30 minutes shorter than the current service.
Following that, from mid-year, the new Paris – Bordeaux high-speed service will save travellers an hour of travelling time from the current three-hour journey.
In Germany, a new high-speed connection service travelling at 300 kilometres per hour, will bring the “magical cities” of Berlin and Munich closer together, shortening the journey time from six hours to just under four hours, when it starts in December.
Finally, in 2018, Spain will introduce the world’s fifth largest, third deepest and the second most complex tunnel, “Variente de Pajares”, which will link Madrid to Asturias via the cities of León, Oviedo and Gijon, shortening the current route’s journeys by about two hours.
