07.07.2024

The lack of direct train connections in Europe makes people fly by plane

There are six times more direct flights between European cities than direct train connections, new Greenpeace analysis has found, cited by Euronews. And several major European cities have no direct trains at all to any other cities included in the survey.

There are many more direct flights than train routes in Europe

The study participants analyzed 990 routes between 45 major European cities and found that 114 routes (12 percent) were served by direct train connections. There are a further 305 routes (31 per cent) where a direct connection via existing tracks would be possible, but the route is not currently in use.

On the other hand, 69 percent of the 990 routes are served by direct flights. Greenpeace claims this encourages people to fly instead of taking the train.

"For years, Europe has facilitated climate-damaging air travel, showering the aviation industry with tax breaks, while trains and rail infrastructure have disappeared," said Herug Schuster, transport campaigner for Greenpeace for Central and Eastern Europe.

Where in Europe is it easiest to take a direct train?

Greenpeace says that none of the cities analyzed are fully exploiting their potential for direct train connections.

Vienna came out on top as the city with the most direct train connections to other major cities with 17. Munich came in second with 15 connections, and Berlin, Zurich and Paris rounded out the top five with 13 connections each.

At the other end of the scale, there are six cities that do not have direct train connections to any of the other cities analyzed: Athens, Lisbon, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn.

How can European railways be improved?

Dr Alberto Mazzola, CEO of the Community of European Rail and Infrastructure Companies (CER), an advocacy group representing European rail companies, highlighted the importance of journey times for passengers.

"If there is an 18-hour journey, very few will get on the train, even if we can sell the ticket. To address this, we would like to connect all European capitals and major cities with a high-speed train," he says.

Mazzola is pushing for the EU to provide more funding for infrastructure to make these connections.

A European Commission report found that the total number of long-distance cross-border passenger services in the EU remained the same from 2001 to 2019, and overall they only accounted for around seven percent of train journeys in Europe.

Meanwhile, the total number of passenger night trains in Europe has decreased from 1257 per week in 2001 to 445 in 2019, although there are some lines reintroduced after 2019, such as Brussels-Prague.

To increase these figures and encourage more people to take trains, Greenpeace is calling on national governments and the EU to support the development of direct train services through investment in infrastructure, better cooperation between rail companies and the enforcement of direct trains where they still are not commercially viable.

"It is time for European governments and the EU to correct this historic imbalance. Europeans deserve access to clean, efficient, convenient and affordable public transport that is good for them and the planet," says Schuster.