1
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 5
KEY FINDINGS 6
METHODOLOGY IN BRIEF 7
OVERALL RESULTS 11
DETAILED RESULTS PER COUNTRY AND ROUTE 17
Austria 17
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Austria
The Baltics 23
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to the Baltics
Belgium 25
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Belgium
Bulgaria 30
Overall situation
Croatia 31
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Croatia
Czech Republic 36
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Czech Republic
Denmark 40
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Denmark
Finland 43
Overall situation
France 44
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to France
Germany 53
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Germany
Greece 69
Overall situation
Hungary 70
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Hungary
Italy 73
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Italy
Luxembourg 81
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Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Luxembourg
Netherlands 83
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to the Netherlands
Norway 88
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Norway
Poland 92
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Poland
Portugal 96
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Portugal
Romania 97
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Romania
Slovakia 100
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Slovakia
Slovenia 103
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Slovenia
Spain 105
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Spain
Sweden 113
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Sweden
Switzerland 117
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to Switzerland
United Kingdom 120
Overall situation
Routes analysed within, from and to the UK
AN UNFAIR REGULATORY PLAYING FIELD 128
Why low-cost carriers are cheaper
CONCLUSIONS 130
GREENPEACE DEMANDS 131
Demands for fair pricing of flights and trains
Other demands helping shift from air to rail
Demands for the improvement of rail
ANNEX I: DETAILS OF THE METHODOLOGY 133
ANNEX II: SOURCES AND LINKS 134
ANNEX III: DATASET 136
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Introduction
Aviation is one of the world's most climate-damaging and inequitable
industries. While only 1% of the world's population is responsible for more
than half of global climate emissions from aviation, the consequences
aect everyone around the world, from extreme weather events to
pollution-related illnesses and disruption from noise.
Flying is the fastest growing source of transport-related greenhouse gas
emissions in the EU. In the face of a looming climate emergency, action
should be taken to curb this boom that is putting our future at risk. Yet, far
from taking a responsible approach, EU institutions and national
governments continue to subsidise climate change through giveaways to
airlines and airports, while closing down railway stations and lines. As a
result, air trac in Europe is now returning to pre-pandemic levels. Ryanair
was again Europe's most polluting airline in 2022, and emissions from
Ryanair and Wizz Air last year exceeded those of 2019, making 2022 the year
of their peak emissions.
One of the reasons people choose to fly rather than travel by train is price:
why would anyone take the train from London to Barcelona and pay up to
€384 when air tickets are available for the ridiculously low price of €12.99?
Citizens deserve to have access to a clean, ecient and aordable
transport system that does not harm the climate, people and our planet.
Greenpeace has been calling for a fair pricing system for mobility in Europe
for years, and has recently started promoting climate tickets. Aordability is
a key step towards accessibility, this is why European citizens should have
access to aordable and simple long-term tickets that are valid on all
public transport in their country. These tickets would allow them to travel
on all national trains and cross-border transport and, together with the
phasing out of airline and airport subsidies, could start the much-needed
shift from air to rail.
It is high time to make rail more aordable than flying across Europe.
By analysing 112 European routes and comparing air and rail fares on
9dierent days for each route, this report shows the extent to which
European citizens are being encouraged to fly. It also identifies the reasons
for these outrageous price dierences and proposes solutions to make rail
competitive on all routes.
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Key Findings
● In the majority (79 out of 112) of routes analysed, flights are less
expensive than rail. Rail trips are on average twice as expensive as
flights, despite the fact that the overall climate impact of flying can be
over 80 times worse than taking a train.
1
● On the 112 routes analysed, only 23 of them are (almost) always
cheaper by train than by plane. And only half of them are decent train
trips, the others having really bad or slow train connections, such as
Tallinn–Riga and Warsaw–Ljubljana. 16 of these 23 routes are not
served by low-cost carriers, such as Zurich–Vienna and Brussels–
Hamburg, 6 of these 23 routes do not have any direct flight at all, such
as Berlin–Prague and Ljubljana–Milan.
● With a train ticket costing up to 30 times the price of the flight for a
trip on the same day, Barcelona–London is the route showing the
highest price dierence in this analysis. Some of the routes between
major European cities, such as London–Bratislava (15.5 times),
Budapest–Brussels (12.5 times), Madrid–Brussels (15 times), Valencia–
Paris (12 times) or Rome-Vienna (10.2 times) show high price
dierences as well.
● Countries with the most expensive train tickets compared to flights are
the UK, Spain, Belgium, France and Italy. Whereas in Central and
Eastern Europe
2
, trains are more often cheaper in relation to flights
than in Western Europe. However, train frequency, speed, connections
and services are usually worse than in western countries.
● Some really eective train routes such as Amsterdam–London,
London–Edinburgh and Toulouse–Paris (4 to 4.5 hours by train each)
are still among the Top4
3
most popular short-haul flights in Europe. On
these routes, flights remain much cheaper.
● Low-cost carriers are all over Europe: they operate 79% of all routes
analysed. For another 12% of the routes analysed, transfer flights
operated by these companies are the cheapest flight option.
● These transfer flights are also by far the most polluting options,
causing up to 10 times more greenhouse gas emissions than already
polluting direct flights according to our calculations. This
climate-wrecking practice suggests travellers go from Budapest to
3
The Top3 flight is London–Barcelona (10h by train).
2
Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in this report refer to: Poland, the Baltic
countries, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Austria, despite being geographically part of this region, is not considered as CEE in this
report.
1
The overall climate impact of flying can be over 80 times worse than taking a train. Planes
emit on average 4.84 times more greenhouse gas emissions than trains according to data
from the European Environment Agency, which is a conservative low estimate. Figures vary
by country, railway company, route and type of train, and national data is available for most
countries.
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Paris via Bergamo, from Luxembourg to Milan via London, from Madrid
to Zurich via Barcelona, or from Marseille to Berlin via Copenhagen.
● With their unfair and aggressive pricing strategies, easyJet, Ryanair,
Wizz Air, Volotea and other low-cost airlines oer the lowest prices,
and are in almost all cases cheaper than rail. They are frequently
oering extremely low prices, obviously even below the costs for
airport and ticket fees. The cheapest ticket found costs €9.99, and was
sold by Ryanair.
● Rail trips are more expensive, the more dierent rail companies are
involved in the trip, and the more separate tickets have to be bought
for dierent parts of the trip. The price may also vary from one
operator to another.
● Because less transfers and/or less dierent train operators are
involved, night trains are often cheaper than day trains. But they
remain usually more expensive than low-cost airlines
4
.
● Some railway companies do not oer tickets for a longer period than
2or 3 months in advance: CFR (Romania), VY (Norway), PKP (Poland)…
This creates another advantage for airlines that always sell tickets for
the period analysed.
Methodology in Brief
The intention of this report is to comprehensively compare prices of flights
and trains on various routes throughout 27 European countries, to identify
reasons for the price dierences found and to propose solutions making rail
competitive on all routes. Overall, 112 one-way routes were analysed. All
routes were analysed for trips on 9 days each within 3 time perspectives:
● Short-term: a trip in 2, 4 and 7 days from the day of research
● Mid-term: a trip in exactly 1 month, and plus and minus 2 days from
the day of research
● Long-term: a trip in exactly 4 months, and plus and minus 4 days from
the day of research
All routes can “reasonably” be travelled by train, meaning within a day, or
with a night train and connecting trains not exceeding 24 hours. Routes with
a train connection under 4 hours were only included if availability and
prices of flights indicate that these routes are widely used to travel from A
to B (and not just used as part of a longer transfer flight).
4
Another study concluded that for some European routes, night trains are cheaper than
planes if you are a family with children.
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The routes were selected along the following criteria:
● The geographic focus of the research is the EU27 plus Switzerland,
Norway and the United Kingdom, minus Malta, Cyprus and Ireland. All
routes analysed are below 1,500 kms air distance (short-haul flights).
All destinations have an international airport and a railway station.
● First priority: Routes between the capitals of the 27 countries and
other European cities over 1 million inhabitants such as Barcelona,
Milan or Hamburg. For capitals with reasonable rail connections to not
more than 4 of these cities, all these routes were analysed. For
capitals well connected with more than 4 of these cities, a selection of
at least 4 routes was made to achieve a balanced geographic mix.
● Second priority: Most used short-haul flight routes with a train
alternative including other cities, such as Edinburgh–London.
● Popular tourism destinations: Routes to/from other very popular
tourist destinations, such as Venice, Nice, Split or Valencia.
● Night trains: Addition of some night train routes, such as
Bratislava–Split, Stockholm–Narvik, or London–Inverness.
● For larger countries: domestic flights connecting cities which are
crossing the country, and international routes from/to other cities to
achieve a balanced geographic mix
5
.
● For countries on the periphery of Europe or with just a few
international rail links such as Portugal, Romania or the Baltic
countries, the availability of routes that can be travelled both by plane
and train was the decisive criterion.
For more methodological details, please see Annex I.
In total, 112 routes were analysed between April 25 and July 12, 2023:
94cross-border and 18 domestic routes.
5
Such as Marseille, Toulouse, Salzburg, Gothenburg, Geneva, Bergen and Košice (SK).
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The following table shows the number of routes per country. The number in
brackets gives the number of domestic routes analysed.
Austria
12
Germany
31 (2)
Poland
6
Belgium
10
Greece
1 (1)
Portugal
3 (2)
Bulgaria
1
Hungary
6
Romania
4
Croatia
10
Italy
15 (1)
Slovakia
5
Czech Rep.
7
Latvia
1
Slovenia
4
Denmark
6
Lithuania
2
Spain
14 (3)
Estonia
1
Luxemburg
4
Sweden
8 (1)
Finland
1 (1)
Netherlands
8
Switzerland
7
France
20 (2)
Norway
7 (2)
UK
12 (3)
The following table shows the share of routes by direct air and rail
connectivity. Routes served at least 2 times a week with a direct connection
and for more than 3 months per year, either a flight or a (night) train, were
counted as such.
Routes without direct flight, total
8
Routes without direct flight, but with direct train
connection
4 (2 of them night
trains)
Routes without direct flight and without direct
train connection
4 (all involving
Slovenia and Croatia)
Routes without direct train connection
64 (57%)
On data on the climate crisis impact of flights:
Most routes described were added with some figures for the impact on the
climate crisis. For this, the following data was used.
● Flight passenger data for 2019 was taken out of the Greenpeace report
“Train alternatives to short-haul flights in Europe”, published in October
2021, and its corresponding, non-public data sheet. 2019 was the last
normal year in European passenger transport, and 2023 levels are
expected to be in the same dimension again.
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● For routes not part of this report, 2022 passenger data were extracted
from Eurostat. All route passenger figures are the total number of
passengers on the route in both directions, counted as one-way trips,
as defined in the Eurostat database as “passengers on board”.
● Specific greenhouse gas emissions for routes were extracted from the
Atmosfair database. All emission data per passenger are given for a
one-way trip.
● CO
2
emissions of trains: either the European average (33 grams per
passenger and kilometre) was used as given by the EEA, or for some
routes, the specific CO
2
emissions of railway operators were used, if
known.
● Railway distances were estimated with the help of Open Railway Map
and Google Maps, since there is no public database with railway
kilometres available.
● The CO
2
intensity of the national electricity mix was obtained from
Electricity Maps. For the calculations, the average over the last
12months was used.
● The number of inhabitants of cities was taken from Wikipedia. Car
density was taken from statistics on Statista.
Disclaimer
Greenpeace has conducted this research with the described methodology
to the best of its knowledge and belief, with the aim of providing as realistic
a picture of the situation as possible. In total, thousands of prices were
obtained from almost 100 dierent online ticketing shops for flights and
rail. It is therefore possible that some individual data may not be 100%
accurate. The following cases, in particular, might have been inadvertently
excluded from the data gathering process:
● Flights of airlines which are only operated e.g. once a week, or during
specific seasons.
● Train connections which are only operated e.g. once a week, or during
specific seasons, especially trains from private railway companies
which are not shown in timetables of regular railway companies.
● Some flight routes are operated by 5 or more airlines and even include
dierent airports belonging to one city. In some cases, traditional
airlines were not checked for all days, when low-cost carriers are
obviously much cheaper on the first days analysed. Therefore, it cannot
be excluded that an exceptionally low tari of a traditional airline for a
specific day was not included in the research.
● For some routes, there are dozens of train connections available. Some
online ticket shops only show prices, after opening the connection and
filling in some personal data. In such a case, it cannot be excluded that
the cheapest train price for a day was missed since not each and any
connection could be checked.
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This is not an exhaustive analysis. The selection of routes was following the
described methodology. However, in some cases, Greenpeace had to make a
decision between cities with a certain low level of arbitrariness due to the
multiple routes available. E.g., choosing Nice–Munich and Marseille–Berlin,
and not Nice–Berlin and Marseille–Munich. Greenpeace is convinced that
such decisions did not impact the overall findings of the report.
Last but not least Greenpeace cannot guarantee the absence of typos in
the datasheet, especially with flight and train numbers. This is partly due to
the fact that some travel data cannot be rechecked for past travel dates.
Overall Results
Average price of train tickets compared to flights
200%
(Twice as much as the flight)
189%
(1.9 times as much as the flight)
246%
(2.5 times as much as the flight)
180%
(1.8 times as much as the flight)
Train tickets cost on average twice the price of flight tickets. The relatively
most expensive train tickets were found in the mid-term perspective, the
relatively cheapest train tickets at the long-term bookings. A key reason for
this is, that for many lines to, from, within and through Germany, the train
tickets were cheapest with long-term bookings.
6
Some trips could not be analysed due to train tickets not available 4 months in advance.
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Share of routes according to the number of trips where the train is cheaper
Status:
No. of routes
%
Train is cheaper on 8 or 9 out of 9 days
7
23
21%
Train is cheaper on 6 or 7 out of 9 days
7
6%
Train is cheaper on 4 or 5 out of 9 days and less
expensive on average
3
3%
Train is cheaper on 4 or 5 out of 9 days but more
expensive on average
17
15%
Train is cheaper on 2 or 3 out of 9 days
16
14%
Train is cheaper on 0 or 1 out of 9 days
46
41%
Routes where the train is more expensive on
average
79
71%
On many routes, the cheapest option between train and plane depends on
the chosen day. However, if travellers are flexible and can move their trip to
another day, the cheapest option is almost systematically a low-cost carrier.
Most expensive and cheapest countries for trains
The following table shows the average price
8
for train tickets compared to
flights in countries for which at least 6 routes
9
were analysed. E.g. “4.04”
means that the train tickets cost 4.04 times as much as the flight.
9
The average for countries with up to 5 routes analysed was not calculated, since this
result would be too much influenced by single very expensive or very cheap train prices
compared to flights.
8
The average was calculated as the average of the average for the routes, not for individual
trips.
7
Some routes could not be analysed for all 9 trips. In these cases, the scale was used
correspondingly.
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UK
4.04
Denmark
1.58
Spain
3.86
Hungary
1.53
Belgium
2.60
Germany
1.51
France
2.59
Netherlands
1.51
Italy
2.54
Norway
1.35
Austria
2.12
Czech Rep.
1.35
Croatia
1.98
Sweden
1.32
Switzerland
1.69
Poland
0.52
10 most expensive train routes & trips compared to polluting flights on
average
Route
Average train price compared to
flights for the routes
Multiples of the cost of the
same journey by flight
Barcelona–London
10.3
Valencia–Paris
7.9
London–Bratislava
7.8
Madrid–Brussels
7.4
Marseille–London
6.7
Manchester–Cologne
4.9
London–Vienna
4.9
Milan–Prague
4.8
Budapest–Brussels
4.6
Marseille–Rome
4.5
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10 biggest price dierences for a trip on the same day
Trip on route
Time perspective
Train price
compared to flights
times as much as
Barcelona–London
short-term
29.6
London–Bratislava
short-term
15.4
Madrid–Brussels
mid-term
15.1
Budapest–Brussels
mid-term
12.5
Marseille–London
short-term
12.4
Valencia–Paris
mid-term
12.4
Manchester–Cologne
mid-term
12.4
Rome–Vienna
mid-term
10.2
Bratislava–Zagreb
short-term
9.5
Brussels–Vienna
long-term
9.4
Great train routes
Out of the 112 routes analysed, the train was found (almost) always cheaper
on 23 routes (21%). Only 6 of these 23 routes are operated by low-cost
carriers, and 6 of these routes do not have a direct flight at all. Out of these
23 routes, only 12 can be defined as great train routes, with more than
3daily direct train connections (day and night trains for longer routes), a
good average speed, reliable, (almost) always cheaper than a flight and
usually not costing more than €150, as a higher price could motivate people
to travel by car instead.
The following lines were identified as the “best train lines”:
Berlin–Prague
Helsinki–Oulu *
Zurich–Vienna
Zurich–Berlin
Athens–Thessaloniki*
Warsaw–Berlin
Hamburg–Munich*
Košice–Prague
Prague–Budapest
Porto–Lisbon*
Madrid–Barcelona*
Trondheim–Oslo*
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6 of these 12 lines are domestic connections (*) and only 6 are cross-border
connections, limited to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and CEE countries.
The analysis did not find any great international train connection in the UK,
Spain, France, or Italy as defined above.
The following table shows the 6 out of 22 cheap train routes which are also
operated by a low-cost airline:
Zurich–Berlin
easyJet
Madrid–Barcelona
Vueling
Hamburg–Munich
Eurowings
Prague–Budapest
Ryanair
Košice–Prague
Ryanair
(4x week)
Trondheim–Oslo
Norwegian
Importance of low cost carriers
The following table shows the relevance of low-cost airlines for the
112routes:
Number of routes directly operated by low-cost airlines
88
78.6%
Number of routes where low-cost airlines transfer flights
are the cheapest flight option (at least on 2 trips)
13
11.6%
Routes with no low-cost airline flight option or flights
where low-cost transfer flights were not found as the
cheapest flight option for at least 2 trips
11
9.8%
The following airlines were considered low-cost airlines, in alphabetic order:
Air Europa, easyJet, Eurowings, Ryanair, Norwegian, SkyExpress, Transavia,
Volotea, Vueling, Wizz Air.
Airlines focusing on holiday flights were not considered low-cost airlines
(Condor, Corendon Airlines, TUI).
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Night trains
Night trains are the best option for eco-friendly train trips over longer
distances. The analysis includes 26 (out of 112) routes, for which a train
connection below 12 hours would not exist without a night train available.
These routes are:
● Stockholm–Berlin
● London–Vienna
● London–Bratislava
● Nice–Munich
● Rome–Berlin
● Budapest–Brussels
● Budapest–Paris
● Warsaw–Ljubljana
● Ljubljana–Amsterdam
● Zagreb–Luxembourg
● Zagreb–Rome
● Amsterdam–Stockholm
● Oslo–Hamburg
● Bergen–Stockholm
● Stockholm–Narvik
● Bale–Zagreb
● Mulhouse–Zagreb
● Freiburg–Zagreb
● Vienna–Bucharest
● Vienna–Copenhagen
● Oslo–Bodø
● Milan–Prague
● Palermo–Turin
● Bratislava–Split
● Bucharest–Budapest
● Prag–Amsterdam
Night trains are often cheaper than day trains, especially when compared
with high speed trains in France and Italy (TGV and FR trains), and because
with night trains, less transfers and/or less dierent train operators are
involved. This price analysis did only consider the cheapest option for night
trains, which in most cases are seat carriages, or couchettes. Supplements
for couchettes or sleepers can range from €10 to some hundred Euros.
Compared to prices of low-cost airlines, night trains are rarely cheaper – no
wonder, since airlines pay neither kerosene tax nor VAT, while railways on
the other hand, have to pay energy taxes, VAT and high rail tolls in most
countries.
This analysis also found many routes without a reasonable train connection.
Some of them could be easily travelled with the introduction of a night
train, such as:
● Madrid/Barcelona–Rome
● Athens–Sofia/Bucharest
● Tallinn/Riga–Warsaw/Berlin
● Berlin–Vilnius
● Oslo–Berlin
● Oslo–Amsterdam
● Lisbon–Madrid/Barcelona
● Sofia–Budapest/Vienna
● Sofia–Zagreb/Ljubljana
● Amsterdam–Madrid
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Detailed Results per Country
and Route
Austria
Overall situation
Austria is one of the countries where booking flights is dominantly cheaper
than trains. On average, the train trips analysed from and to Austria cost
more than 2 times as much as flights. Low-cost carriers using the Vienna
Airport are oering extremely low prices: the third-lowest price found out
of all 1008 trips analysed was a Ryanair flight to Warsaw for €12.99. Flights
to or from Rome, Venice and Brussels were found for prices below €20. The
most expensive train route for Austria is London–Vienna, where the train on
average cost almost 5 times as much as the flight.
The routes from Vienna to Berlin and from Zurich to Vienna are the only
ones out of 12 routes analysed where trains were found to be cheaper on
all days analysed. Both of these routes are not operated by low-cost
airlines. For the route from Berlin to Graz, the train was found cheaper on
5out of 9 days. On the routes analysed from and to Italy, Romania and
Poland, trains were occasionally cheaper than flights.
The Austrian railway company ÖBB and their international partners are
oering a dense network of international day and night train connections.
7of Vienna’s 8 neighbouring capitals can be reached with direct
connections - all except Liechtenstein’s capital Vaduz, which has no railway
station - as well as most regional centres, many of them several times a
day. In addition there are direct train connections to Warsaw, Bucharest,
Zagreb, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.
In 2021, Austria has introduced a country-wide climate ticket for a bit less
than €3 per day. It is also valid on all long distance trains in Austria.
Therefore holders of this ticket also pay less for cross-border train trips.
E.g., a ticket from Vienna to Venice which costs €107.50 full-price at most,
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
17
only costs €41.20 for holders of the climate ticket. This would be cheaper
than the flight on many days.
Greenpeace Austria activists installed a 13 metre long train in front of the Austrian Federal
Chancellery to call for more trains. © Mitja Kobal /Greenpeace
Routes analysed from and to Austria
Vienna–Warsaw
Vienna–Warsaw is served daily with 3 direct train pairs, one of them a night
train, and by 3 airlines, out of them Ryanair always oered the lowest
prices starting from €12.99, one of the lowest flight prices found in this
analysis. Only one short-term flight was oered for slightly more than €100.
Despite train prices being also relatively low (below €72) and night trains
partly available from €19.90 on, the train costs on average 140% of the
flight. For long-term trips, only tickets for the night train operated by ÖBB
were available, while the Polish railway company does not sell day trains
tickets four months in advance.
Based on 2019 passenger numbers, fully replacing this flight by train
would save around 28,000 tons of CO
2
per year, equivalent to the yearly
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
18
emissions of more than 18,500 cars. This is approximately the car fleet
size of Feldkirch.
Salzburg–Cologne
Eurowings flies four times a week between Salzburg and Cologne, on the
other days the airline flies to Düsseldorf which is very close to Cologne.
There is one direct train connection, and numerous train connections with
one transfer. The polluting flight was always cheaper than the train, with
flight prices found from €59.99 on, while the train ticket was expensive, at
€154.80 for all days analysed. On average, the train was almost twice as
expensive as the flight.
A flight from Salzburg to Cologne causes 134 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Since the train runs in its largest part in Germany
with 100% renewable electricity, almost all emissions could be saved by
shifting to rail. This saving would be equivalent to the CO
2
emissions of
the consumption of 1,700 kWh of average Austrian electricity, enough to
power a washing machine for up to 10 years.
Vienna–Venice
Ryanair and Austrian Airlines (AUA) are flying daily from Vienna to Venice.
There are also 3 direct train connections including a night train, the
quickest train taking less than 8 hours. Ryanair is always cheaper than AUA,
with prices below €22 on 4 out of the 9 days analysed. Since train prices
are also starting low, at €28.30, trains were found cheaper on 3 days. On
average, the train price is 140% of the flight price. The most expensive train
ticket found cost €107.50. Holders of the Austrian climate ticket only would
have to pay €41.20. Which is cheaper than the flight on the day analysed.
