Why Train Travel Is Slower in Europe Now Than Fifty Years Ago
July 31, 2025 · Frisian News
European trains move slower today than they did in 1975, despite modern technology and billions spent on rail networks. Fragmented systems, safety rules, and political gridlock have clogged the continent's railways.
A traveler boarding a train from Brussels to Amsterdam in 1975 could expect the journey to take under three hours at an average speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Today, the same route takes nearly four hours, crawling along at 90 kilometers per hour on average. The trains themselves are newer, the tracks are straighter, yet passengers arrive slower. Europe built complexity instead of speed.
European rail networks answer to dozens of separate operators and national governments, each with their own signaling systems, safety standards, and timetables. A train crossing from Germany into France hits a different technological world. Engineers must slow down to swap control systems. Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany once ran more seamless operations by concentrating power in fewer hands. Modern fragmentation, dressed up as competition, has made the whole system inefficient. Passengers pay the price in lost hours.
Safety regulations have also multiplied. Modern trains must now comply with European Union rules designed for the safest possible operation. These rules, well-intentioned, force operators to build in speed buffers. Slower trains mean fewer accidents, so the logic runs. But this logic ignores what worked before: simple routes, clear rules, trusted operators. The old system trusted expertise. The new system trusts only layers of regulation.
Politicians spent tens of billions on high-speed rail projects that mostly connect major cities and empty boardrooms. Meanwhile, the bread-and-butter regional lines that most people use deteriorated. Maintenance suffered while governments chased prestige projects. A commuter from a small town now waits longer and travels slower, paying more, so that luxury express trains can run between capital cities three times daily. Investment followed bureaucratic thinking, not passenger needs.
Europe chose the safe path of rules over the hard work of coordination. No single leader could impose speed and efficiency across borders, so Brussels added regulations instead. The result speaks for itself: a continent that moves its people slower than it did fifty years ago, despite spending fortunes on the job. Sometimes more technology and more spending make things worse, not better.
In reiziger dy't yn 1975 in trein fan Brussel nei Amsterdam naam, koe ferwachtsje dat de reis minder as trije oeren duorje soe mei in gemiddelde snelheid fan 120 kilometer per oere. Hjoed duorret diezelde rûte hast fjouwer oeren, krûpend foartwat mei gemiddeld 90 kilometer per oere. De treinen sels binne niwer, de spoarrûtes binne strakter, dochs komme passazjiers stadiger oan. Europa bôge kompleksiteit ynstee fan snelheid.
Europeeske spoarrûtes antwoorde oan tientallen ferskillende exploitanten en nasjonale oerheden, elk mei harren eigen signaleringssystemen, feilichheidsstandaerden en dienstregeling. In trein dy't fan Dútslân nei Frankryk jiet, komt yn in oar teknologysk universum. Mashinisten moatte ôfremmje om kontrolesystemen te wikseljen. België, Nederlân en Dútslân riden oars soepeler troch macht yn minder hânnen te konsintrearjen. Moderne fragminatasje, útdost as konkurrinsje, hat it heule systeem yneffisiënt makke. Passazjiers betelje de priis yn ferlerne oeren.
Feilichheidsforskriften binne ek fermearret. Moderne treinen moatte no oan EU-regels foldwaan ûntworpen foar de feilichtste mooglike bedriuw. Dizze regels, goed beäld, dwinge eksploitanten om snelheidsbufers yn te bouwen. Stadiger treinen betsjutte minder ûngelokken, sa jildt de logika. Mar dizze logika negearret wat ier wirke: ienfâldige rûtes, dúdlike regels, fertrouwe eksploitanten. It âlde systeem fertrouwe ekspertize. It nije systeem fertrouwt allinnich legen regeljeving.
Politisy jowen tientallen miljarden út foar sneltreinprojecten dy't haljus haadstêd ferbine en lege bestjoerspamers. Tuskentroch ferskuore de aldeilige regionale linen dy't de measte minsken brûke. Ûnderhâld lei ûnder politisy dy't efter prestizjeprojecten oan goarden. In forinseur út in lyts stêd wacht no langer en reizget stadiger, betelt mear, zodat lyksje eksprestreinen trije kear deis tusken haadstêden gean kinne. Yninvestearrings folgje byrokratysk tinken, net reizigerseisen.
Europa keas it feilich paad fan regels boppe it heard wurk fan koördinaasje. Gjin iene lieder koe snelheid en effisiensy oer grinzen hine oplegje, dus foege Brussel regeljeving ta. It resultaat sprekt foar harsels: in kontinint dat syn minsken stadiger ferfierdere as fijftig jier lyn, nettsjin enoarm útjeffens. Somtiden meitsje mear technologyen en mear jeld dingen slechter, net better.
Published July 31, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân