Greenpeace: Slovakia has invested twice as much on roads than on rail in 30 Years

         Over the past 30 years, Slovakia has invested twice as much in developing roads than in developing railways, according to a new study by Greenpeace, Greenpeace Slovakia spokeswoman Miroslava Abelova has reported.
        The environmentalists are calling on politicians to shift funding priorities from roads to railways in order to ensure that emissions are reduced.
        "Between 1995-2018, i.e. in the period for which comparable pan-European data is available, Slovakia invested €10 billion in road development and €4.4 billion in railways. This means twice as much investment in road infrastructure than in rail infrastructure," said Abelova.
        The Slovak motorway network has grown from 198 to 521 kilometres since 1995, an increase of 163 percent, while two railway lines with a length of 37 kilometres were closed, the study showed. At the same time, Slovakia closed down 222 railway stations, most of them on routes that are still in operation. "This decrease in railway stations is the second highest per capita among all analysed countries," noted Abelova.
        The spokeswoman added that transport remains the only sector in the European Union that hasn't contributed towards reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. According to Abelova, emissions from transport increased by 15 percent in Europe between 1995-2019, mainly due to petrol- and diesel-driven vehicles. "We're no better off in Slovakia, either, where transport's share in producing total emissions has tripled since 1990," she stressed.
        The length of European motorways has increased by 60 percent, or by more than 30,000 kilometres, since 1995. At the same time, the overall European railway network has shrunk by 6.5 percent since 1995, noted Greenpeace.
        The study for Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe was drawn up by the Wuppertal Institute and the T3 Transportation Think Tank. (TASR)