Make polluters pay, let investors build Europe’s High-Speed Rail Network

Make polluters pay, let investors build Europe's High-Speed Rail Network

Europe's transport polluters - such as airlines and heavy fossil fuel users targeted through the European Union's Emissions Trading System - could be tapped to help fund a future European High-Speed Rail network.

Today UNIFE - the European Rail Supply Industry Association, unveiled a financing plan to help fund the EU's high-speed rail dream, which could also use private capital to attract private investment in high-speed rail projects across the EU.

The plan involves various ways to meet the hefty €345bn estimated price tag, which also includes:

• Unlocking significant investment from the European Union's Emissions Trading System
• Developing infrastructure bonds - (i.e. debt backed by future revenues - e.g. user revenues, freight charges) to attract private capital, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds
• Tapping into the EU's brand new €409bn Competitiveness Fund, as an EU High-Speed Rail network was called for in the landmark Draghi Report
• Doubling the Connecting Europe Facility from the €51,7bn draft position, up to €100bn in the next EU Budget (Multiannual Financial Framework 2028 - 2034)

As part of this plan, UNIFE also requires the updating of the EU's Public Procurement Directives, notably to address security risks potentially posed by foreign state-controlled bidders, as the rail network is considered critical infrastructure and essential for military mobility.

The European Commission announced the High-Speed Rail Plan in November 2025, with financing plans set to be announced in late September 2026.

Read UNIFE's full recommendations to fund an EU High-Speed Rail Network here.

Quotes attributable to UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe

"Our supply chains, passenger networks, climate ambitions, military cohesion, and according to the Draghi report - the Union itself, hinges on a next-generation network high-speed rail network that connects us all."

"We all share a common vision for Europe's high-speed rail, but now we must talk funding. It's time for the main polluters to contribute their fair share to building a sustainable and future-ready European transport network"

"According to a 2023 EY Report, an EU High-Speed Rail network could deliver €750 billion in positive benefits through jobs and growth to the European Union."