With more and more people trying to fly less, could train travel be the answer?
A fast international rail network from Amsterdam via Friesland and Groningen to Copenhagen and Stockholm is under discussion between five major European cities, as reported by the Dagblad van het Noorden.
They want to put an international railway to northern Europe via Groningen on the agenda, as an alternative to air traffic over shorter distances. They are responding to European Union calls for a response to short-haul flying.
The five European cities that want a fast train connection to the North are Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. They have lobbying offices in Brussels and are trying to get money for a feasibility study into a train connection between Amsterdam and Stockholm.
Part of this fast train to northern Europe would then be the “Lely line”, a proposed high-speed line between Amsterdam and Groningen. The Northern cities have been lobbying for such a link for several years.
It is still far from certain whether the international train connection from Amsterdam via Groningen and Hamburg to Stockholm and Helsinki will really be established. The idea is still in very early stage development.
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