That many of Europe’s networks are facing a growing capacity shortfall is not news. Across the continent, every path on the principal corridors is now a precious resource. Slots are being duelled over as competing players emerge and seek to shape how access rights are prioritised.
The most high-profile arguments have centred on the rise of new entrants seeking to grow the market as much as taking share from the incumbents. Italo’s struggle to enter the German long-distance segment is but the latest example. A determination by the federal networks agency Bundesnetzagentur proposing changes to DB InfraGO’s train path allocation rules for 2028 allowed Italo to place its order with Siemens Mobility for a fleet of 26 Velaro high speed trains on July 20.
But there are also signs that the battle for capacity is becoming far more complex. Czech national passenger operator České Dráhy explored this conundrum last month, when Head of International Affairs Jan Ilík explained that new entrants and incumbents alike were facing a shifting set of pressures. ‘While everybody agrees that we need more trains, freight trains, passenger trains, night trains, regional and suburban too, it is not easy to manage so many trains on the network’, he pointed out.