Based on 2019 passenger figures, 10,400 tons of CO
2
could be saved by
shifting all passengers to rail. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions
of around 7,000 cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Sankt Veit
an der Glan.
Rome–Vienna
The 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, as well as Austrian Airlines fly
between the Italian and the Austrian capitals. Flight prices are starting at
€14.99. The best train connection is a direct night train. In summer 2023,
the night train route to the north of Rome is interrupted due to
construction work, so mid-term bookings require a high-speed train from
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
19
Rome to Bologna to board the night train there. This made the train trip
even more expensive. On average, the train cost 3.3 times the polluting
flight. The train was only cheaper for a short-term booking (€1.79 cheaper
than the flight), and for a long-term booking, with a train ticket available for
€28.40, the lowest possible price for this route.
In 2019, 558,000 people flew between Rome and Vienna. Shifting these
flights fully to rail would save 52,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 35,000 fossil
fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of the district of Leoben.
Brussels–Vienna
Since 2019, the Austrian railway company ÖBB has been operating a night
train between Brussels and Vienna 3 times a week. On the other days it is
possible to use the night train from Cologne to Vienna. There are also good
day connections with ICE trains linking the 2 cities in less than 10 hours and
a half, with a change in Cologne or Frankfurt. The analysis found either the
direct night train or the day trains the cheaper train option, while the night
train option via Cologne was always more expensive. The night trains on this
route are very popular, thus no very cheap night train ticket was available
for the days analysed with prices between €111.90 and €149.70. On the other
hand, Ryanair flies daily between the Belgian and the Austrian capital, with
prices found from €15.75 on. Therefore, the polluting flight was cheaper on
8 out of the 9 days analysed, on average the train cost 3.3 times as much
as the flight.
In 2019, almost 500,000 people flew between Brussels and Vienna.
Shifting this flight completely to rail would save 54,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
36,000fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the complete car fleet of the
district of Villach-Land.
Vienna–Berlin
There are only 2 direct trains between the Austrian and the German
capitals, one of them a night train. In addition, during the day there are
several train connections with one transfer, the quickest connection takes
8h16m. Austrian Airlines is the only airline with direct flights. The train is
relatively aordable on this route and always cheaper than the polluting
plane: on 8 out of 9 days analysed, the train ticket cost between €29.10 and
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
20
€63.40 with the night train having the lower prices for long-term bookings.
Only with one short-term booking, the train cost more than €100.
Despite the good and aordable train connections, in 2019, 967,000
people flew between Vienna and Berlin making it Austria’s 3
rd
most used
short-haul flight route with a train alternative. Shifting these flights
completely to rail would save 64,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases.
This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 43,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately the car fleet of the district of Wiener Neustadt.
Vienna–Copenhagen
Ryanair flies daily between Vienna and Copenhagen, which is always the
cheapest but most polluting way to travel between the Austrian and Danish
capitals. Flight prices start at €22.91. The best train connection is the night
train to Hamburg, followed by an Intercity train to Copenhagen. The train is
relatively expensive on this route, with an average cost of €163.36. Only on
1out of 9 days analysed, the train was slightly cheaper than €100.
In 2019, 450,000 people flew between Vienna and Copenhagen. Shifting
this flight completely to rail would save 45,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 30,000
fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of Sankt Pölten.
Berlin–Graz
Eurowings flies 5 times a week between Berlin and Graz. The lowest
Eurowings price of all routes analysed was found on this connection: €33.
On other days, either an Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna, with a
codesharing train from Graz to Vienna, was found to be the cheapest flight,
or with Eurowings via Mallorca. There is a direct day and a direct night train
on this route, and several day connections with one transfer. Generally, the
train is relatively aordable. On 7 out of 9 days, the train cost between
€29.10 and €77.90, only on 2 short-term trips the price was a bit over €100.
The cheapest train ticket was for the night train. Overall, the train was
cheaper than the polluting flight on 5 out of 9 days spread over all time
perspectives, including both days without direct Eurowings flight.
A flight from Berlin to Graz causes 199 kg of harmful greenhouse gases
per passenger. Since both the German and the Austrian railway
companies are using 100% renewable electricity for the trains on this
route, almost all these emissions could be saved by using the train. Based
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
21
on the average Austrian electricity mix, the CO
2
savings would be
equivalent to the consumption of 2,500 kWh of electricity, which is
enough for a single household for a full year.
Vienna–Bucharest
The 2 cities are connected daily by Austrian airlines and Ryanair. There is a
daily night train operated by CFR which lasts 18h23m and is one of the
longest night trains in Europe. The cheapest way for this route is Ryanair,
with prices found starting from €35.99. On 2 out of 3 short-term bookings,
the train was slightly cheaper, for all mid-term bookings Ryanair was the
cheapest option. CFR is not selling train tickets 4 months in advance. Given
Ryanair’s long-term fares not exceeding €50.99, it can be assumed that the
train would also be more expensive for long-term bookings, as the lowest
train price found is €69.
In 2019, 634,000 people flew between Vienna and Bucharest. Shifting this
flight to train would save 69,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This
is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 46,000 cars, or approximately the
car fleet of the district of Südoststeiermark, the merger of the 2 former
districts of Feldbach and Bad Radkersburg.
Zurich–Vienna
The Swiss and the Austrian capitals are perfectly connected by train. There
are 6 direct daily train pairs, one of them a night train. The day train takes
7h52m. By air, only the Lufthansa group connects the city. The train was
always found cheaper than the plane, on average the train was more than
30% cheaper. Zurich–Vienna is one of the few perfect train routes analysed
in this report.
Despite the perfect train connection, in 2019, 941,000 people flew
between Zurich and Vienna making it Austria’s sixth most popular
short-haul-flight route. Banning this flight would save 75,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
50,000 fossil fuelled cars, almost the car fleet size of Klagenfurt.
London–Vienna
Out of all routes from and to Austria, this one – the most used flight route
from and to Austria – has the highest price dierence between air and rail,
with train tickets on average costing almost 5 times as much as the train.
Wizz Air is flying daily, with low prices from €29 on. This train route can be
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
22
travelled with one change only in Brussels or Amsterdam. The highest train
price found was €372.10. On 7 out of the 9 days, the Eurostar from London
to Brussels was more expensive than the much longer section from
Brussels or Amsterdam to Vienna.
In 2019, more than 1,350,000 passengers flew on this route. Shifting this
flight to rail would save 197,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
equivalent to the yearly emissions of around 27,000 Austrians, or of all
people living in Klosterneuburg. Since the largest part of this route lies in
Germany and Austria with 100% renewable electricity use, at least 90%
of these emissions could be saved.
Paris–Vienna
Since 2021, the most eective and greenest way to travel from Paris to
Vienna is the direct night train. However, it runs only 3 times a week, and
due its new popularity, the night train was already booked out on some
days analysed. On days when the night train was available, it cost around
half of day trains via Frankfurt or Zurich on other days. But even the
relatively aordable night train was always clearly more expensive than a
polluting flight by Ryanair and Transavia. Only on one short-term booking,
when Ryanair was booked out, the night train was one third cheaper than
the flight with Austrian Airlines. On average, the train cost 2.4 times as
much as the polluting flight.
In 2019, more than 944,000 people flew between Paris and Vienna.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 122,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 81,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of the City of
Salzburg.
The Baltics (Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania)
Overall situation
The cross-border train network in the Baltic countries is currently
extremely bad. You cannot cross the Latvian–Lithuanian border by train.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
23
There is no direct train from Estonia to Latvia, only one daily train trip with
a connection at the border station. A daily train pair runs from the
Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to Warsaw and further on to Krakow. This train
leaves Poland early in the morning, and returns late in the evening, making
it impossible to reach Vilnius by train from any other place than Krakow or
Warsaw without staying overnight there.
Therefore, only 3 Baltic routes could be analysed. The 3 Baltic countries
together with Poland are currently working on a big rail infrastructure
project, “Rail Baltica”, which shall connect the 3 Baltic states and Poland by
rail earliest from 2030 on.
Routes analysed within, from and to the Baltics
Vilnius–Krakow
The only daily train connection between Vilnius and the South Polish city of
Krakow via Warsaw takes 12h28m for 740 kms. Due to the dierent track
dimensions, a change of trains is needed at the border station but is
oered without waiting time. Arrival time in Krakow is just before midnight,
while the train in the other direction leaves at 4 a.m. Tickets for this train
can only be purchased for less than a month in advance. There is no direct
flight on this route, the shortest and also cheapest way is with the Polish
state owned airline LOT via Warsaw. The train is cheap on this route at €30,
short-term flights are very expensive, mid-term flights cost a bit more than
€100. Considering the frequency and speed of the train, it is questionable
whether many people would choose the train despite the low price.
A flight from Vilnius to Krakow causes 149 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions per passenger and trip. The 740 km long train trip causes only
24 kg of GHG, which is 84% less. With the average Lithuanian electricity
mix, the savings are equivalent to running a fridge for 14 years.
Vilnius–Warsaw
The only daily train connection between Vilnius and Warsaw takes 9h5m.
Due to the dierent track dimensions, a change of trains is needed at the
border station but is oered without waiting time. Tickets for this train can
only be purchased for less than a month in advance. The Polish state
owned airline LOT is the only airline with direct flights. On many days it is
cheaper flying with Baltic Air via Riga. The train is cheap on this route at
€25. The flights are starting at €114.58 which makes this route one of the
most expensive direct flight routes among all 112 analysed. Despite the low
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
24
price, the frequency and speed of the train might be discouraging for
people when the flight lasts just a bit more than one hour. In 2022, more
than 215,000 flight passengers were counted on this route.
A flight from Vilnius to Warsaw causes 196 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. Despite the high coal share in the Polish electricity mix, at
least 60% of these emissions can be saved by shifting to rail. Therefore
the rail frequency needs to be urgently improved between Poland and
Lithuania.
Tallinn–Riga
The only way to go from Tallinn to Riga by train is to take an Estonian local
train to the border station of Varga, and to continue from there with a
Latvian local train. With the current uncoordinated timetables, the only
option is leaving Tallinn at 7:41 in the morning and arriving in Riga at 17:45,
with a 4 hour stay at the border station – so the travel takes more than
10hours for around 300 kms. The tickets have to be bought separately from
the 2 railway operators and are only available for 10 days in advance. On
both railway websites, the train schedule for the other country is not even
shown. The price for the trains is very low, €17.34 for the Estonian part, and
€5.22 for the Latvian section, but probably not relevant with this train
“connection”. Direct flights by Air Baltic are starting at €37.99.
A single flight from Tallinn to Riga causes 66 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions. Taking the 400 km long train route would save 80% of
these emissions. The train connection between Estonia and Latvia
urgently needs to be improved.
Belgium
Overall situation
Belgium and its capital Brussels can be reached from the majority of European
capitals by train within a day, or with a night train and a connection train, including
Madrid, Rome, Stockholm and Zagreb. The main Brussels airport is mainly used by
traditional airlines, while low-cost carriers use nearby Charleroi airport. Since
almost all flights to and from Belgium go via Brussels, no other Belgian city was
included in this analysis.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
25
6 out of the 10 routes analysed for Brussels – London, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin,
Prague and Budapest – are dominantly cheaper by plane. Ryanair flies 3 times a
week from Bratislava, on these days the flight was much cheaper than rail. The
remaining 3 routes are only flown by traditional airlines. On 2 of them, Copenhagen
and Zurich, the train was found cheaper on around half of the days analysed.
Brussels–Hamburg is the only route that was found cheaper by train on all days.
With a train ticket costing up to 15 times the price of the flight for a trip on the
same day, Madrid–Brussels is the route with the fourth-highest price dierence
found in this analysis.
On average for all routes analysed for Belgium, the train costs 2.6 times as much
as the flight. This is the third-highest train price compared to flights after the UK
and Spain.
Routes analysed from and to Belgium
Brussels–Hamburg
The Lufthansa subsidiary Brussels airlines is the only airline flying directly
between Brussels and Hamburg. The quickest train takes 6h26m, with an
inevitable connection in Cologne. This route has a very high price variety,
with trains ranging from only €29.90 to €178.90, and flights ranging from
€62.61 to €272.21. The train was cheaper on all days analysed.
A single flight from Brussels to Hamburg causes 183 kg of CO
2e
per
passenger. Since German railways use 100% renewable electricity for
their ICE trains in Germany, and Thalys reports a very low CO
2
emission
per passenger
10
, the train emissions are only a few percent of the flight
on this route.
Brussels–Vienna
Since 2019, the Austrian railway company ÖBB has been operating a night
train between Brussels and Vienna 3 times a week. On the other days it is
possible to use the night train from Cologne to Vienna. There are also good
day connections with ICE trains linking the 2 cities in less than 10 hours and
a half, with a change in Cologne or Frankfurt. The analysis found either the
direct night train or the day trains the cheaper train option, while the night
train option via Cologne was always more expensive. The night trains on this
route are very popular, thus no very cheap night train ticket was available
for the days analysed with prices between €111.90 and €149.70. On the other
hand, Ryanair flies daily between the Belgian and the Austrian capital, with
10
8.5 gram CO
2
/pkm
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
26
prices found from €15.75 on. Therefore, the polluting flight was cheaper on
8 out of the 9 days analysed, on average the train cost 3.3 times as much
as the flight.
In 2019, almost 500,000 people flew between Brussels and Vienna.
Shifting this flight completely to rail would save 54,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 36,000
fossil fuelled cars or approximately the car fleet of Ostende.
Brussels–Zurich
As often on routes to Switzerland, Brussels–Zurich is only operated by
traditional airlines. While the direct Lufthansa flight was the cheapest flight
for mid- and long-term bookings, for short-term bookings even much more
polluting transfer flights via Mallorca, the Greek island of Kos and Warsaw
cost less than half of the direct flight. These 3 short-term flights were also
cheaper than the train, while the train was cheaper on 5 out of 6 mid- and
long term trips. All long-term train tickets for this 6h43m long trip with one
transfer were available for €49.90.
A direct flight from Brussels to Zurich causes 157 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per person. A transfer flight via Greece causes almost
10 times as much as this, 1,059 kg. With the trains running mainly on
renewable electricity on this route, almost all of these emissions could be
saved.
Bratislava–Brussels
Ryanair flies twice a week between Bratislava and Brussels. On other days,
only transfer flights are available, either with Ryanair via Manchester, Rome
or Corfu, or with Croatia Airlines via Zagreb. The best train connection is
using the night train Vienna–Brussels on its operating days, on other days
another change is needed in Bonn or Cologne. The cheapest option is by far
Ryanair on its 2 direct flight days. On 2 days analysed, the costs for the
train tickets are more than 550% of the airline tickets. Even the transfer
flights with Ryanair via Manchester or Rome were found to be less than half
price of the train, while causing even more than 100% more CO
2
emissions
than direct flights. Only on 2 days, when the only flying option was with
Croatia Airlines, and on another day with a Ryanair transfer flight via Corfu,
did the train cost about a third of the price of the flight.
A single direct flight from Bratislava to Brussels causes 300 kg of
harmful greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 1,260 km long train
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
27
route could save 87% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the
consumption of 1,560 kWh of electricity (Belgian mix), enough to cook
with an electric cooker for 2 years.
London–Brussels
Brussels is the only capital analysed to which there is no direct low-cost
carrier flight from London. Therefore direct flights are relatively expensive,
and transfer flights e.g. with Ryanair via Denmark or Dublin are the
cheapest but most polluting option on this route. The direct train takes
slightly more than 2 hours and runs 10 times a day. However, the Eurostar is
one of the most expensive trains found in this analysis, and cost around
€100 on average on this short route, and cost almost double of the flight
ticket. The cheapest flight found is a very polluting transfer flight with
Ryanair via Denmark for €36.83. The Eurostar cost 2.7 times as much as
this amount on the same day.
For obvious climate reasons, a flight with a 2 hour train alternative must
be banned. It is causing 88 kg of harmful greenhouse gases per passenger
and direction. A transfer flight from London to Brussels via Denmark is
almost 6 times worse for the environment, and should also be banned for
this route. A Eurostar trip on this route could save 92% of the airline’s
emissions.
Madrid–Brussels
Madrid–Brussels is the most expensive train route analysed for Belgium
with an average price of 7.4 times as much as the flight. Ryanair and the
Spanish low-cost airline Air Europa fly daily. The train takes 14h38m and
requires 2 transfers in Barcelona and Nimes. There is no night train
available on this route. The train is always expensive on this route with an
average price of €326.79. It is necessary to buy separate tickets from the
Spanish and French railway companies. On 2 short-term days, the only train
option from Barcelona to France was already booked out and a train trip
was not possible on those days.
Madrid–Brussels is the most used short-haul flight route for Belgium. In
2019, almost 1.2 million people flew on this route. Shifting them to rail
would save 179,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 119,000 cars, almost as many as the
car fleet of Belgium’s third largest city, Ghent.
Berlin–Brussels
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
28
Ryanair and Brussels Airlines fly daily between Berlin and Brussels. A direct
night train operated by the private company European Sleeper runs 3 times
a week. Several day train options with one transfer also exist, lasting less
than 7 hours. On all days analysed, the day train was cheaper than the night
train, or not available. Despite train tickets starting low from €39.90, the
polluting Ryanair flight was cheaper than the train on 8 out of 9 days. Only
on one short-term trip, an even more polluting transfer flight with Finnair
via Helsinki was the cheapest way. On average, the train cost 63% more
than the plane on this route.
In 2019, 513,000 people flew between Berlin and Brussels. Shifting this
flight fully to train would save 44,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
equivalent to almost 30,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the
size of the car fleet of Roeselare.
Copenhagen–Brussels
Only the traditional airlines SAS and Brussels Airlines fly between the
Danish and the Belgian capitals. On 5 out of 9 days, even more polluting
transfer flights were cheaper than direct flights, e.g. with Ryanair via
Manchester or Finnair via Helsinki. The train takes at least 12h09m and
requires 2 transfers in Hamburg and Cologne. As with many other train
routes using Deutsche Bahn, the train was cheaper with all long-term
bookings but more expensive with all short-term bookings. On average,
trains and planes cost almost the same price on this route.
In 2019, almost 600,000 people flew between Copenhagen and Brussels.
Shifting this flight to rail would save 57,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 38,000 fossil fuelled cars.
This is approximately the car fleet of Kortrijk.
Brussels–Prague
Ryanair and Brussels Airlines fly daily between the Belgian and the Czech
capitals. The most eective train connection is an ICE to Frankfurt,
followed by the night train to Prague. During the day, at least 2 train
transfers are needed. The polluting flight was cheaper on 7 out of 9 days.
On average, the train costs 53% more. Short-term tickets for this route
were extremely expensive, the flight cost on average on the 2 short-term
bookings €261.78, the train even €287.56.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
29
In 2019, almost half a million passengers were flying between Brussels
and Prague. Phasing out this flight would save around 40,000 tonnes of
CO
2
, as much as 26,000 cars emit in a year. This is approximately the car
fleet size of Beveren.
Budapest–Brussels
There are daily direct flights by the 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air
from the Hungarian capital Budapest to Brussels, in addition Brussels
Airlines is operating on that route. Flights were found at really low prices
from €20.37 on. The best train connection includes a night train, either
from Budapest to Stuttgart or from Vienna to Brussels. The first one was
always the cheapest train option found. The night train to Stuttgart was
always aordable, with prices mostly between €29.90 and €59, but the
ICEs or the TGV and Thalys from Stuttgart to Brussels via Frankfurt or Paris
were double to 4 times as expensive as the the night train, except for the
long-term bookings. Travelling by rail was systematically more expensive
than travelling by air, costing on average 4.5 times as much. On one
mid-term booking, the train cost 12.5 times as much as the flight.
A flight from Budapest to Brussels causes 421 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 1,350 km long train trip could reduce
these emissions by 90%. Based on the Belgian electricity mix, this saving
is equivalent to the consumption of 2,270 kWh of electricity, enough for a
single household for a full year.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is poorly connected by train with its neighbouring countries. The
only all-year direct international rail connection is a daily night train from
Sofia to Istanbul, for which it is not possible to buy online tickets. A direct
train connection to Bucharest only exists from June to September. There is
currently no train connection to Greece nor to Serbia. Therefore, the route
to Bucharest is the only relevant international route within the scope of this
analysis which can be travelled by plane and train. There are 2 domestic
flights from Sofia to Varna and Burgas. Since the online ticket shop of the
Bulgarian railway company is not showing pricing without a comprehensive
registration, these routes could not be analysed. For these reasons, the only
route analysed for Bulgaria is Bucharest–Sofia.
Bucharest–Sofia
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
30
Bucharest and Sofia are only directly connected by train from June to
September. In the rest of the year, the 2 cities are only connected twice a
day per train, with 2 transfers each, lasting more than 10 hours for not
much more than 300kms. The Romanian airline Tarom as well as Bulgaria
Air fly daily, Ryanair flies twice a week. On these 2 days, the flight is always
cheaper than the train, with the lowest price found at €15.54. A train ticket
costs around €34, which is always less than flights on non-Ryanair days.
This route is a good example of how low train fares are important, but not
enough if the quality of the rail service is very poor.
A single flight from Bucharest to Sofia causes 52 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By taking the 400 km long train
route, around 75% of these emissions could be saved. Therefore the rail
frequency and speed needs to be urgently improved between Romania
and Bulgaria.
Croatia
Overall situation
Croatia is connected by rail to all its neighbouring countries, but the
frequency of international trains is very low. Only 2 daily direct train pairs
stop by Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana: one goes to Munich/Stuttgart, and the
other one to Vienna. Another daily train pair goes to Budapest and Belgrade.
Though, thanks to direct night trains to Zurich, Stuttgart, Budapest and
Bratislava, and night trains reachable in Austria running to Italy, many
countries and cities can be reasonably reached by train from Croatia. All 10
routes analysed from and to Croatia are including a night train. Night trains
starting or ending in Croatia are relatively cheap, but connecting trains are
often much more expensive, making flights cheaper than rail on many of
such routes. E.g. for the Zagreb–Luxembourg route, the night train from
Zagreb to Stuttgart was found for €29.20 on one day, but the connecting
trains to Luxembourg cost €83.90.
Zagreb became a hub for Ryanair. 6 out of the 8 routes analysed are directly
served by Ryanair, though some of them not daily. The cheapest flight of all
1008 trips analysed, was a Ryanair flight from Bratislava to Zagreb for €9.99.
Extremely low prices were also found on all other Ryanair routes from and
to Croatia. When a Ryanair flight is available, it is almost always the
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
31
cheapest option. But when Ryanair does not operate, the train is often the
cheapest option.
The most expensive train route found in Croatia is the one from Zagreb to
Rome. The flight is always cheaper and on average 3.5 times cheaper than
the train trip.
On average for all routes analysed from and to Croatia, the train costs
almost double compared to the polluting flight.
Routes analysed from and to Croatia
Bratislava–Split
The Croatian coastal city of Split is the only southern destination accessible
by direct night train from Bratislava. There is no direct flight to Split.
Transfer flights are possible either using Air Croatia via Zagreb or with Wizz
Air and easyJet via London. Not surprisingly for a route within CEE, the train
was cheaper on all the days analysed on this route. The cheap Wizz Air
flights from Vienna (close to Bratislava) to Split were not taken into account
in this analysis.
A single flight from Bratislava to Split via Zagreb causes 124 kg of
harmful greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 1,000 km long and
winding train route could save 73% of these emissions. This CO
2
saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 330 kWh of electricity (average
Croatian mix), enough to run a fridge for 5 years.
Zagreb–Prague
There is no direct flight nor a direct train connection between the Croatian
and the Czech capitals. Since Zagreb has many Ryanair connections, on
most days very polluting transfer flights with Ryanair via Rome, Bergamo
and Paris were found to be the cheapest flights. Shorter transfer flights e.g.
with Lufthansa via Munich were clearly more expensive. The best train
connection would be the seasonal night train to Vienna followed by the
Eurocity (“ÖBB Railjet”) to Prague. But the night train is not running daily,
and on all days analysed it was either not running or tickets were not
available anymore. Instead of the night train, the 12h6m long day
connection was analysed, which also runs with one change in Vienna. As for
many other routes in Central and Eastern Europe, the train was mostly
cheaper.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
32
A flight from Zagreb to Prague via Rome causes 329 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger, a flight via Paris causes even 615 kg,
which is 86% more. The train, despite taking a complicated route via
Ljubljana and Vienna, causes only 28 kg on this 850 km long route.
