Strasbourg, 16/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - During a press conference in Strasbourg, several members of the EPP/ED Group drew attention to the poor state of progress made in the high speed rail link to connect Paris to Budapest (via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna) in the context of trans-European transport networks. Echoing the debate on the second rail package (see EUROPE of 15 January, p.11), German national Angelika Niebler regretted that rail connections are too often seen as a national responsibility and announced that the Parliament will put pressure on the Council, which is said to be responsible for the hold up, so that the link may be considered a priority project.
Werner Stolher, an engineer at an institute in Zurich that carried out a study on this link in collaboration with two other institutes (in Vienna and Karlsruhe), explains that the state of progress of work is not homogenous. In some cases, he explained, it is necessary to adjust existing tracks, while in others, they must be created from nothing. Completion of the section is foreseen for 2015 and will have cost EUR 15 billion for the countries concerned: 4.5 billion for France, 5.3 billion for Germany, 3.7 billion for Austria, and 1.9 billion for Hungary, he added, estimating that annual economic gain from the link for the countries concerned would be EUR 2 billion. Furthermore, he concluded, the study showed that this section will have a very positive environmental effect. The Mayor of Karlsruhe, Heinz Fenrich, insisted on the responsibility of France and Germany, which, he said, must take concrete decisions for crossing the Rhine. A two-track bridge is needed, he said, considering it to be incredible that, in the 21st century, there is only a single track bridge. German national Markus Ferber regretted that the Council had not followed the European Commission and Parliament, which had described this section as a priority project, and reproached the German government with refusing to include the section in the list of priorities. However, he added, during the meeting of the Van Miert Group, the German representative recognised that the section was a priority, which, he hoped, would get things moving. (On this subject, see EUROPE of 15 January, p.12).