Brussels, 11/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday a Eurostat study on EU transport infrastructure revealed that the length of the motorway network in the EU grew by more than 25% between 1990 and 1999 to total nearly 50 000 km in 1999. As for the length of the rail network, it contracted by 4% in the 1990s and by 1999 was just under 154 000 km. This situation is in contradiction with the aims of Member States.
Eurostat explained that this expansion in motorways is especially due to construction of motorways in badly equipped countries like Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the latter having quadrupled its motorway network with the North-South motorway construction. The increase is relatively slight in Benelux countries, where motorway density is already the highest in the European Union: the Netherlands (58 km of motorway per 1000 km2), Belgium (55), Luxembourg (44), Ireland and Finland (both 1.4). France builds the most motorways in the European Union, with its network increasing over ten years from 6,800 km to 9,300 km. Spain's motorway network is even larger (17.1 km per 1,000 km). Italy stands at 21.4 km and Germany at 32 km.
During the same period, the European railway network decreased from 160 000 km in 1990 to 153 600 km in 1999. The biggest drops in the network were in Germany (-2 900 km) and France (-2 500 km). In terms of density, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg are the high-rankers with more than 100 km of railtrack per 1000 km.
The rail network in EU accession candidate countries is much denser (60-km per 1,000 km compared to an average of 46 in the European Union. It is used more than twice as much for transporting freight than in EU countries but three times less for transporting passengers. In countries from the former Eastern Block, the motorway network has also gained parts of the market and increased by a quarter over the last ten years. Latvia remained the only country without a motorway in 1999 and Lithuania the country where motorway density is the highest.