23
Oct
2024
Watch
Need to strengthen rail travel and the railway sector in Europe (debate)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen! Rail is still not competitive compared to air and road transport. Yeah, as well? On a partially dilapidated infrastructure, high-speed, goods and local transport compete with each other, which often also leads to security risks. One solution could be a European network of magnetic levitation trains – explicitly not in competition, but as a complement to traditional rail transport. In China, research has been carried out on this topic for many years, and in Europe, too, metropolises could be connected with trains of 600 km/h and faster, if only we wanted to. Operating renewable energies could make intra-European short-haul flights obsolete and thus make a valuable contribution to climate protection. That's why I appealed at a late hour: Europe, let's not forget the magnetic levitation!