European transport over the next 25 years

Despite the slow-down in economic growth rates it seems clear that the volume of traffic in Europe will have approximately doubled by the year 2000. A simple doubling of the existing infrastructure to cope with this increase is seen as unlikely for a number of reasons, mainly because of environmental factors, and the long lead times required. The author looks at two possibilities: restrictions on road use, and a major restructuring of the railways —namely to reserve the main lines of the existing rail system for goods traffic. The latter would triple current peak goods-carrying capacity. A new high-speed transport system should be constructed to cope with the passenger traffic. This would be much cheaper than constructing new motorways and would consume less energy.