Coming off the rails

EUROPE’S railways have long been tools of the state. “Build no more fortresses, build railways,” said Helmuth von Moltke, the famous Prussian field-marshal. But even in today’s era of European integration (for which the European Union has just won the Nobel peace prize), railways are objects of national jealousy. The variety of track gauges, electrification and signalling systems, not to mention rules protecting favoured operators, makes for a bewildering and inefficient patchwork.

The single market, the EU’s greatest achievement, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It is meant to be a zone with free movement of goods, services, people and capital. It has boosted trade and productivity. Part of Germany’s success comes from shifting industrial production to cheaper places in central and eastern Europe. But look at the infrastructure in the single market and two lessons become clear. It is fragmented, with few countries giving priority to cross-border links. And integrating the system is a painstaking task of removing physical and regulatory barriers.