World
Uniting Europe through rail is the key to a greener future
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.
Europe’s rail system must embrace a total systems approach, where silos are broken down, and all stakeholders collaborate for transformative outcomes, TC Chew writes.
For decades, Europe has mooted a more competitive rail sector that could seamlessly cross national borders and carry more passengers and freight.
There have been huge strides forward with shared climate targets and more interoperability of train journeys across borders.
But to boost rail as the go-to form of travel over more carbon-intensive alternatives such as short-haul flights, more work needs to be done on improving the experience for individual passengers.
While ambitious plans to triple high-speed rail across the region by 2050 exist, with trains accounting for just 6% of inland passenger transport in the EU, more needs to be done to make rail journeys a more appealing choice.
A modern, interconnected rail system can help Europe achieve its environmental goals but putting it in place will require relentless focus on the consumer experience.
A continental approach for rail
There are some best-in-class cases of rail systems across Europe. Zurich and Vienna are often featured on best-of lists for offering fantastic conditions for travellers on the continent.
There has also been significant progress in the vision for an integrated, continental rail network, with the European Union having recognised the need to boost cross-border rail.
Initiatives such as the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) are helping smooth train journeys internationally, speeding up journey times and improving safety.
But there are still big challenges to overcome — like the ageing of the vital infrastructure that makes rail work.
As Europe’s railways age, continued investment in maintenance and utilising modern technology and data standards is vital for minimising disruption so consumers are confident they can rely on trains when they travel.
To truly modernise Europe’s rail systems, we must fulfil the vision of a continental strategy rather than taking a country-by-country approach. Different countries have varying levels of rail development, but all must come together to harmonise standards and invest in a unified system.
This requires three things: first, a commitment to cross-border collaboration and a set of basic requirements across the region for upgrading stations, tracks and carriages. Second, a strategic approach to investment and upgrades.
Instead of using funds for projects that will only bring quick improvements at the national level, EU states must invest across the whole of Europe in technologies such as integrated communication and passenger information systems.
Finally, a continent-wide regeneration of Europe’s rail systems, from signalling and communications to rolling stock, requires strong leadership to unite efforts and encourage the sharing of best practices.
Designing with humans at the centre
To encourage people to choose rail over cars and planes, rail services must deliver a seamless, safe, and reliable travel experience. This requires a holistic approach to improving performance and train and station conditions.
The entire rail industry — operators, regulators, suppliers, and governments — must work together to enhance passenger experience. Quality services, punctuality, and comfortable facilities will foster trust and encourage more people to choose rail travel.
To do this, we must start with the passengers. Meeting their transport needs in a way that’s as quick, easy, reliable, affordable, inclusive, and comfortable as possible is critical to success.
Staff across the rail industry also need to feel inspired and supported to deliver the quality of service everyone wants to see.
We also need to consider the expectations of communities in and around the rail network if we want our investments to translate into greater prosperity and social well-being.
Projects like Copenhagen’s metro expansion and Madrid’s Chamartin masterplan showcase the potential of integrating rail with broader urban planning to enhance connectivity.
These two cities are acutely aware that the journey doesn’t end at the station and that door-to-door convenience is essential, requiring integration with other modes of transport.
Resilient rail for a changing climate
Trains are touted as the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport – accounting for just 2% of the world’s transport energy demand.
But unprecedented temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather events put global rail networks at risk, exacerbating existing challenges like ageing infrastructure and capacity constraints. Rail operators are being forced to spend billions to deal with disruption and damage caused by climate change.
Last month, the UK’s Network Rail announced that it would spend £2.8 billion over the next five years to ensure its infrastructure is able to cope with the risks of climate change. Building more resilient rail systems now will be less disruptive – and less costly – than constantly responding to emergencies.
However, resilience investment shouldn’t be viewed as a distraction from other rail improvements — it’s a vital part of making everything else work.
“Business-as-usual” things like governance, managing existing infrastructure in a smart way, operational planning, use of data and technology, and workforce planning don’t make headlines. But their impact can be as significant as major new investment in building climate change resilience.
We can also draw on lessons from other continents. For example, Japan’s rail network is highly energy-efficient, with electric trains accounting for a significant portion of the fleet and a conscious use of recycled materials.
