How trains could replace planes in Europe

THE CENTREPIECE of this year’s European Year of Rail was the “Connecting Europe Express”. Between September and October its cars whisked EU officials across the continent on a whistle-stop tour promoting the future of railways. But the train itself was a nostalgia trip: most of its wagons were built in the 1980s, since more recent models were less likely to be certified by the rail-safety boards of all 26 countries it visited. Without arm-twisting by the European Commission, said Alberto Mazzola of the CER, a rail-industry group, the trip would have been impossible.