San Jose Mercury News - Three new high-speed rail lines in Europe - by Ed Perkins

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If you visit Europe next year, you can expect to travel on several new high-speed rail facilities. And you'll see still more in the next few years, as European railroads continue to build their high-speed rail systems. Meanwhile, here in the United States, we're not only failing to build and improve our systems but also we're not even keeping up with what we have.
Three other new and improved lines have opened recently or will open by the end of this year in Europe:
• An important addition to the high-speed link between Barcelona and Madrid (with full completion slated for 2008).
• The new Lotschberg low-level tunnel in Switzerland, substantially shortening travel times on trains that link south Germany, Bern and Basel with Italy.
• The new Zuid high-speed route linking Amsterdam with Brussels (although the line won't reach full speeds until the completion of improved signaling systems next year).