"There's a reason most of Europe's rail network is decades, sometimes centuries old, and there hasn't been much new construction for a loooong time." I beg to

"There's a reason most of Europe's rail network is decades, sometimes centuries old, and there hasn't been much new construction for a loooong time." I beg to differ. There is quite a lot of HSR construction in Europe going on right now. Italy: Brescia-Verona, Verona-Vicenza, Vicenza-Padua, the Brenner Basis Tunnel to Austria, Turin-Lyon, Naples-Bari, Palermo-Catania-Messina France: Bordeaux-Toulouse, Lyon-Turin to Italy Spain: Murcia-Almería, the Basque Y, Burgos–Vitoria-Gasteiz, Madrid-Extremadura Austria: Koralmbahn, Semmering Basis Tunnel Germany-Denmark: Fehmarn Tunnel UK: London-Birmingham The Baltic States: Rail Baltica All in active construction right now. Some with delays, as usual.