Therefore, the train causes 95% less harmful emissions than a flight via
Paris, or 91% less than a flight via Rome.
Basel (CH)–Zagreb
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper only on 3 of the 9 days
analysed, on average the train cost 2.3 times as much as the flight.
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 950 km long train
trip, 85% of these emissions could be saved.
Mulhouse–Zagreb
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper only on 3 of the 9 days
analysed, on average the train cost 2.8 times as much as the flight.
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 980 km long train
trip, 85% of these emissions could be saved.
Freiburg(DE)–Zagreb
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper only on 4 of the 9 days
analysed, but Ryanair did not fly on 3 of these days. On average the train
cost 2.4 times as much as the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
33
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 1,040 km long train
trip, 84% of these emissions could be saved.
Bratislava–Zagreb
Ryanair connects the Croatian and the Slovak capitals 3 times a week until
the end of October, which is always the cheapest and polluting way on
these days. On other days, the cheapest flights are even more polluting
Ryanair transfer flights via Bergamo or Brussels. During summer time, there
is a direct train connection every other day, otherwise a change in Vienna is
required. The train ride takes at least 7h19m, which is quite long
considering, with the train taking a complicated route via Ljubljana and
being slow especially when passing Slovenia. This route was found to be
the cheapest flight route of all 112 routes analysed, with prices starting
from €9.99. On Ryanair direct flight days, the train is much more expensive:
up to 9.5 times as much as the flight. On other days, the train was cheaper.
On average, the train costs 4 times as much as the flight.
A direct flight from Bratislava to Zagreb causes 75 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Despite the complicated, 600
km long train route, 74% of these emissions could be saved by using the
train. Based on the average Croatian electricity mix, these emissions are
equivalent to the consumption of almost 200 kWh of electricity, enough
to power a washing machine for up to 300 times.
Zagreb–Rome
Although there is “only” one direct flight 4 days a week operated by Ryanair,
flying is always clearly cheaper than taking the train on this route. Even
transfer flights with Lufthansa via Munich, or with Ryanair and the Italian
ITA via Naples are cheaper. Normally, a train trip from Zagreb to Rome only
requires a change at Villach, Austria, to take the night train to Rome.
However, due to construction works north of Rome during summer 2023,
passengers have to leave the night train in Bologna and continue on an
Italian high-speed train. The total travel time is 13h32m, the average train
price found was 3.5 times as much as the flight, on one day it was almost
10 times as much.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
34
A connecting flight from Zagreb to Rome via Munich causes double
greenhouse gas emissions compared to a direct flight. A train ride can
reduce GHG emissions on this route by around 60% compared to a direct
flight (which is a bit less compared to other routes due to the train taking
a long route via Austria).
Zagreb–Luxembourg
Zagreb–Luxembourg is one of the few routes analysed without any direct
connection. The best train route is a night train to Stuttgart, followed by 2
trains to Strasbourg and Luxembourg, with a total travel time of 18h35m.
The cheapest flight route on most days is with Ryanair via London. This
connection was found from €45.19 on. The train is cheaper on half of the
days analysed, but on average, it costs 1.5 times as much as the polluting
flight. On average, the train costs 1.5 times as much as the flight. On most
days, the night train ticket was much cheaper than the tickets for the
connecting trains from Stuttgart to Luxembourg. Long-term train tickets for
the section from Stuttgart to Luxembourg were not available.
A connecting flight from Zagreb to Luxembourg via London causes around
550 kg of harmful greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. A train ride
for the 1,110 kms causes only around 37 kg of GHG, which is 93% less than
the flight. Based on the average Croatian electricity mix, the CO
2
savings
would be equivalent to the consumption of 1,800 kWh of electricity,
enough to power a 2-person household for a year.
Zagreb–Munich
Ryanair is flying this route 2 to 3 times a week with extremely low prices
found, starting from €15 on. Air Croatia is flying daily from Zagreb to
Munich, but is clearly more expensive than Ryanair, and was never found to
be the cheapest flight: on all days even more polluting transfer flights,
mostly involving Wizz Air via Belgrade, were cheaper than the direct flight.
There are 2 daily direct trains, one in the morning and a night train. The
night train was always found cheaper than the day train. On average, the
prices of trains and planes were found almost equal, with the train being
cheaper on 6 out of 9 days analysed.
A single flight from Zagreb to Munich causes 136 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the train, at least 70%
of these emissions could be saved.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
35
Munich–Split
During summer time, the German holiday airline Condor flies several times
a week between Munich and Split, while Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa fly
all year long. By train, all 3 possible routes include night trains, whether it is
Vienna–Split
11
, Budapest–Split or Munich–Zagreb. All of these routes require
one transfer, but due to the slow average speed of Slovene and Croatian
railways, the trip is considerably long with at least 22 hours.
For short-term booking, the polluting flight was clearly cheaper than the
train, with the biggest price dierence found at €309 (€89.99 vs €398.90).
On the other hand, the train was much cheaper for all long-term bookings,
with very low prices between €45 and €75, while the long-term flight cost
between €124.60 and €160.36. On average, the train was 28% more
expensive than the flight.
A flight from Munich to Split causes 190 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions per passenger. By using the train, even when taking the 1,400
km long way via Budapest, at least 70% of these emissions could be
saved.
Czech Republic
Overall situation
Due to the central location of the Czech Republic, many European countries
and cities can be reached by reasonable train connections. All neighbouring
countries are easily accessible by day and night trains, e.g. there are 11
direct trains a day to Vienna. Even Barcelona can be reached with a night
train and connecting trains in less than 24 hours. Apart from 2 tiny airports
in the Eastern Czech Republic, almost all flight trac in Czechia goes via
the Prague airport, which is also frequently used by the largest low-cost
airlines.
The analysis of 7 routes into and out of the Czech Republic gives an
extreme, contrasting picture. On 2 routes, flights are dominantly cheaper
than the rail: these are routes to Western Europe (Brussels and Milan).
On 4 other routes, trains are almost always cheaper. 3 of them are within
Central and Eastern Europe, namely to Budapest, Košice in Eastern Slovakia
11
The night train from Bratislava via Vienna to Split is only running during summer time.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
36
and Zagreb. The train from Berlin to Prague was also found to be always
cheaper than the flight, which is due to the unusual fact that there is no
direct flight between the German and the Czech capitals (the analysis did
not find any other neighbouring capital pair not directly connected by air,
when the train takes longer than 4 hours). For the last route studied,
Prague–Amsterdam, it depends on the day.
On average for all routes analysed for the Czech Republic, the train was
found 35% more expensive than the flight.
Routes analysed from and to the Czech Republic
Berlin–Prague
Berlin and Prague are the only pair of neighbouring capitals without a direct
flight and with a train distance of over 4 hours (the quickest train takes
4h25m). There are 6 daily direct train pairs. The cheapest transfer flight
options would be Eurowings via Düsseldorf or the Polish LOT via Warsaw.
Train tickets start from €29.90 and do not exceed €69.90 with short-term
bookings. As with all train routes involving Germany, the price clearly
decreases from short over mid to long term bookings. The cheapest flight
found was for €129.99 and takes even a little longer than the train. So this
route is practically one of the best train routes found in this analysis.
Using the 350 km long train route between Berlin and Prague causes less
than 10 kg of greenhouse gases per person. Taking a transfer flight
instead would cause at least 30 times as many harmful emissions.
Košice (SK)–Prague
Despite Ryanair connecting the second biggest city in Slovakia situated in
the East of the country, Košice, with Prague 4 times a week, the train was
found cheaper on all days analysed. There are 5 direct train connections a
day lasting 8h15m, one of them a night train. The day train operated by the
private Czech company Regiojet was found to be the cheapest on all days,
with prices between €20.90 and €39.90. The cheapest flight was found for
€38.17. On days when Ryanair does not fly direct, the cheapest flights are 2
Ryanair flights via London, which are ten times more polluting than a direct
flight on this route. Since these transfer flights via London are available
from €57.29 on and the flight time (excluding check-in times etc.) is shorter
than the train travel, it is unfortunately realistic that people would fly via
London.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
37
A direct flight from Košice to Prague causes 62 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. A flight from Košice to Prague via London causes
751 kg of greenhouse gases, which is 12 times more. The 705 km long train
ride causes around 23 kg of GHG, which is 63% less than a direct flight,
and 97% less than a transfer flight via London.
Zagreb–Prague
There is no direct flight nor a direct train connection between the Croatian
and the Czech capitals. Since Zagreb has many Ryanair connections, on
most days very polluting transfer flights with Ryanair via Rome, Bergamo
and Paris were found to be the cheapest flights. Shorter transfer flights e.g.
with Lufthansa via Munich were clearly more expensive. The best train
connection would be the seasonal night train to Vienna followed by the
Eurocity (“ÖBB Railjet”) to Prague. But the night train is not running daily,
and on all days analysed it was either not running or tickets were not
available anymore. Instead of the night train, the 12h6m long day
connection was analysed, which also runs with one change in Vienna. As for
many other routes in Central and Eastern Europe, the train was mostly
cheaper.
A flight from Zagreb to Prague via Rome causes 329 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger, a flight via Paris causes even 615 kg,
which is 86% more. The train, despite taking a complicated route via
Ljubljana and Vienna, causes only 28 kg on this 850 km long route.
Therefore, the train causes 95% less harmful emissions than a flight via
Paris, or 91% less than a flight via Rome.
Milan–Prague
Milan–Prague is the most expensive train route analysed for the Czech
Republic. The train is always more expensive, on average almost 5 times as
much as the flight. Wizz Air is oering really low prices on this route,
starting from €19.99 and not above €59.99 for a short-term booking. The
best train connection is the night train to Vienna, and the connecting train
to Prague. Only long-term train tickets were available below €100, but even
on the cheapest train days, the flight cost less than half.
A single flight from Milan to Prague causes 185 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions. Despite the train taking a long 1,200 km route via Vienna,
78% of these emissions could be saved by using the train.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
38
Prague–Amsterdam
Prague–Amsterdam is daily operated by easyJet, except on Saturdays in the
winter flight schedule. The best train connection is a train to Berlin, and the
private European Sleeper to Amsterdam on its operating days, since the day
train connections last longer than 12 hours. The train never costs much
more than €100, but was found cheaper only on all 3 midterm journeys, and
on one long-term trip when only KLM flies. On average, the train was 44%
more expensive than the polluting flight.
In 2022, more than 500,000 people flew between Prague and the
Netherlands, making this one of the most popular Czech short-haul
flights. This route emits 116,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases a year,
85% of which could be saved by shifting to rail – thus saving the
equivalent of the annual emissions from 66,000 fossil fuel powered cars,
which is approximately half of Ostrava’s car fleet.
Brussels–Prague
Ryanair and Brussels Airlines fly daily between the Belgian and the Czech
capitals. The most eective train connection is an ICE to Frankfurt,
followed by the night train to Prague. During the day, at least 2 train
transfers are needed. The polluting flight was cheaper on 7 out of 9 days.
On average, the train costs 53% more. Short-term tickets for this route
were extremely expensive, the flight cost on average on the 2 short-term
bookings €261.78, the train even €287.56.
In 2019, almost half a million passengers were flying between Brussels
and Prague. Phasing out this flight would save around 40,000 tonnes of
CO
2
, as much as 26,000 cars emit in a year. This is approximately the car
fleet size of Beveren.
Prague–Budapest
As on some other routes in Central and Eastern Europe, the train is always
cheaper than the plane on this route, despite Ryanair flying daily except
Saturdays. Both the traditional Czech railway company CD as well as the
private railway operator RegioJet have several train pairs per day with low
prices between €21.13 and €32.77 and lasting around 6h45m. Long-term
train tickets are not available. But considering the frequency of trains and
the predictable price, it is less of a problem than e.g. on night train routes
or on train routes with a large price range.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
39
Despite the cheap train tickets, in 2022, 112,582 passengers were flying
between the Czech and the Hungarian capitals, causing 14,400 tons of
greenhouse gases, as much as 10,000 cars emit in a year. By banning this
unnecessary short-haul flight, around 11,500 tons of GHG could be
reduced.
Denmark
Overall situation
Thanks to its quite central position in Europe, a long list of countries can be
easily reached by train from Denmark. Even though the state of Denmark
holds a minority ownership in the traditional SAS airline, Danish airports
became quite popular among low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet
with their aggressive pricing policy. 5 out of the 6 routes analysed are
operated directly by low-cost carriers.
Overall, travelling from and to Denmark is comparably cheap. For all 6
routes analysed to or from Copenhagen, all to or from European capitals,
train tickets are available for less than €100. Despite these acceptable train
prices, polluting flights from Vienna and Berlin are almost always much
cheaper than the train. On average, the train from Vienna costs 3.5 times as
much as the flight, with 8 times as much as the maximum. For Denmark,
the cheapest flight found is a Ryanair flight from Billund to Brussels for
€15.35, which was part of the cheapest connecting flight for the
London–Brussels route. A polluting Ryanair flight from Vienna was also
extremely cheap with €22.91. The average train fare from Berlin was found
to be 177% of the flight. There is no route analysed for Denmark where the
train is always or mostly cheaper than the plane.
On average for all routes analysed for Denmark, the train was 58% more
expensive than the flight.
Routes analysed from and to Denmark
Amsterdam–Copenhagen
Amsterdam and Copenhagen are connected daily by KLM, SAS and easyJet.
The last one is always oering the lowest flight prices. A train ride requires
at least 2 changes and takes at least 11 hours. As often with German trains,
there is a large range in train costs, found from €56.90 to €209.90, with the
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
40
train being most expensive for short-term trips and cheapest for long-term
trips. Flight prices were found a bit more stable, with the exception of one
very expensive short-term flight. Overall, flights were found to be cheaper
on 4 days, trains on 5 days. On average, trains were 6% more expensive
than flights. But even on days when the train is cheaper, it is questionable
whether many people will use it because of the complicated connection.
In 2019, more than 1.1 million people were flying on this route making it
the 4
th
most used short-haul flights from and to Copenhagen with a train
alternative. Calculated with European average emission data for planes
and trains, shifting this connection fully to rail would save at least
88,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of 59,000 fossil fueled cars. This is approximately the car fleet
size of Aalborg. Considering that the route is mainly in Germany and the
Netherlands where both railway companies use 100% renewable energy
for its trains, the emission savings would be even clearly higher.
Copenhagen–Stockholm
There are 6 direct train connections a day between the Danish and the
Swedish capitals lasting a bit more than 5 hours. On the days of research,
however, the direct train did not run due to construction works on some
days, and on other days, the train with a transfer in Malmö was found
cheaper. The air route is operated daily by the traditional airline SAS and
the low-cost carrier Norwegian, with the last one always oering lower
prices. On half of the days analysed, flying was cheaper. On average, the
train was 1% more expensive. Long-term train tickets are not available,
which is disadvantageous for rail over planes.
In 2019, almost 1.4 million people flew on this route making it the third
most used short-haul flight from and to Denmark with a train alternative,
after Copenhagen–London and Copenhagen–Oslo. Shifting this
connection fully to rail would save at least 98,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 65,000
fossil fueled cars. This is approximately the combined car fleets of
Roskilde and Esbjerg.
Vienna–Copenhagen
Ryanair flies daily between Vienna and Copenhagen, which is always the
cheapest but most polluting way to travel between the Austrian and Danish
capitals. Flight prices start at €22.91. The best train connection is the night
train to Hamburg, followed by an Intercity train to Copenhagen. The train is
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
41
relatively expensive on this route, with an average cost of €163.36. Only on 1
out of 9 days analysed, the train was slightly cheaper than €100.
In 2019, 450,000 people flew between Vienna and Copenhagen. Shifting
this flight completely to rail would save 45,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 30,000
fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of Vejle.
Copenhagen–Oslo
The Danish and the Norwegian capitals are not well connected by train.
There is a maximum of one train option per day with 2 transfers, and 2
more options with 3 transfers each. Most connections oered by the train
time tables include buses. The train takes more than 10 hours, including a
90-minute waiting time at stations. In addition, train tickets are not
available 4 months in advance, disadvantageous for rail over planes. 3
airlines fly this route: Norwegian, Wideroe and SAS which all were the
cheapest on at least one day. The flight price is below €70 on 7 out of 9
days analysed. The plane was cheaper on all 3 short-term bookings, the
train was cheaper on all 3 mid-term bookings. On average, the train was
16% more expensive than the polluting plane.
In 2019, 1,500,000 people flew between Copenhagen and Oslo making it
the second most used short-haul flight route for Denmark with a train
alternative. Shifting this flight completely to rail would save 93,000 tons
of harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
62,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of Aalborg.
Copenhagen–Brussels
Only the traditional airlines SAS and Brussels Airlines fly to the Belgian
capital. On 5 out of 9 days, even more polluting transfer flights were
cheaper than direct flights, e.g. with Ryanair via Manchester or Finnair via
Helsinki. The train takes at least 12h09m and requires 2 transfers in
Hamburg and Cologne. As with many other train routes using Deutsche
Bahn, the train was cheaper with all long-term bookings but more
expensive with all short-term bookings. On average, trains and planes cost
almost the same price on this route.
In 2019, almost 600,000 people flew between Copenhagen and Brussels.
Shifting this flight to rail would save 57,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 38,000 fossil fuelled cars.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
42
This is approximately the car fleet of Gentofte.
Berlin–Copenhagen
5 airlines fly between Berlin and Copenhagen: SAS, Lufthansa, Norwegian,
easyJet and Eurowings, with the last 2 ones always found to be the
cheapest airlines and also always clearly cheaper than the eco-friendly
train. Berlin and Copenhagen are well connected by train, with 7 day trains
a day with one transfer in Hamburg, lasting 7h7m, and the night train from
Berlin to Stockholm running via Copenhagen. For this analysis, only the
quick day train was considered. There is a large dierence in the price of
trains on this route for the dierent time perspectives. Short-term train
tickets cost €141.13 on average, mid-term €89.90 and long-term €49.90. But
despite these quite cheap train tickets for long-term bookings, they were
more than 50% more expensive than the polluting easyJet flights. On
average for all 9 trips, the train was 77% more expensive than the flight.
In 2019, 629,000 people flew between Berlin and Copenhagen. Shifting
this flight completely to rail would save 27,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 18,000
fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of Brøndby.
Finland
Due to geography and the geopolitical situation, there is currently no train
connection leaving Finland, not even to Sweden. Trains in Finland operate
frequently and are quick. Even the most northern city with a train station,
Rovaniemi, can be reached within 8 hours from Helsinki. There is a network
of domestic flights, all of them operated by Finnair, majority-owned by the
Finnish state.
Helsinki–Oulu
In this report, the only route analysed is the domestic one from Helsinki to
Oulu. The train was always found cheaper than the flight, with an average
of 46% of the flight price. The cheapest train ticket found cost €17.90. Only
one short-term train ticket cost close to €100, all other tickets were
available for less than €50. Similar results are expected for other domestic
routes, such as from Helsinki to Rovaniemi.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
43
A single Finnair flight from Helsinki to Oulu causes 168 kg of climate
damaging emissions per passenger. By taking the 650 km long train trip,
87% of these emissions could be saved. With the relatively low carbon
intensity of the Finnish electricity mix, the savings are equivalent to
around 3,500 kWh of electricity – which is approximately the annual
consumption of an average 2-person household including electric warm
water production.
France
Overall situation
France is one of the countries where booking flights is dominantly cheaper
than trains. On 9 out of 10 international routes analysed to or from Paris,
the plane is almost always or always cheaper than the train. On 17 of 20
routes analysed for France in total, the flight was dominantly cheaper, on
other 2 routes the train was cheaper only on a few days, but more
expensive on average. The only exception for France is the route
Geneva–Paris, where the train was cheaper on 7 out of 9 days analysed.
On average, a train ticket for all routes for France cost 2.6 times as much
as a flight. This is the 4th highest train price compared to flights for all
countries analysed after the UK, Spain and Belgium. For Germany, the train
cost factor is significantly lower at 1.5 times. With a train ticket costing
more than 12 times the price of the flight for a trip on one day and on
average almost 8 times as much, Valencia–Paris is the route with the
highest price dierence found for France. Only slightly lower train costs
were found for Marseille–London.
The 2 domestic flights analysed were generally cheaper than the trains: on
the most used flight route in France, Toulouse–Paris, the flight is cheaper
on 6 out of 9 days analysed. Travelling from Bordeaux to Strasbourg is
always cheaper by plane, except on Saturdays when there is no direct flight
and on one more long-term trip. These two routes can be travelled by train
in less than 6 hours.
The polluting flight was always significantly cheaper on routes to and from
Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Hungary.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
44
While the eco-friendly train from Paris to Berlin was more expensive on all
days, costing double on average, the trains were cheaper on some days on
the other 2 routes analysed between France and Germany, Nice–Munich and
Marseille–Berlin. For both of these routes, aordable day and night trains
exist for large parts of the trips. Aside from that, Nice–Munich is the only
analysed route for France without a direct low-cost airline flight, and
Ryanair flies the Marseille–Berlin route only 4 times a week.
Greenpeace France cheers rail users in Gare du Nord, Paris, 2022.
©Claire Jaillard / Greenpeace
Routes analysed within, from and to France
Lyon–Madrid
Iberia and its low-cost subsidiary Vueling fly daily between Lyon and
Madrid, and from September 2023 Volotea will fly twice a week. By train,
only one change is required from mid-July from Friday to Monday with the
new Spanish RENFE train service between Lyon and Barcelona. From
autumn 2023, this train will run daily. On some days analysed, the TGV train
from France to Barcelona was already sold out, and then 4 changes in total
were needed. The polluting flight was cheaper on 8 out of 9 trips. Only one
long-term trip using the new Spanish train was cheaper. On average, the
train cost twice as much as the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
45
In 2022, 203,000 people flew between Lyon and Madrid, causing 61,000
tons of harmful greenhouse gases. Using the 1,250 km long train route
could reduce these emissions by 86%.
Paris–Milan
Both easyJet and Ryanair fly daily between Paris and Milan, and there is
also a direct TGV train. On 8 out of 9 days analysed, the flight is cheaper,
with prices between €25.99 and €79.25. The most expensive train ticket
costs almost 3 times as much as a flight. Short-term train tickets are not
available below €149. Only on a single day analysed, the train was found
16% cheaper.
In 2019, more than 2.1 million people flew on this route. Shifting to rail
would save around 175,000 tons of CO
2
, the equivalent of the annual
emissions of more than 115,000 cars. This is approximately the complete
car fleet of Lille.
Paris–Berlin
EasyJet and Air France fly daily between Paris and Berlin, Transavia daily
except Saturdays. easyJet was always the cheapest option on this route and
also always cheaper than the greener train. There is no direct train
connection, the trip requires at least one transfer. The cheapest flight ticket
was available for €31.25, only one out of the 9 flights analysed cost a bit
more than €100. Short-term train tickets were not available for less than
€169.90, the most expensive ticket cost €323.70. Long-term train tickets are
available for less than €80, but still all 3 of them are at least 55% more
expensive than the flight.
Buying train tickets from Paris to Berlin can be much cheaper from the
Deutsche Bahn than from SNCF for the same train connection (e.g. €206.60
versus €79). The easiest way from Paris to Berlin is the Thalys train from
Paris to Cologne, but Thalys is not selling tickets for a longer period than 3
months in advance.
In 2019, around 1.3 million people flew between Paris and Berlin. Shifting
to rail would save around 140,000 tons of CO
2
, the equivalent of the
annual emissions of more than 93,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately the emissions of all cars registered in Reims.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
46
Madrid–Paris
The flight was always found to be clearly cheaper on this route, the
cheapest train was 61% more expensive than the flight, the most expensive
train cost almost 4 times as much. The cheapest flights are oered by
easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Transavia, who all fly directly between the 2
capitals. The train takes 10h18m, and requires one change at Barcelona. For
one short-term trip, all trains were booked out.
