page_title: Rail transport in Europe
section_title: Subsidies
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Europe / Subsidies
caption_attribution_description: English: European rail subsidies in euros per passenger-km using data from http://www.networkrail.co.uk/European-rail-study-report.pdf
context_page_description: Rail transport in Europe is characterised by its diversity, both technical and infrastructural.
  Rail networks in Western and Central Europe are often well maintained and well developed, whilst Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe often have less coverage and/or infrastructure problems. Electrified railway networks operate at a plethora of different voltages AC and DC varying from 750 to 25,000 volts, and signalling systems vary from country to country, hindering cross-border traffic.
  The European Union aims to make cross-border operations easier as well as to introduce competition to national rail networks. EU member states were able to separate the provision of transport services and the management of the infrastructure by the Single European Railway Directive 2012. Usually, national railway companies were split to separate divisions or independent companies for infrastructure, passenger and freight operations. The passenger operations may be further divided to long-distance and regional services, because regional services often operate under public service obligations, while long-distance services usually operate without subsidies.
context_section_description: EU rail subsidies amounted to €73 billion in 2005. Subsidies vary widely from country to country in both size and how they are distributed, with some countries giving direct grants to the infrastructure provider and some giving subsidies to train operating companies, often through public service obligations. In general long-distance trains are not subsidised.
  The 2017 European Railway Performance Index found a positive correlation between public cost and a given railway system’s performance and differences in the value that countries receive in return for their public cost. The 2017 and 2015 performance reports found a strong relationship between cost efficiency and the share of subsidies allocated to infrastructure managers. A transparent subsidy structure, in which public subsidies are provided directly to the infrastructure manager rather than spread among multiple train-operating companies, correlates with a higher-performing railway system.
  The 2017 Index found Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland capture relatively high value for their money, while Luxembourg, Belgium, Latvia, Slovakia, Portugal, Romania, and Bulgaria underperform relative to the average ratio of performance to cost among European countries.
caption: European rail subsidies in euros per passenger-km for 2008[6]
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