Europe’s rail system must embrace a total systems approach, where silos are broken down, and all stakeholders collaborate for transformative outcomes.
While achieving a single European rail network may seem ambitious, the benefits outweigh the challenges.
The rail sector already makes a substantial contribution to the EU economy, directly employing more than half a million people with an economic footprint of €143bn.
We need to make bold and united decisions for our railways’ future, and we must do it at pace.
TC Chew is Global Rail Leader at Arup.
At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at view@euronews.com to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.
World
Christmas trees in Germany were decorated with apples instead of ornaments in the 1600s for 'Adam and Eve Day'
The choosing and decorating of a Christmas tree to display during the holiday season is a beloved tradition with a long history.
Today, Christmas trees are often decorated with an array of ornaments, including glass ones, homemade creations, candy canes, tinsel and sparkling lights, but that was not always the case. There was a time in history when Christmas trees were adorned with edible items, including apples, to commemorate the feast of Adam and Eve on Dec. 24.
Germany is credited with starting the tradition of the Christmas tree, according to History.com, with 16th century records telling of Christians bringing trees into their homes for the holiday.
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT SOLD CHRISTMAS TREES TO LOCAL RESIDENTS ON HIS OWN ESTATE IN THE 1930S
The Christmas tree has evolved over time, especially in the way in which it is decorated.
In the 1600s, it was typical for a Christmas tree to be decorated using apples, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.
The feast of Adam and Eve, held on Dec. 24, was honored by a “Paradise Play,” which told the story of Adam and Eve.
The play featured a “Paradise Tree,” according to the website, The Catholic Company, which was decorated with apples.
HOW TO SAY ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ IN 10 LANGUAGES TO FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD
It was popular in Germany to set up “Paradise Trees” in homes, according to several sources, including Britannica and CatholicProfiles.org.
Then, in the 1700s, evergreen tips were hung from the ceilings of homes, also decorated with apples as well as gilded nuts and red paper strips, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.
It was not until the 1800s that the Christmas tree made its way to the United States by German settlers, according to the source.
At this time, Christmas trees were not the large displays they are now, and they simply sat atop a table, per the National Christmas Tree Association.
Then, in the mid-1800s, trees began to sell commercially in the U.S. By the late 1800s, glass ornaments became a common decoration for the Christmas tree, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.
Today, every family has their own traditions and preferences when it comes to decorating the Christmas tree.
Some go with a very complimentary design, sticking to a single or couple of colors. Others opt for a mix-matched arrangement, combining homemade ornaments with more classic ones, as well as colorful lights, ribbon and more.
World
Photos: Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City feel walls closing in
As Israel’s war on Gaza rages and Israeli attacks on people in the occupied West Bank continue, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem are fighting a different battle – quieter, they say, but no less existential.
One of the oldest communities in Jerusalem, the Armenians have lived in the Old City for more than 1,500 years, centred around the Armenian convent.
Now, the small Christian community has begun to fracture under pressure from forces they say threaten them and the multifaith character of the Old City – from Jewish settlers who jeer at clergymen on their way to prayer to a land deal threatening to turn a quarter of their land into a luxury hotel.
Chasms have emerged between the Armenian Patriarchate and the mainly secular community, whose members worry the church is not equipped to protect their dwindling population and embattled convent.
In the Armenian Quarter is Save the Arq’s headquarters, a structure with reinforced plywood walls hung with ancient maps inhabited by Armenians who are there to protest what they see as an illegal land grab by a real estate developer.
The land under threat is where the community holds events and also includes parts of the patriarchate itself.
After years of the patriarchate refusing to sell any of its land, Armenian priest Baret Yeretsian secretly “leased” the lot in 2021 for up to 98 years to Xana Capital, a company registered just before the agreement was signed.
Xana turned more than half the shares to a local businessman, George Warwar, who has been involved in various criminal offences.
Community members were outraged.
The priest fled the country and the patriarchate cancelled the deal in October, but Xana objected and the contract is now in mediation.
Xana has sent armed men to the lot, the activists say, attacking people, including clergy, with pepper spray and batons.
