As Europe swelters in a heat wave, and the climate crisis accelerates, many travelers are looking towards trains rather than polluting planes. But those wanting to make their travel more carbon-conscious face hefty bills. According to a new report, taking a long-distance train in Europe can cost nearly 30 times as much as flying.
The report, compiled by environmental campaign group Greenpeace, compared the cost of flight and train tickets on 112 European routes on nine different dates.
Train tickets were double the cost of flying, on average, while train journeys from the UK to Europe, which involves taking the often-expensive Eurostar to the continent, were four times the price of flying on average. The same went for Spain, which has a high-speed rail network with four competing brands. Flights were cheaper than trains on 71% of the routes analyzed.
There were also some shocking price hikes. Looking at a last-minute trip from London to Barcelona in May, booking two days ahead of travel, the cost of the train was 384 euros (about $430) compared to 12.99 euros for the Ryanair flight – making the train 29.6 times more expensive than the plane.
London to Barcelona is the third most popular shorthaul air route in Europe, with 3.36 million people making the journey in 2019 according to Greenpeace, which adds that switching those flights to rail would have saved 461,000 tons of greenhouse gases – equivalent to the annual emissions of over 300,000 cars.
“Why would anyone take the train from London to Barcelona and pay up to 384 euros when air tickets are available for the ridiculously low price of 12.99 euros?” the report states. “Citizens deserve to have access to a clean, efficient and affordable transport system that does not harm the climate, people and our planet.”
The countries with the priciest train fares compared to plane tickets were the UK, Spain, Belgium, France and Italy.
The report noted that trains are often cheaper than flights in central and eastern Europe – but journey times, connections, train frequency and standard of services are “usually worse than in Western [European] countries.”
Some railway companies in Europe don’t sell tickets more than two or three months in advance, the report noted – giving airlines another advantage.
Of course, the standard fare isn’t the full picture. Budget airlines charge for seating, checked luggage and even cabin bags in some cases, while flying incurs expenses traveling to the out-of-town airports.
Source – CNN Travel