In 2019, more than 2.5 million passengers were travelling on this route
(both-way). Shifting to rail would save 302,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 200,000
cars. This is more than the car fleet size of Nice.
Bordeaux–Strasbourg
Bordeaux–Strasbourg is one of the longest domestic flight routes in France.
The Spanish low-cost airline Volotea flies daily except Saturdays on this
route. On Saturdays, the cheapest transfer flight is also operated by Volotea
and goes via Corsica. There is only one direct train connection per day, but
hourly connections are available with a transfer in Paris. The quickest train
connection takes only 4h52m. The train was only cheaper on the 2
Saturdays analysed and on one more long-term trip. On average, the train
was 64% more expensive than the flight.
Despite the very good train connection, more than 130,000 people flew on
this route in 2019, causing 34,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases (265
kg per passenger). Banning this unnecessary short-haul flight and
replacing it with the 950 km long train route could reduce these
emissions by 84%.
Paris–Rome
As with most other routes between Europe’s largest capitals, the
climate-killing flight was cheaper on all days analysed. Low-cost airlines
Wizz Air and Vueling are among those flying between the 2 capitals. There is
no direct train between Paris and Rome, at least one transfer is needed in
Milan or Torino. The minimum train travel time is 10h12m, there is no night
train running between France and Italy. Flight tickets start low at €29.99.
The cheapest train ticket cost €73.90, while all short-term train tickets cost
more than €200, and all mid-term more than €100. On average, the train
cost more than twice as much as the plane on this route.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
47
In 2019, 2.25 million people flew between Paris and Rome (both-ways).
Shifting this flight to rail would save 308,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 205,000 cars. This is almost
the car fleet of Toulouse.
Geneva–Paris
Geneva–Paris is the most popular route in Europe for private jets. For the
more modest, the choice is between a polluting easyJet flight, or one of the
8 daily direct high-speed trains that take only 3h13m. This route was one of
the few routes analysed where, despite being operated by easyJet, the train
was mostly cheaper, with train ticket prices between €29.50 and €93.70.
Despite the perfect train connection, in 2019, 1,059,000 people flew
between Geneva and Paris. Banning this flight would save 57,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
38,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the complete car fleet of
Cannes.
Paris–London
As for all other large capitals analysed, the polluting flight from Paris to
London was clearly cheaper on all days analysed, with the train costing
more than twice as much on average. The 2 low-cost airlines easyJet and
the Spanish Vueling always have the cheapest prices, traditional airlines
such as Air France and British Airways were always more expensive. There
are 16 daily and direct Eurostar train connections lasting 2h17m between
Paris and London. The average flight price was low at €45.41. The cheapest
Eurostar ticket was found for a long-term trip for €57, the most expensive
train ticket even cost €132 for this quite short trip.
Despite the perfect train connections, in 2019, more than 2.1 million
people flew between Paris and London. Banning this useless short-haul
flight would save 98,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 65,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately to the complete car fleet of Perpignan.
Toulouse–Paris
In 2019, Toulouse–Paris was the most used short-haul flight route in the EU,
although the fact that there are 10 daily direct train connections, with the
fastest one lasting only 4h21m. As on most French routes, a low-cost airline
is dominating the market, in this case easyJet. The polluting flight was
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
48
found cheaper on 6 out of the 9 days analysed, with the train being 19%
more expensive on average than the plane. The most expensive train ticket
at €208.50 was found on a short-term booking, when all TGV high-speed
trains from Toulouse to Paris were sold out already and an alternative train
route with 3 transfers had to be booked.
In 2019, more than 3.2 million people flew between Toulouse and Paris,
making it the EU’s most used short-haul flight with a rail alternative.
Banning this useless flight and shifting to rail would save 244,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
163,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately to the car fleet of Nantes.
Mulhouse–Zagreb
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper only on 3 of the 9 days
analysed, on average the train cost 2.8 times as much as the flight.
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 980 km long train
trip, 85% of these emissions could be saved.
Budapest–Paris
There are daily direct flights by the 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air
between the Hungarian capital of Budapest and Paris, in addition Air France
is operating on that route. The best train connection includes a night train,
either from Budapest to Stuttgart or from Vienna to Paris. The former was
always the cheapest train option found. The night train to Stuttgart was
always aordable, with prices between €29.90 and €89, but the TGV or the
ICE from Stuttgart to Paris was up to 3 times as expensive as the night
train, resulting in the flight being always cheaper than the train. On one day,
an even more polluting transfer flight with Ryanair via Bergamo, Italy, was
available for less than half the price of the direct flight (€77.10 vs €162).
In 2022, 480,000 passengers were flying between the 2 cities, causing
179,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. A train trip on this
1,480 km long route could save around 87% of these emissions. The
saving is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 103,000 fossil fuelled cars.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
49
This is approximately the car fleet size of Rennes.
Nice–Amsterdam
The 2 low-cost airlines easyJet and Transavia fly daily between Nice and
Amsterdam with easyJet always the cheaper airline. The most eective
train connection is the night train to Paris and the Thalys to Amsterdam.
The polluting plane was always cheaper on this route, on average the train
cost 1.8 times as much as the plane. On one mid-term trip, all trains were
booked out, and for the Thalys tickets cannot be bought more than
4months in advance.
In 2019, 480,000 passengers were flying between Nice and Amsterdam.
Shifting these flights to rail would save at least 55,000 tonnes of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 37,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Colmar.
Nice–Munich
The only airline directly flying between Nice and Munich is Lufthansa. On all
9 days analysed, transfer flights with other airlines were cheaper. On most
days, Lufthansa low-cost subsidiary Eurowings was cheaper via Düsseldorf,
Cologne or Hamburg. On one day, easyJet via London was the cheapest
flight, on another day it was Wizz Air via Bucharest. The train trip from Nice
to Munich includes a night train, either via Paris, or with one more transfer
the night train from Genoa to Munich. The cheaper ticket depends on the
time. The polluting flight cost half with the shortest booking, but was more
expensive with the other 2 short term dates. The polluting flight was
cheaper on all mid-term trips, while the train was cheaper on all long-term
trips. On average, the train was 6% more expensive than the flight. A typical
result for a long route which is not directly served by low-cost airlines.
A direct Lufthansa flight from Nice to Munich causes 198 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via Hamburg causes
more than 2.5 times as much as a direct flight. The 880 km long train trip
causes 29kg of greenhouse gases, which is 85% less than a direct flight,
and 94% less than a transfer flight via Hamburg.
Marseille–Berlin
During the summer period, Ryanair is the only airline flying 4 times a week
between Marseille and Berlin. On other days, even more polluting flights via
Italy or Switzerland were the cheapest flight options. The most ecient
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50
train option runs via Karlsruhe and takes 12h21m. It is also possible to use
one of the night trains Zurich-Berlin or Brussels-Berlin. The night train
options were found more expensive than the day trains on this route. While
ticket prices from the French Railway company SNCF were always much
more expensive than the flight, ticket prices from Deutsche Bahn were
found cheaper than the flight on 5 out of the 9 days analysed, among them
all long-term trips. On average, the train was 11% more expensive than the
flight.
A direct flight from Marseille to Berlin causes 353 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. The 1,600 km long train trip causes 53
kg of greenhouse gases, which is 85% less than a flight.
Toulouse–Barcelona
Despite 3 daily and very fast train connections with the fastest of which
takes only 3h42m, with a transfer in Narbonne, the Spanish low-cost airline
Vueling started a direct flight on 3 days per week from July. The polluting
flight is always clearly the cheapest option, even on days when a transfer
flight via the Balearic Islands is needed. On average, the train cost 3.3 times
as much as the flight and is not available below €109. The most expensive
flight found cost €85.74.
A direct flight from Toulouse to Barcelona causes 57 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via Palma de Mallorca
causes 3.4 times as much as a direct flight. The 400 km long train trip
causes 13 kg of greenhouse gases, which is 91% less than less than a
transfer flight via Palma. The saved greenhouse gases are equivalent to
1,000 kWh of average French electricity – enough to power a fridge with
a freezer compartment for 10 years.
Paris–Venice
Both of the largest low-cost airlines, easyJet and Ryanair, fly daily from
Paris to Venice. While easyJet uses the main airport of Venice, Ryanair flies
to nearby Treviso. The best train connection lasts 9h44m with one transfer
in Milan. Alternatively, the night trains from Stuttgart or Augsburg can be
used for this route. For this analysis, all these train options were
considered, and both day and night trains were found cheaper on dierent
days. Long-term train tickets cost less than €84. However, the polluting
flight was always much cheaper. The average price of a train ticket is more
than twice the price of a flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
51
In 2019, more than 1.2 million people flew between Paris and Venice.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save more than 127,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of
85,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet of Toulon.
Marseille–London
Marseille–London is one of the quickest and best long-distance train
connections in Europe. The 1,300 km long train trip takes just 7h26m with
only one change in Paris or Lille, and there are 9 train connections on most
days. By air, the 2 cities are connected by both low-cost airlines easyJet
and Ryanair. As with all other routes to the UK, the polluting flight is always
clearly cheaper. On average, the train cost almost 7 times as much as the
flight, on one day even more than 12 times as much. Flights are extremely
cheap on this route, with an average price of €35.76, which would not be
possible without the many subsidies these airlines receive.
In 2019, more than 610,000 people flew between Paris and Marseille.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 78,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 52,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet of Nancy.
Valencia–Paris
Like most other routes in Spain and France, this route is also daily operated
by polluting low-cost airlines. In this case, it is the Spanish Vueling and the
French Transavia fighting against each other with the lower prices. The train
connection takes a bit more than 14 hours. While only one train transfer
was required in June 2023, two transfers were required (in Madrid and
Girona) in the summer and autumn of 2023. The polluting flight is always
clearly cheaper than the greener train. Out of all 9 days analysed, the
cheapest train compared to the flight cost 3.8 times as much as the flight,
the most expensive train cost more than 12 times as much.
In 2019, more than 570,000 people flew between Valencia and Paris.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 75,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 50,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is more than the car fleet of Avignon.
Marseille–Rome
Southern France and Italy are not well-connected by train: at least
2changes are required on that route. On some days, it was possible to take
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52
the night train from Turin to Rome, on other days a change in Paris was
required; another option was a train trip with 3 transfers and regional trains
along the Ligurian coast. By air, Ryanair flies daily on this route. The
eco-friendly train was always more expensive than the flight, on average the
train cost 4.5 times as much as the plane.
A flight from Marseille to Rome causes 189 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The shortest train route via Nice with 920 km,
causes only 30 kg of greenhouse gases per passenger.
Paris–Vienna
Since 2021, the most eective and greenest way to travel from Paris to
Vienna is the direct night train. However, it runs only 3 times a week, and
due its new popularity, the night train was already booked out on some
days analysed. On days when the night train was available, it cost around
half of day trains via Frankfurt or Zurich on other days. But even the
relatively aordable night train was always clearly more expensive than a
polluting flight by Ryanair and Transavia. Only on one short-term booking,
when Ryanair was booked out, the night train was one third cheaper than
the flight with Austrian Airlines. On average, the train cost 2.4 times as
much as the polluting flight.
In 2019, more than 944,000 people flew between Paris and Vienna.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 122,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 81,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Grenoble.
Germany
Overall situation
Germany, due to its central position in Europe and frequent international
train connections to all its neighbouring countries, is connected to a lot of
countries by reasonable train connections. From Berlin, only 5 other
capitals analysed cannot be reached reasonably, namely Madrid, Lisbon,
Oslo, Bucharest and Sofia. Barcelona can be reached from Southern and
Western Germany, Bucharest could be reached by train from Munich.
Tickets sold by Deutsche Bahn DB are generally cheaper than comparable
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
53
tickets e.g from the French railway operator SNCF, though there is often a
huge price dierence found between short-term and long-term bookings.
The German airports are not yet that dominated by low-cost airlines as eg.
Italian, Spanish or UK airports. Eurowings as the German low-cost airline is
present at all German airports analysed, but does not have as aggressive a
pricing policy as easyJet or Ryanair.
The findings from the analysis of 31 routes within, from and to Germany are
dependent on the corresponding countries:
● Taking a plane is always or almost always cheaper on routes analysed
from and to Spain, Italy, UK, the Nordic countries and France (except
Southern France where the train is cheaper on some days but more
expensive on average).
● On longer routes from and to Central and Eastern European
countries, trains and planes are cheaper on dierent days, depending
on whether low-cost companies are operating or not. The cheapest
prices of all trips analysed are generally flight tickets. On shorter
routes, such as from Berlin to Prague and from Warsaw to Berlin, the
train is always cheaper.
● When travelling from and to Switzerland, the train is almost always
cheaper.
● The routes analysed to and from the BENELUX countries, and Austria
gave a completely mixed picture, with the flight often cheaper on
routes operated by Ryanair, easyJet or Eurowings.
On the domestic flight from Hamburg to Munich, the train was always
cheaper, on the route from Stuttgart to Berlin the train was cheaper on
6out of 9 days analysed. Germany is one of the few countries applying a
much higher VAT rate for domestic flights than for trains (19% and 7%
respectively), which helps the train being competitive. Without this taxing
scheme, the flight from Stuttgart to Berlin would have been cheaper on one
more trip.
Overall, on average on all routes analysed within, from and to Germany,
train tickets were 51% more expensive than flights. The most expensive
train route found for Germany is Manchester–Cologne: on average the train
cost 5 times as much as the polluting flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
54
A forest fire breaks out in Frohnsdorf, Brandenburg, Germany, June 2022.
© Gordon Welters/ Greenpeace
Routes analysed within, from and to Germany
Berlin–Prague
Berlin and Prague are the only pair of neighbouring capitals without a direct
flight and with a train distance of over 4 hours (the quickest train takes
4h25m). There are 6 daily direct train pairs. The cheapest transfer flight
options would be Eurowings via Düsseldorf or the Polish LOT via Warsaw.
Train tickets start from €29.90 and do not exceed €69.90 with short-term
bookings. As with all train routes involving Germany, the price clearly
decreases from short over mid to long term bookings. The cheapest flight
found was for €129.99 and takes even a little longer than the train. So this
route is practically one of the best train routes found in this analysis.
Using the 350 km long train route between Berlin and Prague causes less
than 10kg of greenhouse gases per person. Taking a transfer flight instead
would cause at least 30 times as many harmful emissions.
Zurich–Berlin
Lufthansa and easyJet fly daily between Zurich and Berlin. There are
5direct train connections a day, one of them a night train. The fastest train
takes 8h32m. The day connections were always cheaper than the night
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
55
train, and starting from €49.90. Very rare in this analysis, despite a daily
presence of easyJet, the train was found cheaper on 8 out of the 9 days
analysed.
In 2019, more than 1.1 million passengers were counted on this route.
Shifting this route completely to rail would save 97,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, as much as the yearly emissions of 65,000 fossil
fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Wolfsburg.
Budapest–Berlin
Ryanair flies daily on this route, Wizz Air 6 times a week. The railways oer
2 direct daily connections, a day and a night train with the day train taking
11h33m. Untypically for routes which are operated by low-cost carriers, the
train was found cheaper on 6 out of the 9 days analysed. The day train was
always cheaper on this route than the night train. Even on average, the train
was 25% cheaper than the flight.
A flight from Budapest to Berlin causes 221 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions per passenger. The 880 km long train ride causes 29 kg of GHG,
or 87% less than the flight.
Brussels–Hamburg
The Lufthansa subsidiary Brussels airlines is the only airline directly flying
between Brussels and Hamburg. The quickest train takes 6h26m, with an
inevitable connection in Cologne. This route has a very high price variety,
with trains ranging from only €29.90 to €178.90, and flights ranging from
€62.61 to €272.21. The train was cheaper on all days analysed.
A single flight from Brussels to Hamburg causes 183 kg of CO
2e
per
passenger. Since German railways use 100% renewable electricity for
their ICE trains in Germany, and Thalys reports a very low CO
2
emission
per passenger
12
, the train emissions are only a few percent of the flight
on this route.
Hamburg–Munich
Hamburg–Munich is the route analysed with most direct train connections:
around 45 train pairs are running between the 2 cities in North and South
Germany, the quickest train takes 5h56m. The train was always found
12
8.5 gram CO
2
/pkm
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
56
cheaper on this route, on average the train cost half of the Eurowings or
Lufthansa flight. Considering the time and frequency of the train, from an
environmental point of view, the flight between Hamburg and Munich has to
be banned.
Despite the perfect train connection, in 2022, 1,039,000 people flew
between Hamburg and Munich, causing 161,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
107,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the complete car fleet of
Kassel.
Naples–Düsseldorf/Cologne
The low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, Eurowings, flies daily between Naples
and Düsseldorf, which is near Cologne and has a much larger airport.
However, on all mid-term bookings, even more polluting transfer flights
with even cheaper low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and Wizz Air via Venice
or Bergamo were much cheaper than direct flights. The best day train takes
14h17m with 2 transfers in Milan and Frankfurt. Alternatively, the night train
from Bologna to Munich could be used, but was more expensive than the
day train on the days analysed. Long-term train tickets were not available.
The polluting flight was cheaper on all days analysed, with the train costing
almost 3 times as much as the flight.
A flight from Naples to Düsseldorf causes 381 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The 1,650 km long train trip could save 86% of these
emissions. Based on the average German CO
2
intensity for electricity, the
savings are equivalent to power a fridge with a freezer compartment for
almost 10 years.
Paris–Berlin
EasyJet and Air France fly daily between Paris and Berlin, Transavia daily
except Saturdays. easyJet was always the cheapest option on this route and
also always cheaper than the greener train. There is no direct train
connection, the trip requires at least one transfer. The cheapest flight ticket
was available for €31.25, only one out of the 9 flights analysed cost a bit
more than €100. Short-term train tickets were not available for less than
€169.90, the most expensive ticket cost €323.70. Long-term train tickets are
available for less than €80, but still all 3 of them are at least 55% more
expensive than the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
57
Buying train tickets from Paris to Berlin can be much cheaper from the
Deutsche Bahn than from SNCF for the same train connection (e.g. €206.60
versus €79). The easiest way from Paris to Berlin is the Thalys train from
Paris to Cologne, but Thalys is not selling tickets for a longer period than
3months in advance.
In 2019, around 1.3 million people flew between Paris and Berlin. Shifting
to rail would save around 140,000 tons of CO
2
, the equivalent of the
annual emissions of more than 93,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately the emissions of all cars registered in Potsdam.
Munich–Gothenburg
The only direct connection between the Bavarian capital and the second
largest Swedish city is with Lufthansa. On 8 out of the 9 days, an even more
polluting transfer flight was much cheaper than a direct flight. In most
cases, the German low-cost carrier Eurowings was the cheapest with a
transfer flight via Düsseldorf. A train trip takes 16h27m and requires two
transfers in Hamburg and Copenhagen. Long-term train tickets are not
available for this route. The polluting flight was cheaper on 5 out of the 6
days analysed. The most expensive train ticket was found for a short-term
booking at €469.39.
A direct flight from Munich to Gothenburg causes 310 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. Since the train runs in its largest part in
Germany and Sweden with 100% renewable electricity, at least 95% of
these emissions could be saved by shifting to rail.
Salzburg–Cologne
Eurowings flies four times a week between Salzburg and Cologne, on the
other days the airline flies to Düsseldorf which is very close to Cologne.
There is one direct train connection, and numerous train connections with
one transfer. The polluting flight was always cheaper than the train, with
flight prices found from €59.99 on, while the train ticket was expensive, at
€154.80 for all days analysed. On average, the train was almost twice as
expensive as the flight.
A flight from Salzburg to Cologne causes 134 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Since the train runs in its largest part in Germany
with 100% renewable electricity, almost all emissions could be saved by
shifting to rail. This saving would be equivalent to the CO
2
emissions of
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
58
the consumption of 375 kWh of average German electricity, enough to
power a washing machine for 2 years.
Manchester–Cologne
Ryanair flies 5 to 6 times a week from Manchester to Cologne, on most
other days an even more polluting transfer flight via Dublin was the
cheapest option. The flight was always much cheaper on this route than the
eco-friendly train. On average, a train ticket costs almost 5 times as much
as a plane ticket – on no other route analysed for Germany did the train
cost more on average. On 2 mid-term bookings, the train price was more
than 10 times as much. The train trip takes only 7h40m and requires
transfers in London and Brussels, with travel options every 2 hours.
In 2022, more than 71,000 passengers were flying between Manchester
and Cologne, causing more than 15,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. The 920 km long train trip causes only one seventh of harmful
emissions.
Timișoara(RO)–Munich
Timișoara, located in South–West Romania, and Munich are connected by
3daily Lufthansa flights, Wizz Air is flying 3 times a week. This high demand
can be explained by the number of expats from this area. Unlike most of
the other routes analysed, there is no significant price dierence between
Lufthansa and Wizz Air, with Lufthansa prices starting at €64.20. By train,
one transfer in Budapest is required. The trip takes 13h28m and it is
necessary to purchase 2 separate tickets to and from Budapest. The train is
more expensive than the polluting flight on 5 out of 9 trips analysed. On
average, the train is also slightly more expensive. During the research, huge
price dierences were found on this route among the railway operators: for
the exact same train from Budapest to Munich, the Hungarian railway
company MAV charged €36, the German railway company DB €89.90 and
the Austrian railway company ÖBB €144.10.
A single flight from Timișoara to Munich causes 265 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 960 km long train could save
88% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of
660 kWh of electricity (average German mix), enough to power a fridge
for more than 10 years.
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59
Vienna–Berlin
There are only 2 direct trains between the Austrian and the German
capitals, one of them a night train. In addition, during the day there are
several train connections with one transfer, the quickest connection takes
8h16m. The Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines is the only airline with
direct flights. The train is relatively aordable on this route and always
cheaper than the polluting plane: on 8 out of 9 days analysed, the train
ticket cost between €29.10 and €63.40 with the night train having the lower
prices for long-term bookings. Only with one short-term booking, the train
cost more than €100.
Despite the good and aordable train connections, in 2019, 967,000
people flew between Vienna and Berlin. Shifting these flights completely
to rail would save 64,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 43,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately the car fleet of Bayreuth.
Berlin–Graz
Eurowings flies 5 times a week between Berlin and the second largest
Austrian city, Graz. The lowest Eurowings price of all routes analysed was
found on this connection: €33. On other days, either an Austrian Airlines
flight to Vienna, with a codesharing train from Graz to Vienna, was found to
be the cheapest flight, or with Eurowings via Mallorca. There is a direct day
and a direct night train on this route, and several day connections with one
transfer. Generally, the train is relatively aordable. On 7 out of 9 days, the
train cost between €29.10 and €77.90, only on 2 short-term trips the price
was a bit over €100. The cheapest train ticket was for the night train.
Overall, the train was cheaper than the polluting flight on 5 out of 9 days
spread over all time perspectives, including both days without direct
Eurowings flight.
A flight from Berlin to Graz causes 199 kg of harmful greenhouse gases
per passenger. Since both the German and the Austrian railway
companies are using 100% renewable electricity for the trains on this
route, almost all these emissions could be saved by using the train. Based
on the average German electricity mix, running a fridge would cause the
same CO
2
emissions in around ten years.
Freiburg–Zagreb
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60
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper on 4 of the 9 days
analysed, but Ryanair did not fly on 3 of these days. On average the train
cost 2.4 times as much as the flight.
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 1,040 km long train
trip, 84% of these emissions could be saved.
Stockholm–Berlin
The best way to travel by train between Stockholm and Berlin is taking one
of the 2 night trains which are relatively new and operated by the Swedish
state railway company SJ and the private railway company Snälltåget
respectively. The best way to travel by train between Stockholm and Berlin
is taking one of the 2 night trains which are relatively new and operated by
the Swedish railway company. By air, 4 airlines are competing – easyJet,
Eurowings, Norwegian and SAS. All of them were found the cheapest at
least once, even SAS. Tickets for the night train cannot be bought 4 months
in advance, which is disadvantageous for rail. On one day, both night trains
were booked out already, therefore only 5 days could be analysed. The train
was cheaper on 3 of them, but on average the train was 20% more
expensive than the polluting flight.
