Paris to Madrid in a day? The EU’s €550 billion high-speed train plan might make it happen

Imagine having a croissant for breakfast in Paris and gazpacho for lunch in Madrid - thanks to a six-hour train ride. That might soon be possible under the European Commission’s plan to develop new and faster railway connections across the continent.

“High-speed rail are still concentrated today in just a few member states: Spain, France, Italy and Germany. While Central and Eastern Europe remain unfortunately still poorly connected,” EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas said on Wednesday after outlining the European executive’s vision for faster and potentially cheaper train journeys across Europe.

“Imagine travelling between Berlin and Copenhagen in four hours instead of seven. The train would definitely be preferred to the plane," he added.

The plan aims to significantly slash trail travel between major European cities significantly over the next two decades and the creation of a line from Tallinn to Warsaw – stopping in Riga and Vilnius – for a total travel time of 7 hours and 40 minutes, as well as a line from Lisbon to Paris via Madrid, taking around nine hours.

By 2030, journeys such as Copenhagen–Berlin will fall from seven to four hours, Paris–Rome from 10 hours 50 minutes to 8 hours 45 minutes, and Vienna–Ljubljana from just over six to four and a half hours. By 2035, Prague–Vienna should take only 2 hours 15 minutes instead of four, Vienna–Warsaw 4 hours 15 minutes instead of 7 hours 30 minutes, and Sofia–Athens six hours instead of nearly fourteen.

The final phase, due by 2040, will see Budapest–Vienna cut from 2 hours 40 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes, and Budapest–Bucharest from fifteen to just over six hours.

A Greenpeace report published in 2023 found that train tickets are, on average, twice as expensive as flights – meaning price remains key to shifting passengers from planes to trains.

“High-speed rail must be competitive and affordable,” the Commission said on Wednesday. To achieve this, the EU's executive proposes to increaseing the number of operating companies to boost competition and potentially reduce prices for consumers, “as seen in countries like Spain and Italy" resulting in "reduced prices and growth in passenger numbers.”

The Commission also announced a legislative proposal to improve cross-border rail ticketing and booking systems.

“We will present this at the beginning of 2026, for all passengers to be able, with one click on their phone or on their PC, to be able to book and to purchase a ticket cross-border through different companies and multi-modally,” Tzitzikostas said.

The new lines will represent a major investment for the EU — around €550 billion — and the Commission plans to develop a financing strategy combining public and private sources. It also aims to boost Europe’s capacity to produce trains.

According to the Commission, ordering a new train currently means waiting four to six years, while competitors, notably in Asia, move much faster.