Austria was one of only three EU countries that invested more in expanding rail transport than in road infrastructure over the last three decades.
This emerges from a German study carried out on behalf of Greenpeace. However, the environmental organization mainly finds words critical of Austria and calls for the reactivation of railway routes and stations that have been closed since 1995 as they are unprofitable.
While the road network across Europe grew by more than 30,000 kilometers between 1995 and 2018, the rail network shrank by more than 15,000 kilometers in the same period, Greenpeace calculated.
Since 1995, an additional two-thirds has been invested in road expansion
On behalf of Greenpeace, the Wuppertal Institute and think tank T3 Transportation examined how public transport infrastructure in the EU-27, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland has changed over the past three decades.
The report shows that, since 1995, the countries examined have invested almost two-thirds more in expanding and renewing roads (1.5 billion euros) than in expanding rail transport (931 billion euros). In the years 2018 to 2021, this gap decreased somewhat.
The movement is particularly needed in Lower Austria
In Austria, however, 655 kilometers of railways and 230 stations were closed in almost three decades. “Now state governments are challenged: especially in Lower Austria, which is at the bottom, decommissioned regional railway lines must be reactivated,” says Marc Dengler from Greenpeace Austria. According to the environmental organization, it does not matter if the routes are profitable.
ÖBB rejects criticism
ÖBB does not want to accept this criticism: in the years 2023 to 2028, ÖBB-Infraestrutura AG will invest around 1.8 billion euros in modernizing and increasing the attractiveness of regional railways, according to a statement. Not all routes could be maintained and modernized.
If a corresponding demand is not expected, ÖBB will not be able to invest in accordance with the economic criteria prescribed by the Ministry of Transport. ÖBB argues that reopening discontinued regional rail links would cause enormous costs and bring little benefit.