The Trans Europ Express (TEE) is a former international first-class railway network, operating in western and central Europe from 1957 to 1995. In 1974, the TEE network comprised 45 trains and connected 130 different cities.
The German government, which currently holds the EU presidency, has proposed to relaunch the TEE services by 2025, aiming to make the train sector more competitive with the short-haul aviation sector.
To read more about the proposal of the German government click here.
German transport minister Andreas Scheuer proposed to launch a “TEE 2.0”, which would include new routes linking at least 3/4 countries thanks to partnerships between existing rail companies.
Eight routes are already under consideration. They include: Paris-Brussels-Liege-Cologne-Berlin-Warsaw; Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussels-Paris-Lyon-Barcelona; Amsterdam-Cologne-Basel-Milan-Rome; Berlin-Frankfurt-Lyon-Montpellier-Barcelona; and other rail services linking Scandinavia to the rest of Europe (such as the Paris-Brussels-Cologne-Bremen-Copenhagen-Stockholm).
As overnight services are currently enjoying a great success, the TEE 2.0 would also include a night-train network service with the same routes. The German proposal includes also overnight trains through Belgium: Paris-Brussels-Liege-Cologne-Berlin; Brussels-Liege-Cologne-Berlin-(split)Warsaw/Prague; Copenhagen-Hamburg-Cologne-(split)Amsterdam/Brussels-Paris; and Stockholm-Copenhagen-Hamburg-Cologne-Brussels-Paris.
Eurostar and Thalys, two high-speed rail companies that have agreed to merge, can constitute the start of the implementation of the project. Austrian railways is also working with other firms to become the number one night-train operator in Europe.
The TEE 2.0 would connect Brussels to Barcelona in only 8 hours, and to Warsaw in less than 12 hours. A Brussels-Copenhagen route of 8:15 hours, and a Brussels-Stockholm route of 13 hours are also in the pipeline.
