(Dis)connection of Fast Railway Between Western and Central Europe - Coincidence or Concept?
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Fast railways are considered to be a sustainable kind of public transportation. They are suitable for distances, which are too long for sustainable car using, and too short for plane flights. In Western Europe, these policies are common since the 1980s. In the post-socialistic countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the situation is slightly different. Conventional railway network was used mainly for freight transportation and kept in the state of stagnation. New connections or fundamental reconstructions were rare. The different policies play an important role in fast railways network planning and operating these days. This paper focuses on the comparison of approaches in planning and operating of fast railways in Central Europe states (e.g. Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland). There are significant differences not only among the non-socialist and post-socialist states but also among the post-socialist states themselves. Austria, which is the only non-socialist country of mentioned, is fully connected to the European fast railway network, mainly via Germany and Italy. The Czech Republic and Poland have designed national fast railway networks, which are primarily meant to service the largest cities and agglomerations within each country. Cross border connections are considered to be built, but they are only peripheral supplements of the networks. Hungary and Slovakia have had the same conception as the Czech Republic or Poland in 1990s. Since then, they both decided to prefer fundamental reconstructions of selected spinal railways. Thus, the idea of a sole fast railway network in these states was abandoned. The aim of this paper is to identify the key decisions and approaches in fast railways planning in each of those states. The paper also identifies the main points causing the disconnection of fast railways networks between Western and Central Europe. |
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