FRANS EURO EXPRESS

摘要

START FROM PARIS AND TRAVEL directly east. You will, in turn, pass through Strasburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. Those great European cities lie on an almost straight line; and there is indeed a line, a railway line, between them, though it is not always terribly straight, or fast, or with convenient through connections. That is all about to change. The Magistrale for Europe is a high speed, unified rail link that will run 1,500km from Paris to Budapest. It was conceived by the EU in 1995, and is due for completion this year. It will link 34 million people in five countries. Its benefits are many: economic, political and cultural integration of western and eastern Europe are among the most obvious. Most of it runs along existing routes that have been or are being upgraded for high-speed running. A key part, however, is the section between Stuttgart and Ulm, in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, almost in the centre of the line in the Jura Mountains or Swabian Alps.