In 2019, 516,000 people flew between Stockholm and Berlin. Shifting
these flights to rail would save 49,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
as much as the annual emissions of 33,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is
approximately the car fleet size of Plauen.
Oslo–Hamburg
Due to poor train connections from Norway to Denmark, Hamburg is the
furthest large foreign city that can be reasonably reached by train from
Oslo. The best rail trip with only one transfer takes 22h39m, and uses the
night train from Stockholm to Berlin on the section from Södertälje to
Hamburg. Södertälje can be reached directly from Oslo by Intercity train.
There are some faster train connections, with more changes, or including a
bus. On air, the 2 low-cost airlines Norwegian and Eurowings are competing.
Except for one day, the polluting flight was always cheaper than the train.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
61
Tickets for the night train cannot be bought 4 months in advance, which is
disadvantageous for rail. On one day, both night trains were booked out
already, therefore only 5 days could be analysed. On one mid-term trip, the
train cost 8 times as much as the flight, and was also the most expensive
train ticket of all routes analysed, at €666.47 resulting from the single-bed
sleeper as the only ticket category available for this day.
A single flight from Oslo to Hamburg causes 245 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. The 1,440 km long train trip could save
around 72% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the
consumption of 800 kWh of gas, enough to cook on a gas cooker for a full
year.
Berlin–Brussels
Ryanair and Brussels Airlines fly daily between Berlin and Brussels. A direct
night train operated by the private company European Sleeper runs 3 times
a week. Several day train options with one transfer also exist, lasting less
than 7 hours. On all days analysed, the day train was cheaper than the night
train, or not available. Despite train tickets starting low from €39.90, the
polluting Ryanair flight was cheaper than the train on 8 out of 9 days. Only
on one short-term trip, an even more polluting transfer flight with Finnair
via Helsinki was the cheapest way. On average, the train cost 63% more
than the plane on this route.
In 2019, 513,000 people flew between Berlin and Brussels. Shifting this
flight fully to train would save 44,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
equivalent to almost 30,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the
car fleet size of Görlitz.
Berlin–Copenhagen
5 airlines fly between Berlin and Copenhagen: SAS, Lufthansa, Norwegian,
easyJet and Eurowings, with the last 2 ones always found to be the
cheapest airlines and also always clearly cheaper than the eco-friendly
train. Berlin and Copenhagen are well connected by train, with 7 day trains
a day with one transfer in Hamburg, lasting 7h7m, and the night train from
Berlin to Stockholm running via Copenhagen. For this analysis, only the
quick day train was considered. There is a large dierence in the price of
trains on this route for the dierent time perspectives. Short-term train
tickets cost €141.13 on average, mid-term €89.90 and long-term €49.90. But
despite these quite cheap train tickets for long-term bookings, they were
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
62
more than 50% more expensive than the polluting easyJet flights. On
average for all 9 trips, the train was 77% more expensive than the flight.
In 2019, 629,000 people flew between Berlin and Copenhagen. Shifting
this flight completely to rail would save 27,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 18,000
fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size of Crailsheim.
Warsaw–Berlin
By air, the Polish and the German capital are only directly connected by the
state owned Polish airline LOT. A one-way ticket is not available for less
than €132.15. On most days, cheaper transfer flights with low-cost carriers
via Riga, Bologna or Copenhagen are available, starting from €55.66. The
train connection is good with 5 daily direct train pairs lasting a bit less than
6 hours. Like for many other routes in Central and Eastern European
countries, the train was found cheaper on all days, with a range from
€27.90 to €49.90. Long-term train tickets are not available for this route.
A single flight from Warsaw to Berlin causes 332 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Despite the high coal share in
the Polish electricity mix, at least 70% of these emissions can be saved
by shifting to rail. In Germany, with the average electricity mix, running a
fridge for more than 10 years causes the same amount of
climate-damaging emissions.
Zagreb–Munich
Ryanair is flying this route 2 to 3 times a week with extremely low prices
found, starting from €15 on. Air Croatia is flying daily from Zagreb to
Munich, but is clearly more expensive than Ryanair, and was never found to
be the cheapest flight: on all days even more polluting transfer flights,
mostly involving Wizz Air via Belgrade, were cheaper than the direct flight.
There are 2 daily direct trains, one in the morning and a night train. The
night train was always found cheaper than the day train. On average, the
prices of trains and planes were found almost equal, with the train being
cheaper on 6 out of 9 days analysed.
A single flight from Zagreb to Munich causes 136 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the train, at least 70%
of these emissions could be saved.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
63
Ljubljana–Hamburg
There is no direct connection on this route, neither by rail nor by air. The
train includes a night train, either from Munich or to Augsburg, and the
quickest connection takes 16h14m. On 4 out of 9 days analysed, the flight
was cheaper, with the cheapest price of all 9 days analysed at €104 via
Belgrade. The cheapest train ticket was found for €136.60. On average the
train was 1% cheaper.
A flight from Ljubljana to Hamburg via Belgrade causes 505 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. A train ride could reduce these
emissions by 92%.
13
Based on the German electricity mix, the saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 1,300 kWh of electricity, enough to
power a single household for half a year.
Rome–Berlin
The air market between the Italian and the German capital is shared by the
2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and easyJet, no traditional airline flies this route
anymore. In normal times, the best train connection is the night train from
Rome to Munich, followed by an ICE to Berlin. However, due to construction
works during summer 2023, the night train does not run between Rome and
Bologna. Therefore for short- and mid-term trips, boarding the night train
was only possible in Bologna. For long-term trips, the night train ticket was
not yet available, so the 14h26m day connection via Bologna and Munich
was considered. The flight was always clearly cheaper than the train, on
average the train cost 2.6 times as much as the flight. It can be assumed
that this route would be between €18.90 and €54.90 cheaper without the
night train interruption (no separate high speed ticket from Rome to
Bologna needed). But this would not change the fact that low-cost airlines
with their aggressive prices are always cheaper on this route.
In 2019, 560,000 passengers were flying between Rome and Berlin.
Shifting these flights to rail could save 79,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 53,000 fossil
fuelled cars. This is approximately the size of the car fleet in Hanau.
Berlin–Amsterdam
easyJet and KLM fly daily between the German and the Dutch capitals with
easyJet always the cheaper airline. On most days there are 6 daily train
pairs, and 3 times a week the private “European Sleeper”. The quickest day
13
1200 km, 33 gram GHG/pkm = 40 kg of GHG per rail passenger
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
64
train lasts 6h16m. On average, the train was 38% more expensive than the
polluting flight, with the lowest flight ticket costing €39.22. For all
long-term trips, the flight was cheaper, while the train was cheaper on the
3 short-term trips and on one mid-term day. The night train was cheaper
than the day train on its operating days.
In 2019, despite the brilliant rail connections, a bit more than 1 million
passengers were flying between Berlin and Amsterdam. Shifting these
flights to rail would save at least 79,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 53,000 fossil fuelled
cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Kaiserslautern.
Hamburg–Luxembourg
Luxembourg's national airline Luxair flies daily to Hamburg. Quite unusual,
there are no cheaper transfer flights by low-cost airlines available on this
route. The best train takes 7h38m, and requires one change in Koblenz,
Germany. Deutsche Bahn is always selling quite aordable tickets for this
route, ranging from €24.90 to €88.90 which is always cheaper than using
the polluting flight.
A flight from Hamburg to Luxembourg causes 165 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. As the train runs mainly in
Germany, using 100% renewable electricity, almost all the emissions
could be saved by using the train. Based on the average German
electricity mix, the savings on a one-way flight on this route is equivalent
to the average electricity consumption of a fridge for around 8 years.
Cologne–Barcelona
The 2 low-cost carriers Eurowings and Ryanair are both daily flying from
Cologne to Barcelona with Ryanair always the cheaper airline. The best train
connection is the Thalys high speed train to Paris, followed by a TGV to
Barcelona. The trip takes 12h41m. It also would be possible to start around
midnight with the night train to Basel, but then 2 more transfers would be
needed. That's why this option was not considered in this analysis. On one
short-term trip, the trains from France to Barcelona were already sold out,
and for one long-term trip, the Thalys tickets were not yet available. The
polluting flight was always cheaper than the train, on average the train cost
more than 3 times as much as the flight, making this route one of the most
expensive train routes analysed for Germany.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
65
A Ryanair flight from Cologne to Barcelona causes 305 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. The 1,600 km long train trip
causes only 53 kg of GHG, which is 82% less. The saved CO
2
emissions
(252 kg) are equivalent to the emissions for the production of 1,180 kWh
of electricity in Germany. This amount is enough for an average
household to cook for more than 2 years.
Stuttgart–Berlin
Eurowings and Lufthansa fly several times a day on this route, and there are
13 direct train connections a day, the fastest of which is 5h30m. Price
dierences found were rather moderate, with the train cheaper on 6 out of
the 9 days analysed. As on many other Deutsche Bahn routes, the train gets
much cheaper the earliest the ticket is bought. Short-term tickets cost
€103.90 on average, midterm €78.56 and long-term €28.56. The cheapest
long-term rail ticket cost only €19.90.
Despite the attractive rail oer, more than 1.2 million passengers were
flying between Stuttgart and Berlin in 2019. This caused 204,000 tonnes
of harmful greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual emissions of
136,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of
Mönchengladbach. Almost all of these climate damaging emissions could
be saved by using Deutsche Bahn with its 100% renewable electricity use.
Cologne–Venice
The German low-cost airline Eurowings flies daily, and Ryanair 3 times a
week from Cologne to Venice. The quickest train takes 12h36m and requires
one transfer in Munich. Alternatively, the night train from Cologne to Basel
could be used. Due to 2 more transfers in Lugano and Milan, the night train
was not considered for this route. As with all other routes between
Germany and Italy, the climate damaging flight was almost always cheaper.
The cheapest flight on all routes from and to Germany was found on this
route, at €19.99. Only on one long-term trip, the train was €24 cheaper than
the flight - following the usual pricing system of Deutsche Bahn with the
high average price dierence between short- and long-term trips (€145.56
and €57.23). On average, the train cost 2.2 times as much as the polluting
flight.
A flight from Cologne to Venice causes 173 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The 1,100 km long and relatively complicated train
route could save at least 80% of these emissions. Based on the average
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
66
German electricity mix, the emissions saved are equivalent to 390 kWh,
enough to power a fridge for around 6 years.
Berlin–London
There are several polluting flights per day by Ryanair and easyJet on this
route, with Ryanair being 5 out of 9 times the cheapest and easyJet 4 times
the cheapest. The best train connection is the private European Sleeper to
Brussels, followed by the Eurostar to London. Alternatively, there are some
day train connections with minimum 2 transfers and lasting around 11
hours. The night train was always cheaper than the day trains, though it
does not run every day but only every other day. This means that for this
route, the research date for the night train trip can be either the day of
departure or the day of arrival. As with all other routes analysed to and
from the UK, the polluting flight was always cheaper, with average train
ticket prices costing 2.3 times as much as flight tickets. Since the night
train to Brussels is relatively aordable with prices mostly below €100, the
average train price is less compared to most other UK routes, but the
absolute average price dierence is significant with €108.89.
In 2019, a bit more than 2 million people flew on the route Berlin–London.
Shifting this route to rail would save 237,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
gases. This is as much as the yearly emissions of 158,000 fossil fuelled
cars, approximately equivalent to the complete car fleet of Bonn.
Nice–Munich
The only airline directly flying between Nice and Munich is Lufthansa. On all
9 days analysed, transfer flights with other airlines were cheaper. On most
days, Lufthansa low-cost subsidiary Eurowings was cheaper via Düsseldorf,
Cologne or Hamburg. On one day, easyJet via London was the cheapest
flight, on another day it was Wizz Air via Bucharest. The train trip from Nice
to Munich includes a night train, either via Paris, or with one more transfer
the night train from Genoa to Munich. The cheaper ticket depends on the
time. The polluting flight cost half with the shortest booking, but was more
expensive with the other 2 short term dates. The polluting flight was
cheaper on all mid-term trips, while the train was cheaper on all long-term
trips. On average, the train was 6% more expensive than the flight. A typical
result for a long route which is not directly served by low-cost airlines.
A direct Lufthansa flight from Nice to Munich causes 198 kg of harmful
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
67
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via Hamburg causes
more than 2.5 times as much as a direct flight. The 880 km long train trip
causes 29kg of greenhouse gases, which is 85% less than a direct flight,
and 94% less than a transfer flight via Hamburg.
Marseille–Berlin
During the summer period, Ryanair is the only airline flying 4 times a week
between Marseille and Berlin. On other days, even more polluting flights via
Italy or Switzerland were the cheapest flight options. The most ecient
train option runs via Karlsruhe and takes 12h21m. While ticket prices from
the French Railway company SNCF were always much more expensive than
the flight, ticket prices from Deutsche Bahn were found cheaper than the
flight on 5 out of the 9 days analysed, among them all long-term trips. On
average, the train was 11% more expensive than the flight.
A direct flight from Marseille to Berlin causes 353 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. The 1,600 km long train trip causes 53
kg of greenhouse gases, which is 85% less than a flight.
Munich–Split
During summer time, the German holiday airline Condor flies several times
a week between Munich and the Croatian coastal city of Split, while Croatia
Airlines and Lufthansa fly all year long. By train, all 3 possible routes
include night trains, whether it is Vienna–Split
14
, Budapest–Split or
Munich–Zagreb. All of these routes require one transfer, but due to the slow
average speed of Slovene and Croatian railways, the trip is considerably
long with at least 22 hours.
For short-term booking, the polluting flight was clearly cheaper than the
train, with the biggest price dierence found at €309 (€89.99 vs €398.90).
On the other hand, the train was much cheaper for all long-term bookings,
with very low prices between €45 and €75, while the long-term flight cost
between €124.60 and €160.36. On average, the train was 28% more
expensive than the flight.
A flight from Munich to Split, the Croatian coast, causes 190 kg of
harmful greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the train, even
when taking the 1,400 km long way via Budapest, at least 70% of these
emissions could be saved.
14
The night train from Bratislava to Split via Vienna is only running during summer time.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
68
Greece
In 2019, all international train connections to and from Greece, including
the ones to Sofia and Bucharest, have been suspended until further notice.
The only domestic route which can be travelled either by plane or train is
Athens–Thessaloniki. It is served by many direct flights and trains daily, and
the train is always cheaper with an average of 74% of the flight price. The
Greek railway system needs massive investments to be able to replace
more than one flight connection in the future.
Charred remains of a house left standing after a forest fire in Attica, Greece in 2018
© Constantinos Stathias / Greenpeace
In 2019, Athens–Thessaloniki was the 4th most used intra-EU flight route
with more than 2.6 million passengers. Phasing out this short-haul flight
would save around 105,000 tonnes of CO
2
, as much as the annual
emissions of 70,000 cars. This is approximately the combined car fleets
of the 2 islands of Corfu and Zakyntos.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
69
Hungary
Overall situation
Hungary is the home country of Wizz Air, one of the airlines with the most
aggressive pricing policies. Wizz Air is flying to dozens of destinations from
Budapest, the same is valid for Ryanair. In addition, easyJet flies to London
and Switzerland. The dominance of low-cost carriers in Budapest is partly
due to the fact that, in 2012, the former Hungarian flag carrier MALEV went
bankrupt. Flight prices are the lowest on routes which are operated by both
of these low-cost airlines, e.g. Paris and Brussels.
By rail, Hungary is well-connected to many countries. There are even 18
train pairs to Vienna a day, allowing you to travel on all night trains starting
there in all directions. The Hungarian railway company MAV also oers
some night train connections from Budapest, including Zurich, Stuttgart and
Romania.
On routes analysed to Brussels and Paris, the polluting flight was almost
always found cheaper, with a price dierence going up to 12.5 times as
much as for the train ticket from Budapest to Brussels. On days with a
direct Ryanair connection, the Venice–Budapest route is clearly cheaper by
plane. On the other hand, it is cheaper to travel by train on routes within
Central and Eastern European countries, namely to Bucharest and Prague,
as well as to Berlin (most of this route is in CEE).
Besides Budapest, the only other international airport in Hungary is in
Debrecen. Since there are only a few departures per day, no route was
analysed from or to there.
On average for all routes analysed for Hungary, the train was 53% more
expensive than the flight.
Routes analysed from and to Hungary
Budapest–Berlin
Ryanair is flying daily on this route, Wizz Air 6 times a week. The railways
oer 2 direct daily connections, a day and a night train with the day train
taking 11h33m. Untypically for routes which are operated by low-cost
carriers, the train was found cheaper on 6 out of the 9 days analysed. The
day train was always cheaper on this route than the night train. Even on
average, the train was 25% cheaper than the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
70
A flight from Budapest to Berlin causes 221 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions per passenger. The 880 km long train ride causes 29 kg of GHG,
or 87% less than the flight.
Bucharest–Budapest
There are 2 daily night train pairs between the cities operated by the
Romanian state owned railway company CFR. By air, the Romanian state
owned TAROM flies daily, the Romanian regional airline Air Connect flies
twice a week. Since train tickets do not cost more than €37.62, the train is
always cheaper on this route. Long-term train tickets are not available for
this route.
A flight from Bucharest to Budapest causes 190 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Using the 950 km long train could save 83% of these
emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of 680 kWh of
electricity (Hungarian mix), enough to run a fridge for more than 10 years.
Venice–Budapest
Ryanair is flying 3 times a week on this route, with prices found from
€20.99 on. On 2 other days analysed, Ryanair transfer flights via London and
Nuremberg were cheaper than the train, on 4 out of the 9 days analysed the
train was slightly cheaper (biggest price advantage for the train found was
€12.28). The quickest train takes almost 11 hours, a change in Vienna is
always required. From Venice to Vienna, there are some day and night train
connections. The day train was always cheaper than the night train
connection. On average, the train was 25% more expensive than the flight.
All prices found were below €100.
A flight from Venice to Budapest causes 183 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 850 km long train ride causes 28 kg of
GHG, or 85% less than the transfer flight.
Prague–Budapest
As on some other routes in Central and Eastern Europe, the train is always
cheaper than the plane on this route, despite Ryanair flying daily except
Saturdays. Both the traditional Czech railway company CD as well as the
private railway operator RegioJet have several train pairs per day with low
prices between €21.13 and €32.77 and lasting around 6h45m. Long-term
train tickets are not available. But considering the frequency of trains and
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
71
the predictable price, it is less of a problem than e.g. on night train routes
or on train routes with a large price range.
Despite the cheap train tickets, in 2022, 112,582 passengers were flying
between the Czech and the Hungarian capitals, causing 14,400 tons of
greenhouse gases, as much as 10,000 cars emit in a year. By banning this
unnecessary short-haul flight, around 11,500 tons of GHG could be
reduced.
Budapest–Paris
There are daily direct flights by the 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air
from Budapest to Paris, in addition Air France is operating on that route.
The best train connection includes a night train, either from Budapest to
Stuttgart or from Vienna to Paris. The former was always the cheapest train
option found. The night train to Stuttgart was always aordable, with prices
between €29.90 and €89, but the TGV or the ICE from Stuttgart to Paris
was up to 3 times as expensive as the night train, resulting in the flight
being always cheaper than the train. On one day, an even more polluting
transfer flight with Ryanair via Bergamo, Italy, was available for less than
half the price of the direct flight (€77.10 vs €162).
In 2022, 480,000 passengers were flying between the 2 cities, causing
179,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. A train trip on this
1,480 km long route could save around 87% of these emissions. The
saving is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 103,000 fossil fuelled cars.
This is approximately the car fleet size of Debrecen.
Budapest–Brussels
There are daily direct flights by the 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air
from Budapest to Brussels, in addition Brussels Airlines is operating on that
route. Flights were found at really low prices from €20.37 on. The best train
connection includes a night train, either from Budapest to Stuttgart or from
Vienna to Brussels. The first one was always the cheapest train option
found. The night train to Stuttgart was always aordable, with prices mostly
between €29.90 and €59, but the ICEs or the TGV and Thalys from Stuttgart
to Brussels via Frankfurt or Paris were double to 4 times as expensive as
the the night train, except for the long-term bookings. Travelling by rail was
systematically more expensive than travelling by air, costing on average 4.5
times as much. On one mid-term booking, the train cost 12.5 times as much
as the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
72
A flight from Budapest to Brussels causes 421 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 1,350 km long train trip could reduce
these emissions by 90%. Based on the Hungarian electricity mix, this
saving is equivalent to the consumption of 1,700 kWh of electricity,
enough for a single household for around 10 months.
Italy
Overall situation
With the recent collapse of the former Italian airline ALITALIA, Italy became
a paradise for low-cost airlines. They operate 14 out of the 15 routes
analysed. Surprisingly, even some major routes such as Rome–Berlin are no
longer served by traditional airlines.
Thanks to a well-functioning high-speed rail network and some domestic
night trains, many countries are reasonably accessible by train, even from
the south of the country. There are frequent international train connections
to Switzerland and Austria, continuing to France and Germany. There is no
direct train from Genoa to Nice along the Ligurian coast, but frequent train
connections with changes in Ventimiglia. Italy is poorly connected by train
to Slovenia, with only one train pair per day from Trieste to Ljubljana. The
best train connections from Italy to Slovenia usually take the long route via
Austria.
On 13 out of the 15 routes analysed, flights were always or almost always
cheaper, including the domestic route from Palermo to Turin with the flight
cheaper on 7 out of 9 trips analysed. On another route, Venice–Budapest,
the train was cheaper on 4 out of 9 days and more expensive on average.
The only exception is the route from Ljubljana to Milan. Here the train was
always found cheaper, due to the fact that there are no direct flights
between these cities.
On average, for all the routes analysed for Italy, the train costs 2.5 times as
much as the flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
73
Water withdrawal causes cracks in the dry riverbed during the drought at
Basilicata in the South of Italy, in 2018 © Giuseppe Lanotte / Greenpeace
Routes analysed within, from and to Italy
Ljubljana–Milan
Ljubljana–Milan is one of the few routes analysed without any direct
connection, and it is also one of the few routes which cannot be travelled
with low-cost carriers. Typical flight routes are Air France via Paris or LOT
via Warsaw. The fastest train route requires 2 changes, in Trieste and
Venice, and takes 8h28. In October, the fastest train connection lasts one
more hour and goes via Villach, Austria. The train was found to be always
cheaper on this route, making it the only route analysed for Italy where the
train was cheaper.
A flight from Ljubljana to Milan via Paris causes 496 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger, a flight via Warsaw even 615 kg.
The 500 km long train ride causes 16.5 kg of GHG, or 97% less than the
transfer flight via Paris.
Naples–Düsseldorf/Cologne
The German low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, Eurowings, flies daily
between Naples and Düsseldorf, which is near Cologne and has a much
larger airport. However, on all mid-term bookings, even more polluting
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
74
transfer flights with even cheaper low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and
Wizz Air via Venice or Bergamo were much cheaper than direct flights. The
best day train takes 14h17m with 2 transfers in Milan and Frankfurt.
Alternatively, the night train from Bologna to Munich could be used, but was
more expensive than the day train on the days analysed. Long-term train
tickets were not available. The polluting flight was cheaper on all days
analysed, with the train costing almost 3 times as much as the flight.
A flight from Naples to Düsseldorf causes 381 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The 1,650 km long train trip could save 86% of these
emissions. Based on the average Italian CO
2
intensity for electricity, the
savings are equivalent to power a fridge with a freezer compartment for
around 12 years.
Paris–Milan
Both easyJet and Ryanair fly daily between Paris and Milan, and there is
also a direct TGV train. On 8 out of 9 days analysed, the flight is cheaper,
with prices between €25.99 and €79.25. The most expensive train ticket
costs almost 3 times as much as a flight. Short-term train tickets are not
available below €149. Only on a single day analysed, the train was found
16% cheaper.