The activists say Warwar has the backing of a prominent settler organisation seeking to expand the Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The organisation, Ateret Cohanim, is behind several controversial land acquisitions in the Old City, and its leaders were photographed with Warwar and Xana Capital owner Danny Rothman, also known as Danny Rubinstein, in December 2023. Ateret Cohanim denied any connection to the land deal.
Activists filed suit against the patriarchate in February, seeking to have the deal declared void and the land to belong to the community in perpetuity.
The patriarchate refused, saying it owns the land.
Armenians began arriving in the Old City as early as the fourth century with a large wave arriving in the early 20th century, fleeing the Ottoman Empire. They have the same status as Palestinians in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem – residents but not citizens, effectively stateless.
Today, the newcomers are mainly boys who arrive from Armenia to live and study in the convent although many drop out. Clergy say that’s partially because attacks against Christians have increased, leaving the Armenians – whose convent is closest to the Jewish Quarter and is along a popular route to the Western Wall – vulnerable.
Father Aghan Gogchyan, the patriarchate’s chancellor, said he’s regularly attacked by groups of Jewish nationalists.
The Rossing Center, which tracks anti-Christian attacks in the Holy Land, documented about 20 attacks on Armenian people and property and church properties in 2023, many involving ultranationalist Jewish settlers spitting at Armenian clergy or graffiti reading “Death to Christians” scrawled on the quarter’s walls.
World
As wars rage around them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem's Old City feel the walls closing in
JERUSALEM (AP) — As the war in Gaza rages, Syria’s government transforms, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank seethes, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem fight a different battle — one that is quieter, they say, but no less existential.
One of the oldest communities in Jerusalem, the Armenians have lived in the Old City for decades without significant friction with their neighbors, centered around a convent that acts as a welfare state.
Now, the small Christian community has begun to fracture under pressure from forces they say threaten them and the multifaith character of the Old City. From radical Jewish settlers who jeer at clergymen on the way to prayer, to a land deal threatening to turn a quarter of their land into a luxury hotel, residents and the church alike say the future of the community is in flux.
Their struggle, playing out under the cover of many regional crises, reflects the difficulty of maintaining a non-Jewish presence in a Jerusalem where life has hardened for religious minorities in the Old City. Chasms have emerged between the Armenian Patriarchate, the traditional steward of community affairs, and the mainly secular community itself. Its members worry that the church is not equipped to protect their dwindling population and embattled convent from obsolescence and takeover.
A tent in a parking lot
Walk through the narrow passageways of the Armenian Quarter, past a perpetually manned guard post and into an open lot with a towering pile of shrapnel crested with the Armenian flag. You’ve arrived at the headquarters of the “Save the Arq” movement.
It’s where some residents of the Armenian Quarter have decamped, in a structure with reinforced plywood walls hung with ancient maps, to protest what they see as an illegal land grab by a controversial real estate developer.
The land under threat is where the community parks their cars and holds group dinners. It also includes parts of the patriarchate itself. It’s been a receiving point for those fleeing the mass killing of some 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks, widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide.
The patriarchate has batted away offer after offer to sell the land. That changed in 2021, when an Armenian priest, Baret Yeretsian, signed a fraudulent deal leasing the lot for up to 98 years to a company called Xana Capital, registered just before the agreement was signed.
Xana then turned over half the shares to a local businessman, George Warwar, who has been involved in various criminal offenses, according to court filings, including a 24-month prison sentence for armed robbery, and has declared bankruptcy in the past.
In court documents seen by the AP, the patriarchate has admitted that Warwar bribed the priest and that the two had sustained “various inappropriate connections” leading up to the signing of the deal.
Community members were outraged when they found out, prompting the priest to flee the country. The patriarchate cancelled the deal in October, but Xana fought back, and the two are now in mediation over the contract. Xana Capital has since sent armed men to the lot, the activists say, attacking members of the community, including clergy, with pepper spray and batons.
With the future of the site unclear, the activists say they appealed to the patriarchate to find out what was going on. The activists say that Warwar has the backing of a prominent settler organization seeking to expand Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City. The organization, Ateret Cohanim, is behind several controversial land acquisitions in the Old City, and its leaders were photographed meeting with Warwar and Danny Rothman, the owner of Xana Capital who also uses the last name Rubinstein, in December 2023. The organization denied any connection to the land deal.
