Linking multimodal passenger hubs to high-speed rail

European cities face urgent challenges concerning decarbonisation, congestion, road safety and management of growing passenger and tourist traffic. Stakeholders must now rethink how people move across and within cities. In the last few years Europe has accelerated the rollout of new high-speed rail (HSR) corridors thanks to the 2024 amendment of the TEN-T regulation. However, the challenge is not restricted to building faster lines but it extends to ensuring that multimodal passenger hubs of the 431 TEN-T urban nodes become seamless gateways between long-distance rail and urban mobility. For these reasons, integration of multimodal passenger hubs with the ever-expanding HSR network is pivotal to support the EU transport policy agenda. The recently published High-Speed Rail Action Plan aims to reduce journey times, eliminate cross-border bottlenecks, harmonise standards and enhance cross-border ticketing systems to promote competition and interoperability in the HSR market. However, there is a need to integrate HSR with urban mobility planning as urban space constraints, fragmented planning processes and technical interoperability issues limit the efficiency of all services. Effective urban planning is crucial as it integrates land use, mobility and accessibility in a cohesive strategy. It ensures that transport infrastructure supports sustainable growth, reduces congestion and enhances connectivity between neighbourhoods and economic hubs. In the context of HSR, urban planning determines how stations are embedded in cities, thereby influencing development patterns. It can enable service connectivity and meet the evolving needs of passengers, who are now increasingly using HSR services instead of short-haul flights. This requires reliable and properly integrated last-mile services. However, governance is a critical enabler of seamless mobility as it coordinates the interests and responsibilities of HSR infrastructure managers, train operators and urban public transport authorities. The main aims of the forum were to explore best practices, identify persistent bottlenecks and discuss the governance frameworks needed to establish efficient multimodal hubs. The forum, which was co-organised by the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation together with the EC’s DG MOVE, addressed integration of high-speed rail with multimodal passenger hubs, service connectivity and governance, in particular collaboration between high-speed rail stakeholders and urban mobility actors to ensure a seamless passenger experience. This policy brief summarises the key points discussed in the forum.