In 2019, more than 2.1 million people flew on this route. Shifting to rail
would save around 175,000 tons of CO
2
, the equivalent of the annual
emissions of more than 115,000 cars. This is approximately the complete
car fleet of Messina.
Paris–Rome
As with most other routes between Europe’s largest capitals, the
climate-killing flight was cheaper on all days analysed. Low-cost airlines
Wizz Air and Vueling are among those flying between the 2 capitals. There is
no direct train between Paris and Rome, at least one transfer is needed in
Milan or Torino. The minimum train travel time is 10h12m, there is no night
train running between France and Italy. Flight tickets start low at €29.99.
The cheapest train ticket cost €73.90, while all short-term train tickets cost
more than €200, and all mid-term more than €100. On average, the train
cost twice as much as the plane on this route.
In 2019, 2.25 million people flew between Paris and Rome (both-ways).
Shifting this flight to rail would save 308,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
75
gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 205,000 cars. This is
approximately the car fleet of Bari.
Palermo–Turin
Palermo–Turin is one the longest possible train trips in Italy with a length of
almost 1,600 km. There are 2 reasonable options, either taking the night
train from Palermo to Florence, or the night train from Salerno to Turin. The
fastest train trip takes 21h10m. As on many other Italian routes, Ryanair and
Volotea fly on this route, with Ryanair always the cheaper airline. Except for
2 long–term trips, the polluting flight was always cheaper. On average, the
train cost more than twice as much as the plane.
In 2019, 279,000 people flew between Palermo and Turin causing 233 kg
of harmful greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the train can reduce
these emissions by 77%. It is a bit lower than on most other routes due to
the much longer train trip compared to the flight over the sea, but still
significant.
Venice–Budapest
Ryanair is flying 3 times a week on this route, with prices found from
€20.99 on. On 2 other days analysed, Ryanair transfer flights via London and
Nuremberg were cheaper than the train, on 4 out of the 9 days analysed the
train was slightly cheaper (biggest price advantage for the train found was
€12.28). The quickest train takes almost 11 hours, a change in Vienna is
always required. From Venice to Vienna, there are some day and night train
connections. The day train was always cheaper than the night train
connection. On average, the train was 25% more expensive than the flight.
All prices found were below €100.
A flight from Venice to Budapest causes 183 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 850 km long train ride causes 28 kg of
GHG, or 85% less than the transfer flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
76
Flooding in Venice from high sea levels in 2019 © Roberto Silvino / Greenpeace
Milan–Prague
The train is always more expensive on the route from Milan to Prague, on
average almost 5 times as much as the flight. Wizz Air is oering low prices
on this route, starting from €19.99 and not above €59.99 for a short-term
booking. The best train connection is the night train to Vienna, and the
connecting train to Prague. Only long-term train tickets were available
below €100, but even on the cheapest train days, the flight cost less than
half.
A single flight from Milan to Prague causes 185 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions. Despite the train taking a long 1,200 km route via Vienna,
78% of these emissions could be saved by using the train.
Vienna–Venice
Ryanair and Austrian Airlines (AUA) are flying daily from Vienna to Venice.
There are also 3 direct train connections including a night train, the
quickest train taking less than 8 hours. Ryanair is always cheaper than AUA,
with prices below €22 on 4 out of the 9 days analysed. Since train prices
are also starting low, at €28.30, trains were found cheaper on 3 days. On
average, the train price is 140% of the flight price. The most expensive train
ticket found cost €107.50.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
77
Based on 2019 passenger figures, 10,400 tons of CO
2
could be saved by
shifting all passengers to rail. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
around 7,000 cars.
Rome–Vienna
The 2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, as well as Austrian Airlines fly
between the Italian and the Austrian capitals. Flight prices are starting at
€14.99. The best train connection is a direct night train. In summer 2023,
the night train route to the north of Rome is interrupted due to
construction work, so mid-term bookings require a high-speed train from
Rome to Bologna to board the night train there. This made the train trip
even more expensive. On average, the train cost 3.3 times as much as the
polluting flight. The train was only cheaper for a short-term booking (€1.79
cheaper than the flight), and for a long-term booking, with a train ticket
available for €28.40, the lowest possible price for this route.
In 2019, 558,000 people flew between Rome and Vienna. Shifting these
flights fully to rail would save 52,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 35,000 fossil
fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet of Lamezia Terme.
Zagreb–Rome
Although there is “only” one direct flight 4 days a week operated by Ryanair,
flying is always clearly cheaper than taking the train on this route. Even
transfer flights with Lufthansa via Munich, or with Ryanair and the Italian
ITA via Naples are cheaper. Normally, a train trip from Zagreb to Rome only
requires a change at Villach, Austria, to take the night train to Rome.
However, due to construction works north of Rome during summer 2023,
passengers have to leave the night train in Bologna and continue on an
Italian high-speed train. The total travel time is 13h32m, the average train
price found was 3.5 times as much as the flight, on one day it was almost
10 times as much.
A connecting flight from Zagreb to Rome via Munich causes double
greenhouse gas emissions compared to a direct flight. A train ride can
reduce GHG emissions on this route by around 60% compared to a direct
flight (which is a bit less compared to other routes due to the train taking
a long route via Austria).
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
78
Rome–Berlin
The air market between the Italian and the German capital is shared by the
2 low-cost airlines Ryanair and easyJet, no traditional airline flies this route
anymore. In normal times, the best train connection is the night train from
Rome to Munich, followed by an ICE to Berlin. However, due to construction
works during summer 2023, the night train does not run between Rome and
Bologna. Therefore for short- and mid-term trips, boarding the night train
was only possible in Bologna. For long-term trips, the night train ticket was
not yet available, so the 14h26m day connection via Bologna and Munich
was considered. The flight was always clearly cheaper than the train, on
average the train cost 2.6 times as much as the flight. It can be assumed
that this route would be between €18.90 and €54.90 cheaper without the
night train interruption (no separate high speed ticket from Rome to
Bologna needed). But this would not change the fact that low-cost airlines
with their aggressive prices are always cheaper on this route.
In 2019, 560,000 passengers were flying between Rome and Berlin.
Shifting these flights to rail could save 79,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 53,000 fossil
fuelled cars. This is approximately the size of the car fleet in Vicenza.
Luxembourg–Milan
Very unusual for an airport belonging to a very small city, 4 airlines fly this
route: Luxair, ITA Airways, Ryanair and easyJet. The 2 low-cost airlines
always have the cheapest direct flight prices starting from €15.49, but do
not fly every day. When the low-cost airlines do not fly directly, a transfer
flight with Ryanair via London is cheaper than the direct Luxair flight. The
best train option takes 7h26m and requires 2 transfers in Mulhouse and
Basel. On all days analysed, the polluting flight was cheaper than the train.
On average the train cost almost 3 times as much as the flight.
In 2022, 215,000 passengers flew between Luxembourg and Milan.
Shifting these flights to rail would save at least 31,000 tonnes of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 21,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Sassuolo.
Cologne–Venice
The German low-cost airline Eurowings flies daily, and Ryanair 3 times a
week from Cologne to Venice. The quickest train takes 12h36m and requires
one transfer in Munich. Alternatively, the night train from Cologne to Basel
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
79
could be used. Due to 2 more transfers in Lugano and Milan, the night train
was not considered for this route. As with all other routes between
Germany and Italy, the climate damaging flight was almost always cheaper.
The cheapest flight on all routes from and to Germany was found on this
route, at €19.99. Only on one long-term trip, the train was €24 cheaper than
the flight - following the usual pricing system of Deutsche Bahn with the
high average price dierence between short- and long-term trips (€145.56
and €57.23). On average, the train cost 2.2 times as much as the polluting
flight.
A flight from Cologne to Venice causes 173 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The 1,100 km long and relatively complicated train
route could save at least 80% of these emissions. Based on the average
North Italian electricity mix, the emissions saved are equivalent to 510
kWh, enough to power a fridge for around 8 years.
Paris–Venice
Both of the largest low-cost airlines, easyJet and Ryanair, fly daily from
Paris to Venice. While easyJet uses the main airport of Venice, Ryanair flies
to nearby Treviso. The best train connection lasts 9h44m with one transfer
in Milan. Alternatively, the night trains from Stuttgart or Augsburg can be
used for this route. For this analysis, all these train options were
considered, and both day and night trains were found cheaper on dierent
days. Long-term train tickets cost less than €84. However, the polluting
flight was always much cheaper. The average price of a train ticket is more
than twice the price of a flight.
In 2019, more than 1.2 million people flew between Paris and Venice.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save more than 127,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of
85,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet of Parma.
Marseille–Rome
Southern France and Italy are not well-connected by train: at least 2
changes are required on that route. On some days, it was possible to take
the night train from Turin to Rome, on other days a change in Paris was
required; another option was a train trip with 3 transfers and regional trains
along the Ligurian coast. By air, Ryanair flies daily on this route. The
eco-friendly train was always more expensive than the flight, on average the
train cost 4.5 times as much as the plane.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
80
A flight from Marseille to Rome causes 189 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. The shortest train route via Nice with 920 km,
causes only 30 kg of greenhouse gases per passenger.
Luxembourg
Overall situation
The Luxembourg airport Findel is unusually large for the size of the country.
Clearly larger countries such as Slovakia, Slovenia or Estonia have much
smaller airports. The majority state-owned airline Luxair flies to 16
countries analysed in this report. Luxembourg also became quite popular
for low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet. Therefore, in quite some
cases, even more polluting transfer flights, e.g. via London, were found to
be cheaper than direct Luxair flights.
By rail, most of the cities analysed can be reasonably reached. Direct train
connections are limited to Brussels and Paris, but many regional trains
connect well to the high-speed rail network and night trains in neighbouring
countries.
On 2 out of the 4 routes analysed, Luxembourg–Barcelona and
Luxembourg–Milan, flights were always clearly cheaper than trains. The
most expensive train route analysed is the one to Barcelona, with trains
costing on average more than 3 times as much as the flight. The average
train cost to Milan was only slightly lower. On the route from Zagreb, a
route without any direct flight, the train was cheaper on half of the days
analysed, but, on average, nearly 50% more expensive. The only route
cheaper by train than by plane is Hamburg–Luxembourg: only Luxair flies
this route, and there are no realistic cheaper and even more polluting
transfer flights available on the days analysed.
Routes analysed from and to Luxembourg
Luxembourg–Barcelona
Luxair flies daily on this route, Ryanair 5 times a week. On its operating
days, Ryanair was always cheaper. The most ecient climate-friendly train
trip requires one transfer in Paris and lasts 11h15m. On one short-term trip,
the trains from France to Barcelona were booked out. Even though the
polluting flight is relatively expensive on this route, on average at €125.73,
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
81
the greener train was always clearly more expensive. On average the train
cost more than 3 times as much as the polluting flight.
In 2022, 124,000 passengers flew between Luxembourg and Barcelona
causing 38,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. Shifting these flights
to rail would save 83% of these emissions, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of 21,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet
size of the second largest town in Luxembourg, Esch.
Zagreb–Luxembourg
Zagreb–Luxembourg is one of the few routes analysed without any direct
connection. The best train route is a night train to Stuttgart, followed by 2
trains to Strasbourg and Luxembourg, with a total travel time of 18h35m.
The cheapest flight route on most days is with Ryanair via London. This
connection was found from €45.19 on. The train is cheaper on half of the
days analysed, but on average, it costs 1.5 times as much as the polluting
flight. On most days, the night train ticket was much cheaper than the
tickets for the connecting trains from Stuttgart to Luxembourg. Long-term
train tickets for the section from Stuttgart to Luxembourg were not
available.
A connecting flight from Zagreb to Luxembourg via London causes around
550 kg of harmful greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. A train ride
for the 1,110 kms causes only around 37 kg of GHG, which is 93% less than
the flight. Based on the average mix in Luxembourg, the CO
2
saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 2,000 kWh electricity, enough to power
a 2-person household for a year.
Luxembourg–Milan
Very unusual for an airport belonging to a very small city, 4 airlines fly this
route: Luxair, ITA Airways, Ryanair and easyJet. The 2 low-cost airlines
always have the cheapest direct flight prices starting from €15.49, but do
not fly every day. When the low-cost airlines do not fly directly, a transfer
flight with Ryanair via London is cheaper than the direct Luxair flight. The
best train option takes 7h26m and requires 2 transfers in Mulhouse and
Basel. On all days analysed, the polluting flight was cheaper than the train.
On average the train cost almost 3 times as much as the flight.
In 2022, 215,000 passengers flew between Luxembourg and Milan.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
82
Shifting these flights to rail would save at least 31,000 tonnes of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 21,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of the second
largest town in Luxembourg, Esch.
Hamburg–Luxembourg
Luxembourg's national airline Luxair flies daily to Hamburg. Quite unusual,
there are no cheaper transfer flights by low-cost airlines available on this
route. The best train takes 7h38m, and requires one change in Koblenz,
Germany. Deutsche Bahn is always selling quite aordable tickets for this
route, ranging from €25.90 to €88.90 which is always cheaper than using
the polluting flight.
A flight from Hamburg to Luxembourg causes 165 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. As the train runs mainly in
Germany, using 100% renewable electricity, almost all the emissions
could be saved by using the train. Based on the average Luxembourg
electricity mix, the savings on a one-way flight on this route is equivalent
to the average electricity consumption of a fridge with a freezer
compartment in 8 years.
Netherlands
Overall situation
The Netherlands is home to the EU’s largest airport, Amsterdam-Schiphol.
Outside the UK, Schiphol is the largest base for the low-cost airline
easyJet, which operates with direct flights on 5 of the 8 routes analysed.
Another route is operated directly by another low-cost carrier, Norwegian.
The Netherlands has excellent rail links with its neighbouring countries.
There are even direct train connections to London, Zurich and Vienna, the
latter two with overnight trains. There is also now a night train to Berlin 3
nights a week. As a result, most of the countries analysed can be reached
from the Netherlands within a reasonable time by train.
On the routes analysed to and from the Netherlands, the train was never
found systematically cheaper than the polluting option, i.e. the plane. On
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
83
average for all 8 routes analysed, the train costs 1.5 times the price of the
polluting flight.
On 3 out of 8 routes analysed, the flight was dominantly cheaper, namely
from/to London, Nice and Stockholm, with Nice–Amsterdam being the most
expensive train route found for the Netherlands, and a train ticket costing
on average 3 times as much as the polluting flight.
On 4 other routes, namely from/to Copenhagen, Prague, Ljubljana and
Berlin, the train was cheaper on some days, but more expensive on average.
Only one route was found cheaper by train most of the time:
Amsterdam–Warsaw, and also at a lower average price.
Most of the trips where the train was found cheaper were long-term trips
involving Deutsche Bahn – e.g. all long-term trips from Amsterdam to
Copenhagen were cheaper by train than by plane, while all short-term trips
were more expensive with the climate-friendly train.
EasyJet flight takes o from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. ©Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace
Routes analysed from and to the Netherlands
Amsterdam–London
Amsterdam–London is Europe's most used short-haul flight route, despite
the fact that there are 4 daily direct train connections lasting only 4 hours.
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84
easyJet flies 15 times a day on this route. The Eurostar train was almost
always found to be more expensive than the polluting flight, with prices up
to €333. Only with one long-term booking, the train was €0.42 cheaper. On
average, the train cost almost double than the plane.
In 2019, more than 4.7 million passengers were travelling this route by air
(both-ways). Banning this useless and very polluting short-haul flight
route would save more than 216,000 tonnes of CO
2
per year, as much as
the annual emissions of around 144,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is
approximately the car fleet size in Groningen.
Amsterdam–Copenhagen
Amsterdam and Copenhagen are connected daily by KLM, SAS and easyJet.
The last one is always oering the lowest flight prices. A train ride requires
at least 2 changes and takes at least 11 hours. As often with German trains,
there is a large range in train costs, found from €56.90 to €209.90, with the
train being most expensive for short-term trips and cheapest for long-term
trips. Flight prices were found a bit more stable, with the exception of one
very expensive short-term flight. Overall, flights were found to be cheaper
on 4 days, trains on 5 days. On average, trains were 6% more expensive
than flights. But even on days when the train is cheaper, it is questionable
whether many people will use it because of the complicated connection.
In 2019, more than 1.1 million people were flying on this route making it to
one of the most used short-haul flights from and to Copenhagen.
Calculated with European average emission data for planes and trains,
shifting this connection fully to rail would save at least 88,000 tons of
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 59,000
fossil fueled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Maastricht.
Considering that the route is mainly in Germany and the Netherlands
where both railway companies use 100% renewable energy for its trains,
the emission savings would be even clearly higher.
Amsterdam–Warsaw
The train connection between the Dutch and the Polish capitals could be
better. The best daily connection takes 13h31m and includes 2 transfers. 3
times a week, the night train between Amsterdam and Berlin can be used.
Direct flights are operated by the Polish state airline LOT and KLM only.
Typically for such cases, much cheaper and even more polluting transfer
flights were found, most of them using easyJet and Ryanair via London. The
polluting flight was cheaper on 2 out of 3 short-term trips. The train was
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
85
cheaper on all 3 mid-term trips. Train tickets for most trains to Poland
cannot be bought 4 months in advance, which is disadvantageous for trains
over planes.
A direct flight from Amsterdam to Warsaw causes 362 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via London causes 38%
more. Using the 1,200 km long train trip could save 92% of these harmful
emissions of the transfer flight.
Prague–Amsterdam
Prague–Amsterdam is daily operated by easyJet, except on Saturdays in the
winter flight schedule. The best train connection is a train to Berlin, and the
private European Sleeper to Amsterdam on its operating days, since the day
train connections last longer than 12 hours. The train never costs much
more than €100, but was found cheaper only on all 3 midterm journeys, and
on one long-term trip when only KLM flies. On average, the train was 44%
more expensive than the polluting flight.
In 2022, more than 500,000 people flew between Prague and the
Netherlands, making this one of the most popular Czech short-haul
flights. This route emits 116,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases a year,
85% of which could be saved by shifting to rail – thus saving the
equivalent of the annual emissions from 66,000 fossil fuel powered cars,
which is approximately half of Ostrava´s car fleet.
Amsterdam–Stockholm
On air, this route is served by Norwegian, SAS and KLM. The only reasonable
train connection lasts longer than 17 hours, with 2 changes including the
night train from Hamburg to Stockholm. On average, the train costs
2.5times as much as the flight, with prices up to €686, due to the sleeper
being the only category available on the night train. Only on 2 days analysed
the trains were slightly cheaper, by €0.48 and €10.70. On one day analysed,
all night train options were sold out.
In 2019, more than 860,000 passengers were travelling this route by air.
Shifting this route completely to rail, would save more than 120,000
tonnes of CO
2
per year, as much as the annual emissions of around 80,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of
‘s-Hertogenbosch.
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86
Ljubljana–Amsterdam
The French Transavia flies 4 times a week from Ljubljana to Amsterdam, on
other days the cheapest flights are via London with Wizz Air or easyJet. A
train ride requires 2 changes, either at Villach and Munich and a night train,
or a night train to Stuttgart and then 2 ICE trains. The flight was cheaper on
4 out of the 9 days analysed, on average the train was found to be 15%
more expensive. The cheapest flight found was a flight via London for
€56.82.
A flight from Ljubljana to Amsterdam via London–Luton causes 50%
more greenhouse gas emissions than a direct flight, and at least ten
times more than the train.
Berlin–Amsterdam
EasyJet and KLM fly daily between the German and the Dutch capitals with
easyJet always the cheaper airline. On most days there are 6 daily train
pairs, and 3 times a week the private “European Sleeper”. The quickest day
train lasts 6h16m. On average, the train was 38% more expensive than the
polluting flight, with the lowest flight ticket costing €39.22. For all
long-term trips, the flight was cheaper, while the train was cheaper on the
3 short-term trips and on one mid-term day. The night train was cheaper
than the day train on its operating days.
In 2019, despite the brilliant rail connections, a bit more than 1 million
passengers were flying between Berlin and Amsterdam. Shifting these
flights to rail would save at least 79,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 53,000 fossil fuelled
cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Deventer.
Nice–Amsterdam
The 2 low-cost airlines easyJet and Transavia fly daily between Nice and
Amsterdam with easyJet always the cheaper airline. The most eective
train connection is the night train to Paris and the Thalys to Amsterdam.
The polluting plane was always cheaper on this route, on average the train
cost 1.8 times as much as the plane. On one mid-term trip, all trains were
booked out, and for the Thalys tickets cannot be bought more than 4
months in advance.
In 2019, 480,000 passengers were flying between Nice and Amsterdam.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
87
Shifting these flights to rail would save at least 55,000 tonnes of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 37,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Gouda.
Norway
Overall situation
Norway has a quite dense rail network with frequent connections in the
more populated south, while a main train line connects the south with the
north up to Bodø, also served by night trains. The northernmost city
accessible by rail is Narvik, but it can only be reached via Sweden.
Reasonable international train connections are relatively rare and limited to
Sweden, Denmark and the very north of Germany. There are only 4 daily
direct train connections to Stockholm, while going to Copenhagen requires
at least one change. Berlin cannot be reached from Oslo with a reasonable
train connection although it is as far away from Oslo as from Stockholm
(that has direct night train connections to Germany’s capital). The
Norwegian railway company does not sell long-term tickets, which is
disadvantageous for rail. Long-term tickets could therefore not be analysed
except for Stockholm-Narvik, which is operated by the Swedish railway
company.
The flight market is mainly dominated by the private low-cost airline
Norwegian and by Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS). Out of the 7 routes
analysed, 2 are always cheaper by train. These are the routes from
Trondheim to Oslo and from Stockholm to Narvik. While the first one is the
most used short-haul flight route for Norway, the second one has no direct
flight. On 2 routes, the plane is (almost) always cheaper, namely
Oslo–Hamburg and Bergen–Stockholm. On the trips to the other
Scandinavian capitals, it depends on the day, though on average, the train
price to Stockholm is 110% and from Copenhagen 116% of the flight. The
domestic night train route Oslo–Bodø showed only a 3% dierence in the
average costs.
On average for all routes analysed for Norway, the train is 35% more
expensive than the polluting flight.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
88
Routes analysed within, from and to Norway
Oslo–Stockholm
There are only 2 daily direct train pairs between the Norwegian and the
Swedish capital lasting around 7 hours, while there are at least 16 daily
direct flights by Norwegian, SAS and a bit surprisingly, by Ethiopian Airlines.
The last one even oered the cheapest flight on 2 thirds of the days
analysed. Long-term train tickets are not available therefore only 6 days
could be analysed. On half of these days, the flight was up to 36% cheaper.
On half of the other days, the train was slightly cheaper with a price
advantage of €0.45, €1.13 and €7.18. On average, the train price was 110% of
the flight price.
In 2019, more than 1.4 million passengers were travelling this route by air.
Shifting this route completely to rail would save more than 70,000 tonnes
of CO
2
per year, as much as the emissions of around 45,000 fossil fuelled
cars. This is approximately the car fleets of Tromsø and Bodø combined.
Oslo–Bodø(NO)
Bodø is the final stop of the train line running north through Norway. From
Oslo, the 3 train options per day take between 17 and 19 hours, including a
night train, either to or from Trondheim. Of the 9 days selected, 3 could not
be analysed because long-term train tickets are not sold, and 1 day was
partly covered by a replacement bus resulting in a trip of more than 24
hours. As most flight routes in Norway, this one is operated by Norwegian
and SAS, with Norwegian being the cheaper airline on 8 out of the 9 days
analysed. From the 5 days with trains and planes available, flights were
cheaper on 3 days. The average price was almost the same with rail 3%
more expensive. The train price is relatively stable, ranging from €140 to
€210.
A single flight from Oslo to Bodø causes 231 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. Even though the train route from Trondheim
to Bodø runs on diesel
15
, about 70% of these emissions could be saved by
travelling by train.
15
The train route from Oslo to Bodø is around 1,200 km long. Diesel trains emit around 50g
of GHG per passenger kilometre, which results in around 60 kg of GHG per person for this
trip (note: the actual emissions are probably lower, as the train is likely to run on electricity
between Oslo and Trondheim).
