The pharaohs did it in royal barges. For contemporary travellers wanting to go to Egypt’s most spectacular temples and tombs, preparations are usually barely extra sophisticated. Most will take a flight from Cairo to Luxor, the place they discover the highlights of historical Memphis and the Valley of the Kings earlier than drifting down the river on a Nile cruiser all the way in which to Aswan and the splendour of Abu Simbel.
Quickly, nonetheless, all travellers might have is a prepare ticket. Plans for Egypt’s first high-speed railway have been introduced, with German agency Siemens Mobility to construct a 1000 kilometre line between Cairo and Aswan, together with routes connecting the Pink Sea and the Mediterranean coast. The fully-electrified trains can have a prime pace of 230km/h, making Egypt’s historical websites extra accessible than ever earlier than.
That is the brand new and golden age of rail. After a long time wherein flying turned ever-cheaper and extra common, the pendulum is swinging again. Pushed by the necessity to fight the local weather disaster, nations world wide are investing closely in rail, creating thrilling new journey choices for passengers.
In Europe, sleeper trains are experiencing a renaissance, with new routes together with the Nightjet Zurich connecting the Swiss metropolis with Amsterdam, and European Sleeper’s prepare from Brussels to Prague through Amsterdam and Berlin.
New high-speed rail strains are additionally being rolled out throughout the Continent, together with the bold Rail Baltica challenge. Scheduled to open in 2026, the electrical line will run from Finland through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all the way in which to Poland. The Helsinki-Tallin leg will initially be operated by ferries till a deliberate undersea tunnel is accomplished.
The European Union needs to see high-speed strains double by 2030 and triple by 2050, and has offered €5.4 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to 135 transport infrastructure tasks throughout the Continent. Though a number of European nations have already invested in high-speed strains – suppose Madrid to Barcelona, Rome to Milan, Berlin to Munich – the purpose is to create high-speed routes that can hyperlink the whole Continent.
It’s a massive ask. To succeed in the 2030 goal, the present high-speed community might want to improve by 75 per cent. The environmental advantages might be equally spectacular. Seventeen of the Continent’s 20 busiest air routes cowl 700 kilometres or much less, making them appropriate to get replaced by high-speed rail.
With nations as various as Croatia and the Czech Republic investing in tracks and trains, the Group of European Railways is engaged on making a single ticketing platform by 2025 to make reserving as easy because the journey expertise.
Europe is not the one area investing closely in rail. China, already dwelling to the world’s largest high-speed community, plans to increase its strains by a 3rd by 2025, to a complete of fifty,000 kilometres. It has additionally been establishing high-speed rail strains throughout Asia and past, together with a line from Bangkok to Laos set to open in 2028 which can join with an current Laos-China line.
In Japan, dwelling of one of many world’s greatest rail networks, Tokyu Railways has turn out to be the primary operator to energy all of its strains utilizing renewable vitality: photo voltaic, geothermal and hydropower. In accordance with the corporate, this reduces the carbon emissions of a median journey to simply 180g. Rival operator Tobu Railway is launching a brand new fleet of trains subsequent yr which can cut back its carbon emissions by as much as 40 per cent.
Japan has additionally introduced plans for its first mag-lev prepare, to run between Tokyo and Nagoya beginning in 2037. With a most pace of 500km/h it’ll minimize the present journey time in half, protecting the stretch from Tokyo to Osaka to about an hour.
France additionally just lately unveiled its fourth-generation high-speed trains, dubbed TGV M, which might be in service in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics. They use 20 per cent much less vitality and cut back carbon emissions by 32 per cent.
Much more bold is the Polish Nevomo community, predicted to chop journey time between Krakow and Gdansk from six hours to simply 35 minutes. The corporate claims that its MagRail expertise, at the moment within the testing part, will attain speeds of as much as 550km/h working on current rail strains, abolishing the necessity for costly railway upgrades.