“But as soon as the deal was signed, the patriarchate went into silent mode, bunker mode,” said Setrag Balian, 27, a ceramicist. “We decided that we have to take action and not once again be on the sidelines, watching and hoping that the patriarchy will take the right steps.”
So Balian and fellow resident Hagop Djernazian collected some 300 signatures from the community and filed suit against the patriarchate in February, asking them to declare the deal void and to say, for posterity, that the land belongs to the community.
In response, the patriarchate said it owns the land, not the community. Xana, meanwhile, filed a response calling the activists antisemitic squatters. The patriarchate’s response and Xana’s words, the activists said, leave open the chance that the land could be leased again in the future.
“It made us feel like we could not trust the institution who brought us to this day to solve this problem, to solve this conflict,” said Hagop Djernazian.
The patriarchate declined to comment on the land deal for this article, saying it could impact mediation efforts underway with Xana.
A single observer
Inside the Armenian convent, the clergy are hushed, pathways empty.
On a recent afternoon, priests in black robes rang the bell for daily prayers at the St. James Cathedral, the storied Armenian church occupying one of the highest points in the Old City. Filing into the darkened space, the men and the young seminary choir were joined only by an Israeli tour group and one Armenian woman who’d come to pray.
Father Parsegh Galamterian, church sacristan, has watched prayers thin out over the years, as the Armenian population in the quarter has shrunk from about 15,000 in 1948, the founding of the state of Israel, to around 2,000.
“The future is difficult,” he says.
Armenians began arriving in the Old City as early as the 4th century, inspired by the religious significance of the city to Christianity. In the early 20th century, they were joined by masses of Armenians who flocked to Jerusalem after being driven out of the Ottoman Empire. Theirs is the smallest quarter in the Old City, home to Armenians with the same status as Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem — residents but not citizens, effectively stateless.
Today, the newcomers are mainly boys who arrive from Armenia to live and study in the convent. Some stay, but many drop out of studies. Clergy say that’s partially because attacks against Christians have ramped up within the walls of the Old City, leaving the Armenians – whose convent is closest to the Jewish Quarter and is tucked along a popular route to the Western Wall – vulnerable.
Father Aghan Gogchyan, the patriarchate’s chancellor, said he’s regularly attacked by groups of Jewish fundamentalists.
He recalled one instance, a month ago, when clergy were headed to prayer. He was intercepted by a group of settlers, who asked if they were Christians.
“’You know that you don’t have a future here in the Holy Land. You’re not going to continue to live here,” he recalled one man saying. “’This is our country. We are going to eradicate you.”
“This is the word he used,” said Gogchyan. “We are going to eradicate you from our country.”
The Rossing Center, which tracks anti-Christian attacks in the Holy Land, documented about 20 attacks on Armenian observers, Armenian private property, and church properties in 2023, many involving ultranationalist Jewish settlers spitting at Armenian clergy or graffiti reading “Death to Christians” scrawled on the quarter’s walls.
“What is being said behind closed doors is that Jerusalem is becoming a place that is no longer hospitable to Christianity,” said Daniel Seidman, a Jerusalem lawyer and peace activist. “You can see the needle moving. The spike in hate crimes is not part of this plan, but it’s part of the impact.”
The incidents send a clear message to the next generation, said Gogchyan: stay away.
“The new generation doesn’t want to be in the center of the conflict,” said Gogchyan. “They’re building their future in different countries.
Despite the fractures, Armenian clergy and activists told the AP they want the same thing: a continued presence in the Old City.
“Some people feel helpless and hopeless and they want to leave,” said Balian. “But I think the majority sees that there is a struggle going on. It gives us a meaning. It gives us a purpose. It gives us a reason to stay here.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
-
Business1 week ago
OpenAI's controversial Sora is finally launching today. Will it truly disrupt Hollywood?
-
Politics5 days ago
Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
Technology6 days ago
Inside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT
-
Technology4 days ago
OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics4 days ago
U.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
Technology4 days ago
Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
-
Politics6 days ago
Conservative group debuts major ad buy in key senators' states as 'soft appeal' for Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel
-
Business3 days ago
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million