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89
Bergen–Stockholm
The polluting flight was always cheaper than the train on this quite long
route from the Norwegian west coast to Stockholm. In most cases, the
low-cost airline Norwegian was the cheapest airline. The best train
connection is a night train from Bergen to Oslo, followed by an Intercity
train to Stockholm, and takes 14h14m. On average, the greener train cost
1.7times as much as the flight. Long-term tickets are not available for
Norwegian trains, which is disadvantageous over planes.
A flight from Bergen to Stockholm causes 229 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Using the 990 km long train trip could save around
85% of these emissions.
Stockholm–Narvik
Narvik is the northernmost town in Norway accessible by train, though the
only train line to Narvik enters from Sweden without direct train
connections to places further South. There is a direct night train from
Stockholm running to Narvik, taking 18h25m. There is no direct flight on this
route, all flight connections to Narvik go via Oslo. The train was always
cheaper than the flight on this route. On 2 mid-term days, the train was
already booked out.
A single flight from Stockholm via Oslo to Narvik causes 408 kg of
harmful greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By taking the 1,400 km
long train trip, almost all these emissions could be saved since the
Swedish railways are running fully on renewable electricity and even the
last part of the route to Narvik is electrified. The saved CO
2
emissions are
approximately equivalent to cooking on a gas cooker for 2 to 3 years.
Copenhagen–Oslo
The Danish and the Norwegian capitals are not well connected by train.
There is a maximum of one train option per day with 2 transfers, and 2
more options with 3 transfers each. Most connections oered by the train
time tables include buses. The train takes more than 10 hours, including a
90-minute waiting time at stations. In addition, train tickets are not
available 4 months in advance, disadvantageous for rail over planes. 3
airlines fly this route: Norwegian, Wideroe and SAS which all were the
cheapest on at least one day. The flight price is below €70 on 7 out of 9
days analysed. The plane was cheaper on all 3 short-term bookings, the
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
90
train was cheaper on all 3 mid-term bookings. On average, the train was
16% more expensive than the polluting plane.
In 2019, 1,500,000 people flew between Copenhagen and Oslo making it
the most used international short-haul flight route for Denmark with a
train alternative. Shifting this flight completely to rail would save 93,000
tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly
emissions of 62,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the car fleet size
of Fredrikstad.
Oslo–Hamburg
Due to poor train connections from Norway to Denmark, Hamburg is the
furthest foreign city that can be reasonably reached by train from Oslo. The
best rail trip with only one transfer takes 22h39m, and uses the night train
from Stockholm to Berlin on the section from Södertälje to Hamburg.
Södertälje can be reached directly from Oslo by Intercity train. There are
some faster train connections, with more changes, or including a bus. On
air, the 2 low-cost airlines Norwegian and Eurowings are competing. Tickets
for the night train cannot be bought 4 months in advance, which is
disadvantageous for rail. On one day, both night trains were booked out
already, therefore only 5 days could be analysed. Except for one day, the
polluting flight was always cheaper than the train. On one mid-term trip,
the train cost 8 times as much as the flight, and was also the most
expensive train ticket of all routes analysed, at €666.47 resulting from the
single-bed sleeper as the only ticket category available for this day.
A single flight from Oslo to Hamburg causes 245 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. The 1,440 km long train trip could save
around 72% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the
consumption of 800 kWh of gas, enough to cook on a gas cooker for a full
year.
Trondheim–Oslo
Trondheim–Oslo is the most used short-haul flight route for Norway with a
train alternative. There are 6 direct train connections a day, one of them a
night train. The fastest day train takes 6h39m. As on most air routes in
Norway, Norwegian and SAS compete with each other. In addition, the
regional carrier Wideroe also operates on the route. Despite the presence of
a low-cost airline, the train was always cheaper than the flight. All 3
mid-term trips cost the same for train and plane (€64.57 and €69.45).
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91
Though the price advantage of the train is not high (13%), this route belongs
to the great train routes found in this analysis.
In 2019, 2,106,000 people flew between Trondheim and Oslo, making it
the most-used short-haul flight route for Norway with a train alternative.
This is more than 25% more passengers than on Norway's most used
international flight route, the one to Copenhhagen. Banning the useless
flight from Trondheim to Oslo would save 110,000 tonnes of greenhouse
gases a year. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 74,000 fossil
fuelled cars, which is not much less than all fossil fuelled cars in
Trondheim.
Poland
Overall situation
International rail connections from and to Poland are relatively good and
many countries and cities can be reasonably reached. There are direct train
connections to all neighbouring EU capitals. The most ecient one is
Warsaw–Berlin with 5 train pairs a day. The connection to Lithuania is the
only poor one, with only one train crossing the border per day. Trains in
Poland, as in most Central and Eastern European countries, are generally
rather cheap. Compared to other CEE countries such as Slovakia or
Hungary, the Polish aviation sector is not yet dominated by low-cost
airlines. Ryanair is operating on 13 Polish airports, but flies only on 1 out of
the 6 routes analysed from and to Poland, namely from Vienna to Warsaw.
On all CEE train routes analysed from and to Poland, the train was always
cheaper than flights. But on some of these routes, the train frequency and
speed is very low, especially on the routes to Lithuania and Slovenia. On the
route operated by Ryanair, Vienna–Warsaw, the train is 40% more expensive
on average. Ryanair is oering extremely low prices on this route, starting
from €12.99. On the route from Amsterdam to Warsaw, operated by KLM
and the Polish state airline LOT only, the train is always cheaper than the
direct flight, but even more polluting transfer flights with low-cost carriers
via London do exist and are partly cheaper than the train.
The Polish railway company does not sell tickets for trains 4 months in
advance. Long-term prices for routes to and from Poland could only be
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
92
obtained when a train from another railway operator was available (such as
the night train from Vienna).
Biebrza National Park near Warsaw, on fire in 2020 © Rafal Wojczal/Greenpeace
Routes analysed from and to Poland
Vienna–Warsaw
Vienna–Warsaw is served daily with 3 direct train pairs, one of them a night
train, and by 3 airlines, out of them Ryanair always oered the lowest
prices starting from €12.99, one of the lowest flight prices found in this
analysis. Only one short-term flight was oered for slightly more than €100.
Despite train prices being also relatively low (below €72) and night trains
partly available from €19.90 on, the train costs on average 140% of the
flight. For long-term trips, only tickets for the night train operated by the
Austrian railway company ÖBB were available, while the Polish railway
company PKP does not sell day trains tickets four months in advance.
Based on 2019 passenger numbers, fully replacing this flight by train
would save around 28,000 tons of CO
2
per year, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of more than 18,500 cars. This is approximately the car fleet
size of Świnoujście.
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93
Amsterdam–Warsaw
The train connection between the Dutch and the Polish capitals could be
better. The best daily connection takes 13h31m and includes 2 transfers.
3times a week, the night train between Amsterdam and Berlin can be used.
Direct flights are operated by the Polish state airline LOT and KLM only.
Typically for such cases, much cheaper and even more polluting transfer
flights were found, most of them using easyJet and Ryanair via London. The
polluting flight was cheaper on 2 out of 3 short-term trips. The train was
cheaper on all 3 mid-term trips. Train tickets for most trains to Poland
cannot be bought 4 months in advance, which is disadvantageous for trains
over planes.
A direct flight from Amsterdam to Warsaw causes 362 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via London causes 38%
more. Using the 1,200 km long train trip could save 92% of these harmful
emissions of the transfer flight.
Vilnius–Krakow
The only daily train connection between Vilnius and the South Polish city of
Krakow via Warsaw takes 12h28m for 740 kms. Due to the dierent track
dimensions, a change of trains is needed at the border station but is
oered without waiting time. Arrival time in Krakow is just before midnight,
while the train in the other direction leaves at 4 a.m. Tickets for this train
can only be purchased for less than a month in advance. There is no direct
flight on this route, the shortest and also cheapest way is with the Polish
state owned airline LOT via Warsaw. The train is cheap on this route at €30,
short-term flights are very expensive, mid-term flights cost a bit more than
€100. Considering the frequency and speed of the train, it is questionable
whether many people would choose the train despite the low price.
A flight from Vilnius to Krakow causes 149 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions per passenger and trip. The 740 km long train trip causes only
24 kg of GHG, which is 84% less. With the average, very carbon intensive
Polish electricity mix, the savings are equivalent to running a fridge for 3
years.
Warsaw–Berlin
By air, the Polish and the German capitals are only directly connected by
the state owned Polish airline LOT. A one-way ticket is not available for less
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94
than €132.15. On most days, cheaper transfer flights with low-cost carriers
via Riga, Bologna or Copenhagen are available, starting from €55.66. The
train connection is good with 5 daily direct train pairs lasting a bit less than
6 hours. Like for many other routes in Central and Eastern European
countries, the train was found cheaper on all days, with a range from
€27.90 to €49.90. Long-term train tickets are not available for this route.
A single flight from Warsaw to Berlin causes 332 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Despite the high coal share in
the Polish electricity mix, at least 70% of these emissions can be saved
by shifting to rail. In Poland, running a fridge for around 6 years produces
the same amount of climate-damaging emissions.
Vilnius–Warsaw
The only daily train connection between Vilnius and Warsaw takes 9h5m.
Due to the dierent track dimensions, a change of trains is needed at the
border station but is oered without waiting time. Tickets for this train can
only be purchased for less than a month in advance. The Polish state
owned airline LOT is the only airline with direct flights. On many days it is
cheaper flying with Baltic Air via Riga. The train is cheap on this route at
€25. The flights are starting at €114.58 which makes this route one of the
most expensive direct flight routes among all 112 analysed. Despite the low
price, the frequency and speed of the train might be discouraging for
people when the flight lasts just a bit more than one hour. In 2022, more
than 215,000 flight passengers were counted on this route.
A flight from Vilnius to Warsaw causes 196 kg of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. Despite the high coal share in the Polish electricity mix, at
least 60% of these emissions can be saved by shifting to rail. Therefore
the rail frequency needs to be urgently improved between Poland and
Lithuania.
Warsaw–Ljubljana
As with other routes within Central and Eastern European countries, the
train is always cheaper than the plane. Only the Polish state airline LOT
flies daily. One-way-tickets do not cost less than €128.67, while the most
expensive train ticket costs €93.80. Unusually, there are no connection
flights with low-cost carriers on this route. The best train connection is the
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95
night train from Warsaw to Graz, Austria, and the Eurocity to Ljubljana and
the trip takes 18h23m, considerably long for less than 1,100 km.
A flight from Warsaw to Ljubljana causes 273 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 1,100 km long train ride causes 36 kg of
GHG, which is 87% less than the flight.
Portugal
Overall situation
Portugal is extremely badly connected by train to other countries. The only
train connection to Spain runs only twice a day from Porto to Vigo in
North-West Spain. Therefore Madrid is the furthest distance that can
reasonably be reached by train from Porto. Travelling from Lisbon to Madrid
by train is not possible on the same day, as it would involve stopovers in
Porto and Vigo. Except for the shorter domestic route from Porto to Lisbon,
the flights were always found to be much cheaper. The Portuguese railway
company CP does not sell tickets for a longer period than 2 months in
advance, and tickets to Spain need to be bought from the Spanish railway
operator.
Routes analysed within, from and to Portugal
Porto–Lisbon
Porto–Lisbon is the only route analysed involving Portugal, where the train
is cheaper than the plane and lasts only a bit less than 3 hours. In contrast
to the other routes, this one is not served by a low-cost carrier but only by
the traditional Portuguese airline TAP. There are hourly train connections
available, train prices ranging from €15.50 to €25.25, while the flight always
costs €37.46.
A single flight from Porto to Lisbon causes 57 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Banning this useless short-haul flight route and
replacing it with the 320 km long train could save around 81% of these
emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of 200 kWh of
electricity (Portuguese mix), enough to operate a fridge for up to 4 years.
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96
Porto–Faro
This route from North to South Portugal is operated by 3 daily Ryanair
flights. Ryanair is oering low prices on this route, with prices found from
€19.21 to €32.85. The train, taking 5h51m, is always more expensive on this
route, the average train price is 70% more expensive than the flight.
A single flight from Porto to Faro causes 150 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Banning this useless short-haul flight route and
replacing it with the 550 km long train could save 88% of these
emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of 850 kWh of
electricity (Portuguese mix), enough for cooking on an electric stove for a
full year.
Porto–Madrid
Due to the poor train connections between Portugal and Spain,
Porto–Madrid is the only international route for Portugal that could be
analysed. While there are 3 low-cost carriers, namely Ryanair, easyJet and
Air Europa, with direct flights, there is no direct train connection between
Porto and Madrid: a change in Vigo is needed. As a result, this train trip
takes at least 9h23m for just 420 km of air distance, and 2 separate tickets
must be purchased from the Spanish railway company RENFE for the
sections to and from Vigo. This route has the lowest average flight price of
all routes analysed (€21.88), while the average train price is almost 3 times
as much as this amount (€59.14).
In 2019, almost 1 million passengers were travelling between Porto and
Madrid. Shifting this flight completely to train would save about 50,000
tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of around 33,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the
car fleet size of Viseu.
Romania
Overall situation
Romania’s train network is dense, cheap but old and slow. The only
permanent direct connections with other countries are the routes to
Budapest and on to Vienna, served by 2 night trains a day, and some other
cross-border trains. From early June until early October, there is a direct
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97
night train from Bucharest to Istanbul, and only from June to September a
day train to Bulgaria’s capital of Sofia.
For the routes Vienna–Bucharest and Bucharest–Sofia, the cheapest
Ryanair fares are cheaper than the cheapest rail fares. The train is always
cheaper to Budapest – a route which is not operated by low-cost airlines.
There are many domestic flight routes in Romania. Generally, the train is
cheaper than domestic flights, but a trip crossing the country may easily
take longer than 12 hours.
Routes analysed from and to Romania
Bucharest–Budapest
There are 2 daily night train pairs between the cities operated by the
Romanian state owned railway company CFR. By air, the Romanian state
owned TAROM flies daily, the local carrier Air Connect flies twice a week.
Since train tickets do not cost more than €37.62, the train is always
cheaper on this route. Long-term train tickets are not sold by CFR.
A flight from Bucharest to Budapest causes 190 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Using the 950 km long train could save 83% of these
emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of 580 kWh of
electricity (Romanian mix), enough to run a fridge for up to 10 years.
Timișoara-Munich
Timișoara, located in South–West Romania, and Munich are connected by 3
daily Lufthansa flights, Wizz Air is flying 3 times a week. This high demand
can be explained by the number of expats from this area. Unlike most of
the other routes analysed, there is no significant price dierence between
Lufthansa and Wizz Air, with Lufthansa prices starting at €64.20. By train,
one transfer in Budapest is required. The trip takes 13h28m and it is
necessary to purchase 2 separate tickets to and from Budapest. The train is
more expensive than the polluting flight on 5 out of 9 trips analysed. On
average, the train is also slightly more expensive. During the research, huge
price dierences were found on this route among the railway operators: for
the exact same train from Budapest to Munich, the Hungarian railway
company MAV charged €36, the German railway company DB €89.90 and
the Austrian railway company ÖBB €144.10.
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98
A single flight from Timișoara to Munich causes 265 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 960 km long train could save
88% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the consumption of
860 kWh of electricity (Romanian mix), enough to cook on an electric
stove for a full year.
Vienna–Bucharest
The 2 cities are connected daily by Austrian airlines and Ryanair. There is a
daily night train operated by CFR which lasts 18h23m and is one of the
longest night trains in Europe. The cheapest way for this route is Ryanair,
with prices found starting from €35.99. On 2 out of 3 short-term bookings,
the train was slightly cheaper, for all mid-term bookings Ryanair was the
cheapest option. CFR is not selling train tickets 4 months in advance. Given
Ryanair’s long-term fares not exceeding €50.99, it can be assumed that the
train would also be more expensive for long-term bookings, as the lowest
train price found is €69.
In 2019, 634,000 people flew between Vienna and Bucharest. Shifting this
flight to train would save 69,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This
is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 46,000 cars, or approximately to
the complete car fleet of Târgu Mureș.
Bucharest–Sofia
Bucharest and Sofia are only directly connected by train from June to
September. For the rest of the year, the 2 cities are only connected twice a
day per train, with 2 transfers each, lasting more than 10 hours for not
much more than 300kms. The Romanian airline Tarom as well as Bulgaria
Air fly daily, Ryanair flies twice a week. On these 2 days, the flight is always
cheaper than the train, with the lowest price found at €15.54. A train ticket
costs around €34, which is always less than flights on non-Ryanair days.
This route is a good example of how low train fares are important, but not
enough if the quality of the rail service is very poor.
A single flight from Bucharest to Sofia causes 52 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By taking the 400 km long train
route, around 75% of these emissions could be saved. Therefore the rail
frequency and speed needs to be urgently improved between Romania
and Bulgaria.
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99
Slovakia
Overall situation
Due to the proximity to Vienna, Bratislava and other places in Western
Slovakia are well-connected by train to many dierent countries. There is
also a quite good train connection to Eastern Slovakia. The airport in
Bratislava is small, with more than 80% of all regular flights operated by
Ryanair to 22 destinations; except for one Wizz Air flight to London, the
remaining flights are almost exclusively heading to holiday destinations
such as Turkey and Egypt. None of these destinations except London are
served daily. This leads to the unique situation that routes served by
Ryanair are mostly very cheap on its operating days and expensive on other
days, especially when transfer flights involve traditional airlines. The flight
route from Bratislava to Zagreb was found to be the one with the lowest
price of all routes analysed, with €9.99. The flight to Brussels was available
from €22.09.
In total, 5 routes from and to Slovakia were analysed. On 3 routes, the train
was very expensive, with a train ticket costing almost 8 times of the flight
ticket price for London, almost 4 times for Zagreb, and 3.3 times for
Brussels. On the other 2 routes, Bratislava–Split and Košice–Prague, the
train was always cheaper.
In addition to these routes, all routes analysed for Vienna can be applied to
Bratislava, by simply adding a maximum of €10.30 for a train ticket between
the 2 capitals. There are 2 train pairs per hour running, lasting around 1
hour.
Routes analysed from and to Slovakia
Bratislava–Brussels
Ryanair flies twice a week between Bratislava and Brussels. On other days,
only transfer flights are available, either with Ryanair via Manchester, Rome
or Corfu, or with Croatia Airlines via Zagreb. The best train connection is
using the night train Vienna–Brussels on its operating days, on other days
another change is needed in Bonn or Cologne. The cheapest option is by far
Ryanair on its 2 direct flight days. On 2 days analysed, the costs for the
train tickets are more than 550% of the airline tickets. Even the transfer
flights with Ryanair via Manchester or Rome were found to be less than half
price of the train, while causing even more than 100% more CO
2
emissions
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100
than direct flights. Only on 2 days, when the only flying option was with
Croatia Airlines, and on another day with a Ryanair transfer flight via Corfu,
did the train cost about a third of the price of the flight.
A single direct flight from Bratislava to Brussels causes 300 kg of
harmful greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 1,260 km long train
route could save 87% of these emissions. This saving is equivalent to the
consumption of 1,370 kWh of electricity (Slovak mix), enough to cook with
an electric cooker for one and a half years.
Bratislava–Split
The Croatian coastal city of Split is the only southern destination accessible
by direct night train from Bratislava. There is no direct flight to Split.
Transfer flights are possible either using Air Croatia via Zagreb or with Wizz
Air and easyJet via London. Not surprisingly for a route within CEE, the train
was cheaper on all the days analysed on this route. The cheap Wizz Air
flights from Vienna (close to Bratislava), to Split were not taken into
account in this analysis.
A single flight from Bratislava to Split via Zagreb causes 124 kg of
harmful greenhouse gases per passenger. Using the 1,000 km long and
winding train route could save 73% of these emissions. This CO
2
saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 475 kWh of electricity (Slovak mix),
enough to run a fridge for 6 years.
Košice–Prague
Despite Ryanair connecting Košice with Prague 4 times a week, the train
was found cheaper on all days analysed. There are 5 direct train
connections a day lasting 8h15m, one of them a night train. The day train
operated by the private Czech company Regiojet was found to be the
cheapest on all days, with prices between €20.90 and €39.90. The cheapest
flight was found for €38.17. On days when Ryanair does not fly direct, the
cheapest flights are 2 Ryanair flights via London, which are ten times more
polluting than a direct flight on this route. Since these transfer flights via
London are available from €57.29 on and the flight time (excluding check-in
times etc.) is shorter than the train travel, it is unfortunately realistic that
people would fly via London. Of all the routes analysed for Slovakia, this is
the only one where the train is always cheaper than Ryanair.
A direct flight from Košice to Prague causes 62 kg of harmful greenhouse
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101
gases per passenger. A flight from Košice to Prague via London causes
751 kg of greenhouse gases, which is 12 times more. The 705 km long train
ride causes around 23 kg of GHG, which is 63% less than a direct flight,
and 97% less than a transfer flight via London. This CO
2
saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 220 kWh of electricity (Slovak mix),
enough to run a fridge for 3 to 4 years.
Bratislava–Zagreb
Ryanair connects the Croatian and the Slovak capitals 3 times a week until
the end of October, which is always the cheapest and polluting way on
these days. On other days, the cheapest flights are even more polluting
Ryanair transfer flights via Bergamo or Brussels. During summer time, there
is a direct train connection every other day, otherwise a change in Vienna is
required. The train ride takes at least 7h19m, which is quite long
considering, with the train taking a complicated route via Ljubljana and
being slow especially when passing Slovenia. This route was found to be
the cheapest flight route of all 112 routes analysed, with prices starting
from €9.99. On Ryanair direct flight days, the train is much more expensive:
up to 9.5 times as much as the flight. On other days, the train was cheaper.
On average, the train costs 4 times as much as the flight.
A direct flight from Bratislava to Zagreb causes 75 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Despite the complicated, 600
km long train route, 74% of these emissions could be saved by using the
train. Based on the average Slovak electricity mix, these emissions are
equivalent to the consumption of almost 310 kWh of electricity, enough to
power a washing machine for up to 450 times.
London–Bratislava
The Slovak capital Bratislava is a popular destination for UK party tourists,
enjoying good and, compared to the UK, cheap beer, food and night club
entry prices. This is presumably the reason why London is the only (!)
destination which can be reached daily from Bratislava airport. Ryanair and
Wizz Air are oering extremely low prices on this route starting from just ￡
12.99 (€15). With beer prices at less than €3 in Bratislava, and around €8 in
London, the return on investment in the flight is recouped after the 4th
beer. The return flight can be paid for through savings on the cost of dinner.
The train connection from London to Bratislava is quite good for the long
distance. You need to take the Eurostar to Brussels (or Amsterdam), then
the night train to Vienna, and a 1 hour connection train to Bratislava. The
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102
price of the train is however not fair at all. On 3 of the 9 days analysed, the
train price was found higher than €350. For long-term bookings only the
train was found for €139.90. On average, train fares are at 780% of airfares,
with the largest dierence being 15.5 times. It is the third most expensive
train route out of all 112 routes analysed.
In 2022, more than 160,000 people were flying on this route, making it the
most used flight route in Slovakia for regular flights, and emitting around
61,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases, as much as 40,000 cars per year.
Since the largest part of this train route goes through Germany and
Austria with 100% renewable electricity, at least 85% of these harmful
emissions could be saved by shifting to rail.
Slovenia
Overall situation
Slovenia is connected by rail to all its neighbouring countries, but the
frequency and speed of international trains is very low. There are only
2daily direct train pairs to Croatia’s capital of Zagreb, 2 train pairs to
Germany, Budapest and Vienna, and a single direct connection to Trieste in
Italy. However, thanks to direct night trains to Zurich, Stuttgart and
Bratislava, and night trains from Austria running to Italy or Poland, many
countries and cities are reasonably accessible by train from Slovenia.
The Ljubljana airport is very small, and serves more as a regional airport
dominated by transfer flights to larger airports. Except for London and
Amsterdam, the latter only on one day a week, no city can be reached with
low-cost carriers.
