According to a recent Greenpeace report, “Failed Connections”, Europe has the rail infrastructure to support more than three times the existing direct train connections between major cities.
The environmental group analysed 990 railway lines connecting 45 major European cities and found that only 114 of them (12%) have direct train connections, while a further 305 (31%) could use existing tracks to support direct trains but don’t yet have them.
The analysis also found that direct flights between the 45 cities are about six times more expensive than direct rail services, and that 69% of the 990 routes are connected by direct flights. In addition to the convenience of air travel, another Greenpeace report last year found that rail travel is up to 30 times more expensive than air travel for existing connections.
Currently we have huge gaps in our rail network and significant untapped potential for direct trains, largely due to misprioritisation of travel spending.
Helwig Schuster, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe
“For years, Europe has rolled out the red carpet and lavished tax breaks on climate-damaging air travel, while rail and rail infrastructure has decayed. It’s time for European governments and the EU to redress this historic imbalance by improving rail connectivity and comfort, and ending the aviation industry’s unfair advantage,” said Helwig Schuster, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe. “Europeans deserve access to clean, efficient, comfortable and affordable public transport that’s good for them and the planet.”
Vienna has the most direct train connections to other major European cities with 17, but only 59% of the available routes are used. Based on existing routes and timetables, there could be another 12 direct trains to the Austrian capital.
After Vienna, the cities best served by direct trains are Munich (15 lines, with a possibility of adding another 14), Berlin (14 lines, with a possibility of adding another 14), Zurich (13 lines, with a possibility of adding another 15) and Paris (13 lines, with a possibility of adding another 16).
Meanwhile, the six least well-connected cities are Athens, Lisbon, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn, none of which have direct rail links to any other major European city analysed.
©Greenpeace
Finally, Greenpeace points out that the total number of overnight passenger trains across European borders has fallen from 1,257 weekly trips in 2001 to just 445 in 2019. Moreover, ahead of the European Year of Rail in 2021, the European Commission announced 15 new cross-border rail projects, but this has been reduced to 10 for 2023, none of which have yet been realised.
