2021 was the European Year of Rail. This initiative by the European Commission highlighted the benefits of rail as a sustainable, smart and safe means of transport. A variety of activities put rail in the spotlight throughout 2021 across the continent, e.g. the exhibition Europalia Arts Festival Trains and Tracks at the Royal museum of fine Arts of Belgium. The aim was to encourage the use of rail by both citizens and businesses and to contribute to the EU Green Deal goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050.
In the EU, rail is responsible for less than 0.5% of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions and is therefore one of the most sustainable forms of passenger and freight transport. Unfortunately, only about 7% of passengers and 11% of goods travel by rail. Therefore, using the rail more often will help to cut the greenhouse gas emissions and pollution coming from EU transport significantly, contributing to the EU's efforts under the European Green Deal.
Visit https://europa.eu/year-of-rail/index_en if you would like to learn more about the EU Year of Rail initiative.
In the meantime, check your knowledge on railway by practicing with our speeches:
- How many connections did the Trans-Europe-Express had at the peak of its existence?
- How many Swedes prefer the train to the airplane because of flight shame?
- How quickly do you travel from London to Paris by taking the train?
You will find the answers in the following speeches:
- Speech 29369 GER
- Speech 29302 IT
- Speech 25959 RU
Happy practising!
Your Speech Repository Team