Italy was one of the first countries to open its high-speed rail market to competition when, in 2012, the private operator Italo began competing with the national incumbent Trenitalia's Frecciarossa trains.
The reform positioned Italy as a reference point and other European countries have since followed. Spain and France opened their high-speed rail markets in May and December 2021, respectively, with new companies including Iryo and Ouigo in Spain, and Trenitalia France and Renfe in France.
The entry of new players has lowered ticket prices while increasing service frequency. This is a distinguishing feature of the Italian model: between Milan and Rome, there are 164 daily connections — more than five times the number of trains between Paris and London.
European countries, under the guidance of the European Union, should follow the Italian model and they are beginning to do so, although progress remains slow.
The European Commission has embraced the liberalization of rail services since the approval of the Fourth Railway Package in 2016, which aimed to complete the single market for rail services. However, national implementation is progressing at different speeds across member states.
As an example, new operators such as Proxima are due to enter the French market in 2028, and new cross-Channel connections with the United Kingdom are also expected to compete with Eurostar in the near future.
This article is part of The Parliament's special policy report "Infrastructure for a connected Europe."
The German exception
Against this backdrop, Germany remains the last major European market without competition in high-speed rail and has faced growing challenges recently, with punctuality rates declining sharply, particularly for long-distance services.
Like Italy, Germany has a mixed system and could become a key market for new high-speed services. Indeed, industry reports point to Trenitalia and Italo among potential entrants.
The crucial challenge is whether these companies can run services on a network undergoing extensive construction, as long-delayed investments are likely to constrain capacity in the coming years.
The arrival of new high-speed players in Germany, however, is only a matter of time. The benefits for consumers could be substantial, with lower prices and more frequent, high-quality services. Italy provides evidence of these gains: average ticket prices decreased by more than 30%, while consumer demand has more than doubled.
Capacity allocation
Capacity constraints are another central issue. Germany faces strain on its network due to infrastructure works but, more broadly, high-speed rail systems risk becoming congested as rising demand is increasing the number of trains in operation, leaving less space for new entrants.
Therefore, capacity allocation has become the major constraint on further competition, even in countries such as Italy, where liberalization has already led to a high number of trains in operation.
The key question is how to preserve a model built on high service frequency, exemplified by Italo and Trenitalia's Frecce, while creating space for a third entrant likely to adopt a different, low-cost business model.
The regulatory regime for capacity allocation is therefore critical to expanding competition in European countries. Capacity constraints extend beyond tracks to stations, urban nodes and maintenance depots. For instance, operators seeking to launch services between London and Paris have bid for access to a maintenance depot in the U.K.
To address this issue, the EU is finalizing a new regulation on railway infrastructure capacity, establishing a common framework for allocating access across the European network, with full implementation expected by 2031.
Capacity rules, alongside EU guidelines on track access charges — the fees paid by railway undertakings for the use of infrastructure — are the key instruments for managing rapid growth in the high-speed rail market. Despite capacity limits, Europe's rail market is shifting from a national to a European dimension, delivering clear benefits for citizens.
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