Research study | June 2023 - Development of Transport Infrastructure in Europe:

2 | How has transport infrastructure developed over the last decades and to what ex- tent interrelates this supply of infrastructure with actual demand for the respec- tive modes? The report investigates the development of railways, motorways and airports in the mentioned 30 European countries. [...] –––– 1 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: 'Fit for 55': delivering the EU's 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality (COM(2021) 550 final). [...] The closure of these loss-making lines was one of the most important measures stipulated in a national railway rehabilitation programme and also one of the demands of the Worldbank, which provided funds for the State railways’ restructuring. [...] The fourth column creates a ratio as in the third column, but for the four years from 2018 to 2021, which were the most recent reported in the database.6 A comparison of the fourth to the third column indicates if a shift of priorities may have started to take place in these years (i.e., more funding for railways than for roads). [...] According to the research, lines and sections with a length of at least 13,902 km were opened in the 30 European countries in the same time span.17 The subsequent sections provide a more detailed picture of the development of re- gional passenger railways in selected countries, namely Austria, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia and Spain.18 The full list of abandoned railway lines and stations is ad.