The most expensive train route found was the one from Ljubljana to
Amsterdam, with the Transavia direct flight on Saturdays being the
cheapest option. On some other days, the train was cheaper. The route to
Hamburg is mostly more expensive by train when polluting transfer flights
are operated by or involving low-cost airlines such as easyJet via London or
Wizz Air via Belgrade. On the 2 routes from Warsaw and to Milan, the train
was always cheaper – but it is really slow.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
103
Routes analysed from and to Slovenia
Ljubljana–Milan
Ljubljana–Milan is one of the few routes analysed without any direct
connection, and it is also one of the few routes which cannot be travelled
with low-cost carriers. Typical flight routes are Air France via Paris or LOT
via Warsaw. The fastest train route requires 2 changes, in Trieste and
Venice, and takes 8h28. In October, the fastest train connection lasts one
more hour and goes via Villach, Austria. The train was found to be always
cheaper on this route.
A flight from Ljubljana to Milan via Paris causes 496 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger, a flight via Warsaw even 615 kg.
The 500 km long train ride causes 16.5 kg of GHG, or 97% less than the
transfer flight via Paris.
Ljubljana–Amsterdam
The French Transavia flies 4 times a week from Ljubljana to Amsterdam, on
other days the cheapest flights are via London with Wizz Air or easyJet. A
train ride requires 2 changes, either at Villach and Munich and a night train,
or a night train to Stuttgart and then 2 ICE trains. The flight was cheaper on
4 out of the 9 days analysed, on average the train was found to be 15%
more expensive. The cheapest flight found was a flight via London for
€56.82.
A flight from Ljubljana to Amsterdam via London–Luton causes 50%
more greenhouse gas emissions than a direct flight, and at least ten
times more than the train.
Ljubljana–Hamburg
There is no direct connection on this route, neither by rail nor by air. The
train includes a night train, either to or from Bavaria and the quickest
connection takes 16h14m. On 4 out of 9 days analysed, the flight was
cheaper, with the cheapest price of all 9 days analysed at €104 via Belgrade.
The cheapest train ticket was found for €136.60. On average the train was
1% cheaper.
A flight from Ljubljana to Hamburg via Belgrade causes 505 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. A train ride could reduce these
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
104
emissions by 92%.
16
Based on the Slovene electricity mix, the saving is
equivalent to the consumption of 1,800 kWh of electricity, enough to
power a single household for almost a year.
Warsaw–Ljubljana
As with other routes within Central and Eastern European countries, the
train is always cheaper than the plane. Only the Polish state airline LOT
flies daily. One-way-tickets do not cost less than €128.67, while the most
expensive train ticket costs €93.80. Unusually, there are no connection
flights with low-cost carriers on this route. The best train connection is the
night train from Warsaw to Graz, Austria, and the Eurocity to Ljubljana and
the trip takes 18h23m, considerably long for less than 1,100 km.
A flight from Warsaw to Ljubljana causes 273 kg of harmful greenhouse
gas emissions per passenger. The 1,100 km long train ride causes 36 kg of
GHG, which is 87% less than the flight.
Spain
Overall situation
On 13 out of 14 routes analysed within, from and to Spain, the cheapest
option is always or almost always the most harmful one: the plane. In
Spain, even domestic flights are systematically cheaper than the train. The
only exception found was the route from Madrid to Barcelona. Of all the
countries analysed, Spain has the highest density of low-cost airlines. They
operate all routes analysed within, from and to the country. Besides Ryanair
and easyJet, among others, the 3 Spanish low-cost airlines Vueling, Volotea
and Air Europa have a strong presence. Wizz Air also flies from and to
Spain.
On average for all routes analysed for Spain, the train cost almost 4 times
as much as the polluting plane. Spain has the second-largest price
dierence between rail and air, after the UK.
International train connections from and to Spain are rather rare. There is
only one train connection with 2 pairs per day going from Vigo to Porto in
16
1200 km, 33 gram GHG/pkm = 40 kg of GHG per rail passenger
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
105
Northern Portugal; Lisbon cannot be reasonably reached from Madrid by
train.
From July 2023 on, the number of trains between Spain and France
increased from 2 to 4 per day, as RENFE opened additional routes from
Barcelona to Marseille and from Madrid to Lyon. For research dates before
July, the only 2 trains in the past were partly already sold out or extremely
expensive. These 4 train connections cross the border on the Mediterranean
route, but there is still no cross-border train connection on the Atlantic
coast line, making it very complicated and long to travel, for example, from
Bilbao to Bordeaux.
A train trip from Madrid to Rome would take more than 24 hours, without
any night train option. Generally, there is currently no night train running to
Spain, though a new connection from Zurich to Barcelona is planned for
2024.
Trains in Spain have a high variety of prices, e.g. on the route from Madrid
to Barcelona, tickets were found from €14 to €107.35.
17
Trains to and from
France especially, or passing France, were found very expensive – using the
French TGV high-speed trains is needed to reach Spain in a reasonable
time. 2 tickets to Zurich cost more than €500, the highest price of all
tickets analysed. The most expensive train route found in this analysis is
the route from Barcelona to London. The train cost on average more than
10times as much as the flight and almost 30 times as much for a
short-term trip (Ryanair flight: €12.99, train: €384).
17
The highest amount was found as part of the Madrid-Zurich route, which requires taking
an early morning train.
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106
Drought exposes the Huerva riverbed in Mezalocha, Spain, 2017.
© Pedro Armestre/Greenpeace
Routes analysed within, from and to Spain
Lyon–Madrid
Iberia and its low-cost subsidiary Vueling fly daily between Lyon and
Madrid, from September 2023 on, Volotea flies twice a week. By train, from
mid-July on from Friday to Monday, with the new Spanish RENFE train
service between Lyon and Barcelona, only one change is required. From
autumn 2023 on, this train will run daily. On some days analysed, the TGV
train from France to Barcelona was already sold out, and then 4 changes in
total were needed. The polluting flight was cheaper on 8 out of 9 trips. Only
one long-term trip using the new Spanish train was cheaper. On average,
the train cost twice as much as the flight.
In 2022, 203,000 people flew between Lyon and Madrid, causing 61,000
tons of harmful greenhouse gases. Using the 1,250 km long train route
could reduce these emissions by 86%.
Luxembourg–Barcelona
Luxembourg’s national airline Luxair flies daily on this route, Ryanair 5 times
a week. On its operating days, Ryanair was always cheaper. The most
ecient climate-friendly train trip requires one transfer in Paris and lasts
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107
11h15m. On one short-term trip, the trains from France to Barcelona were
booked out. Even though the polluting flight is relatively expensive on this
route, on average at €125.73, the greener train was always clearly more
expensive. On average the train cost more than 3 times as much as the
polluting flight.
In 2022, 124,000 passengers flew between Luxembourg and Barcelona
causing 38,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. Shifting these flights
to rail would save 83% of these emissions, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of 21,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet
size of Soria.
Bilbao–Málaga
The train from Bilbao to Málaga, lasting 9h12m with a change in Madrid, was
found to cost always more than the polluting flight. On average the train
costs 3.1 times the price of the flight. The 2 Spanish low cost airlines
Volotea and Vueling are both oering really low prices on this route, with
prices starting from €13.99 on and not exceeding €51.39. Long-term train
tickets for this route were not available from RENFE.
A direct flight from Bilbao to Málaga causes 172 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Using the train on this 900 km
long route can save 83% of these emissions. Based on the average
Spanish electricity mix, this saving is equivalent to the consumption of
860 kWh of electricity, enough to cook on an electric stove for a whole
year.
A Coruña–Barcelona
Vueling flies daily between A Coruña and Barcelona. The fastest train
journey lasts 7h14, and requires a transfer in Madrid. There is a direct train
connection only during summer, 4 times a week. The train was only cheaper
on one short-term booking, on all other days the flight was cheaper. On
another short-term booking, an even more polluting transfer flight via
Madrid was found the cheapest option. On average the train was 28% more
expensive than the flight.
A direct flight from A Coruña to Barcelona causes 236 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. Using the train on this 1,000 km
long route can save 86% of these emissions. Based on the average
Spanish electricity mix, this saving is equivalent to the consumption of
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108
1,120 kWh of electricity, enough to produce warm water with an electric
boiler for a person for 1 to 2 years.
Madrid–Paris
The flight was always found to be clearly cheaper on this route, the
cheapest train was 61% more expensive than the flight, the most expensive
train cost almost 4 times as much. The cheapest flights are oered by
easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Transavia, who all fly directly between the
2capitals. The train takes 10h18m, and requires one change at Barcelona.
For one short-term trip, all trains were booked out.
In 2019, more than 2.5 million passengers were travelling on this route
(both-way). Shifting to rail would save 302,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 200,000
cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Palma.
Porto–Madrid
Due to the poor train connections between Portugal and Spain,
Porto–Madrid is the only international route between Spain and Portugal
that could be analysed. While there are 3 low-cost carriers, namely Ryanair,
easyJet and Air Europa, with direct flights, there is no direct train
connection between Porto and Madrid: a change in Vigo is needed. As a
result, this train trip takes at least 9h23m for just 420 km of air distance,
and 2 separate tickets must be purchased from RENFE for the sections to
and from Vigo. This route has the lowest average flight price of all routes
analysed (€21.88), while the average train price is almost 3 times as much
as this amount (€59.14).
In 2019, almost 1 million passengers were travelling between Porto and
Madrid. Shifting this flight completely to train would save about 50,000
tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly
emissions of around 33,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the
car fleet size of Irun.
Geneva–Barcelona
EasyJet as well as the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling are flying between
Geneva and Barcelona. The quickest train trip with 2 transfers takes around
8 hours, a train trip with only one transfer takes 11h25m due to a 4 hours
waiting time in Valence. The polluting flight was always clearly cheaper on
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109
this route, with indecently low prices found starting from €25.99. On
average, the train cost 2.7 times as much as the polluting flight.
In 2019, 638,000 people flew between Geneva and Barcelona. Shifting this
flight to rail would save 52,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 35,000 fossil fuelled cars, or more
than the complete car fleet of Torremolinos.
Barcelona–London
Barcelona–London is the most expensive train route out of all routes
analysed. On average, the train cost more than 10 times as much as the
polluting flight. On one day, the train even cost 30 times as much.
3low-cost airlines fly between the 2 cities, Ryanair, easyJet and the
Spanish Vueling, with prices starting extremely low at €12.99. Also the most
expensive flight ticket found – €80.60 – is much cheaper compared to
most other routes. The train route can be travelled with one transfer, and
takes 10h57m – which is very quick considering that the route is 1,500 km
long. Though, the train ticket was not available for less than €300, making
this route also one of the most expensive routes in absolute amounts.
Long-term train tickets are not available for this route.
In 2019, 3.36 million people flew between Barcelona and London, making
it the 3rd most used short-haul flight in Europe with a rail alternative.
Shifting these flights to rail would save 461,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 303,000 cars,
approximately the car fleet size of Malaga.
Madrid–Barcelona
There are numerous direct train services between Madrid and Barcelona,
operated by RENFE, the private company Aryo as well as by the French
SNCF subsidiary OUIGO, with the fastest ones taking only 2h40m. Despite
this great train service, Iberia, Vueling and AirEuropa fly around 15 times a
day on this route. Train ticket prices are low on this route, mid- and
long-term tickets were found for €14. This route is one of few where the
eco-friendly train is quick, runs often and is always cheaper than the plane.
Despite the perfect train service, in 2019 almost 2.6 million people flew
on this route making it the EU’s 5
th
most used short-haul flight with a
train alternative. Banning this completely useless flight would save
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110
176,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases, approximately equivalent to
the yearly emissions of the complete car fleet of Granada.
Madrid–Brussels
Madrid–Brussels is an expensive train route with an average price of
7.4times as much as the flight. Ryanair and Air Europa fly daily. The train
takes 14h38m and requires 2 transfers in Barcelona and Nimes. There is no
night train available on this route. The train is always expensive on this
route with an average price of €326.79. It is necessary to buy separate
tickets from the Spanish and French railway companies. On 2 short-term
days, the only train option from Barcelona to France was already booked
out and a train trip was not possible on those days.
In 2019, almost 1.2 million people flew on this route. Shifting them to rail
would save 179,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 119,000 cars, almost as many as the
complete car fleet of A Coruña .
Madrid–Zurich
This is the longest train route analysed for Spain. The train takes 15h26m,
with 2 transfers in Barcelona and Paris. There is no night train available on
this route, but a direct connection from Barcelona to Zurich will be
re-introduced in 2024. People who want to use the climate-friendly option
have to invest a lot of time, but also a lot of money: the train is on average
4 times more expensive than the plane, and has been found more
expensive on all days surveyed. The biggest price dierence between rail
and plane was €371.72, which is one of the biggest dierences of all
112routes analysed. The 2 Spanish low-cost carriers Vueling and AIr Europa
are flying daily on this route, and are responsible for the lowest prices. On
2days, an even more polluting transfer flight with Vueling via Barcelona was
cheaper than a direct flight.
In 2022, 484,000 passengers were flying on this route, emitting 150,000
tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. Despite the long train via Paris
compared to the air distance, 2,250 km and 1,250 km respectively),
around 75% of these GHG emissions could be saved by shifting to rail. The
savings would be equivalent to the yearly emissions of 75,000 cars, as
much as approximately the car fleet of Badajoz.
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Cologne–Barcelona
The 2 low-cost carriers Eurowings and Ryanair are both daily flying from the
West German city Cologne to Barcelona with Ryanair always the cheaper
airline. The best train connection is the Thalys high speed train to Paris,
followed by a TGV to Barcelona. The trip takes 12h41m. It also would be
possible to start around midnight with the night train to Basel, but then
2more transfers would be needed. That's why this option was not
considered in this analysis. On one short-term trip, the trains from France
to Barcelona were already sold out, and for one long-term trip, the Thalys
tickets were not yet available. The polluting flight was always cheaper than
the train, on average the train cost more than 3 times as much as the flight.
A Ryanair flight from Cologne to Barcelona causes 305 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. The 1,600 km long train trip
causes only 53 kg of GHG, which is 82% less. The saved CO
2
emissions
(252 kg) are equivalent to the emissions for the production of 1,400 kWh
of electricity in Germany. This amount is enough for an average
household to cook for more than 2 years.
Toulouse–Barcelona
Despite 3 daily and very quick train connections with the quickest one
lasting only 3h42m, with a transfer in Narbonne, the Spanish low-cost
airline Vueling has started a direct flight on 3 days per week from July on.
The polluting flight is always clearly the cheapest option, even on days
where a transfer flight via the Balearic Islands is needed. On average, the
train cost 3.3 times as much as the flight and is not available below €109.
The most expensive flight found was for €85.74.
A direct flight from Toulouse to Barcelona causes 57 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. A transfer flight via Palma de Mallorca
causes 3.4 times as much as a direct flight. The 400 km long train trip
causes 13 kg of greenhouse gases, which is 91% less than less than a
transfer flight via Palma. The saved greenhouse gases are equivalent to
240 kWh of average Spanish electricity – enough to power a fridge for
around 4 years.
Valencia–Paris
Like most other routes in Spain and France, this route is also daily operated
by polluting low-cost airlines. In this case, it is the Spanish Vueling and the
French Transavia fighting against each other with the lower prices. The train
connection takes a bit more than 14 hours. While only one train transfer
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112
was required in June 2023, two transfers were required (in Madrid and
Girona) in the summer and autumn of 2023. The polluting flight is always
clearly cheaper than the greener train. Out of all 9 days analysed, the
cheapest train compared to the flight cost 3.8 times as much as the flight,
the most expensive train cost more than 12 times as much.
In 2019, more than 570,000 people flew between Valencia and Paris.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 75,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 50,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is more than the car fleet of Santiago de
Compostela.
Sweden
Overall situation
The Swedish railway company SJ belongs to the progressive ones in Europe,
e.g. by reinvesting in night trains and using 100% renewable electricity.
There is a dense and quick network throughout the country and to
Copenhagen, and thanks to brand-new night train connections from
Stockholm to Berlin (Germany), the Netherlands and some parts of its
neighbouring countries can be reached by rail. Train connections to Norway
are less frequent, with 2 train pairs per day to Oslo and a few other
connections. There is currently no active rail connection to Finland.
The Swedish air market is dominated by SAS and the low-cost airline
Norwegian, with a certain presence of Ryanair, easyJet and Eurowings. Out
of the 8 routes analysed, only Stockholm-Narvik was always found cheaper
by train – a route with a direct night train, but no direct flight. On 2 routes
the flight is almost always cheaper, and on 5 routes it depends on the day
of travel. On 4 out of these 5 routes, the cheapest oer was by low-cost
carriers. On the last route, Oslo–Stockholm, the lowest train price was
found to be €0.49 lower than the cheapest flight.
On the domestic flight analysed, Gothenburg–Stockholm, the flight was
cheaper on 5 out of 9 days analysed, with Ryanair extremely low prices
starting from €12.85 on, the second-cheapest flight price of all 112 routes
analysed. As well as being terrible for the climate, this flight is particularly
useless as there are 28 pairs of trains a day on this route, some of which
take less than 3 hours.
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113
The fares of the Swedish railway company are more predictable than e.g.
the French, Italian, German or Spanish ones. The maximum price dierence
for a day train route between the cheapest and the most expensive ticket
was “only” around 70%, for the night train to the north it was only 22%. The
rail fare for routes in France, Germany, Spain or Italy can be over 4 times
the cheapest fare available on expensive days.
Routes analysed within, from and to Sweden
Oslo–Stockholm
There are only 2 daily direct train pairs between the Norwegian and the
Swedish capital lasting around 7 hours, while there are at least 16 daily
direct flights by Norwegian, SAS and a bit surprisingly, by Ethiopian Airlines.
The last one even oered the cheapest flight on 2 thirds of the days
analysed. Train tickets are only available 60 days in advance therefore only
6 days could be analysed. On half of these days, the flight was up to 36%
cheaper. On half of the other days, the train was slightly cheaper with a
price advantage of €0.45, €1.13 and €7.18. On average, the train price was
110% of the flight price.
In 2019, more than 1.4 million passengers were travelling this route by air.
Shifting this route completely to rail would save more than 70,000 tonnes
of CO
2
per year, as much as the emissions of around 45,000 fossil fuelled
cars. This is approximately the car fleet of Norrköping.
Munich–Gothenburg
The only direct connection between the Bavarian capital and the second
largest Swedish city is with Lufthansa. On 8 out of the 9 days, an even more
polluting transfer flight was much cheaper than a direct flight. In most
cases, the German low-cost carrier Eurowings was the cheapest with a
transfer flight via Düsseldorf. A train trip takes 16h27m and requires two
transfers in Hamburg and Copenhagen. Long-term train tickets are not
available for this route. The polluting flight was cheaper on 5 out of the
6days analysed. The most expensive train ticket was found for a short-term
booking at €469.39.
A direct flight from Munich to Gothenburg causes 310 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. Since the train runs in its largest part in
Germany and Sweden with 100% renewable electricity, at least 95% of
these emissions could be saved by shifting to rail.
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Copenhagen–Stockholm
There are 6 direct train connections a day between the Danish and the
Swedish capitals lasting a bit more than 5 hours. On the days of research,
however, the direct train did not run due to construction works on some
days, and on other days, the train with a transfer in Malmö was found
cheaper. The air route is operated daily by the traditional airline SAS and
the low-cost carrier Norwegian, with the last one always oering lower
prices. On half of the days analysed, flying was cheaper. On average, the
train was 1% more expensive. Long-term train tickets are not available,
which is disadvantageous for rail over planes.
In 2019, almost 1.4 million people flew on this route making it the second
most used short-haul flight from and to SwedenIn 2019, making it the
third most used short-haul flight from and to Sweden with a train
alternative, after Stockholm–London and Stockholm–Oslo. Shifting this
connection fully to rail would save at least 98,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 65,000
fossil fueled cars. This is almost as much as the car fleet size of Örebro.
Bergen–Stockholm
The polluting flight was always cheaper than the train on this quite long
route from the Norwegian west coast to Stockholm. In most cases, the
low-cost airline Norwegian was the cheapest airline. The best train
connection is a night train from Bergen to Oslo, followed by an Intercity
train to Stockholm, and takes 14h14m. On average, the greener train cost
1.7times as much as the flight. Long-term tickets are not available for
Norwegian trains, which is disadvantageous over planes.
A flight from Bergen to Stockholm causes 229 kg of harmful greenhouse
gases per passenger. Using the 990 km long train trip could save around
85% of these emissions.
Stockholm–Narvik (NO)
Narvik is the northernmost town in Norway accessible by train, though the
only train line to Narvik enters from Sweden without direct train
connections to places further South. There is a direct night train from
Stockholm running to Narvik, taking 18h25m. There is no direct flight on this
route, all flight connections to Narvik go via Oslo. The train was always
cheaper than the flight on this route. On 2 mid-term days, the train was
already booked out.
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115
A single flight from Stockholm via Oslo to Narvik causes 408 kg of
harmful greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By taking the 1,400 km
long train trip, almost all these emissions could be saved since the
Swedish railways are running fully on renewable electricity and even the
last part of the route to Narvik is electrified. The saved CO
2
emissions are
approximately equivalent to cooking on a gas cooker for 2 to 3 years.
Stockholm–Berlin
The best way to travel by train between Stockholm and Berlin is taking one
of the 2 night trains which are relatively new and operated by the Swedish
state railway company SJ and the private railway company Snälltåget
respectively. By air, 4 airlines are competing – easyJet, Eurowings,
Norwegian and SAS. All of them were found the cheapest at least once,
even SAS. Tickets for the night train cannot be bought 4 months in advance,
which is disadvantageous for rail. On one day, both night trains were booked
out already, therefore only 5 days could be analysed. The train was cheaper
on 3 of them, but on average the train was 20% more expensive than the
polluting flight.
In 2019, 516,000 people flew between Stockholm and Berlin. Shifting
these flights to rail would save 49,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
as much as the annual emissions of 33,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is
approximately the car fleet size of Halmstad.
Amsterdam–Stockholm
On air, this route is served by Norwegian, SAS and KLM. The only reasonable
train connection lasts longer than 17 hours, with 2 changes including the
night train from Hamburg to Stockholm. On average, the train costs
2.5times as much as the flight, with prices up to €686, due to the sleeper
being the only category available on the night train. Only on 2 days analysed
the trains were slightly cheaper, by €0.48 and €10.70. On one day analysed,
all night train options were sold out.
In 2019, more than 860,000 passengers were travelling this route by air.
Shifting this route completely to rail, would save more than 120,000
tonnes of CO
2
per year, as much as the annual emissions of around 80,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is more than the car fleet size of Uppsala.
Gothenburg–Stockholm
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116
Despite the 28 (!) daily train pairs on this route, the fastest of which takes
just 2h53m, there are also several daily polluting flights between Sweden’s
2 largest cities. One of the operators, Ryanair, is oering indecently low
prices on this route, starting from €12.85. This is the second lowest price of
all flights analysed – and this in Sweden, a country known for its high
prices. The train was only cheaper on the 3 long-term bookings and on one
midterm booking. In most cases, only the early morning train leaving at 5:39
was cheaper than the flight. On average, the train was 15% more expensive
than the plane.
Despite the perfect train service, 455,000 passengers flew between
Gothenburg and Stockholm in 2022. This useless flight is causing
56,000tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the
yearly emission of 37,000 cars. Banning this flight route would almost
eliminate these emissions, since the Swedish railways use 100%
renewable electricity.
Switzerland
Overall situation
Thanks to its central location in Europe and to the high quality of the Swiss
railways, almost all countries analysed can be reasonably reached by train
from Switzerland. There are also night trains from Zurich, e.g. to Berlin,
Amsterdam, Vienna/Budapest and Ljubljana/Zagreb. Out of all countries
analysed, Switzerland has the lowest share of low-cost airlines. Ryanair is
not flying to Switzerland at all, easyJet only flies a very few routes from
Zurich and some more from Geneva, 2 Spanish low-cost carriers fly to
Spain and Wizz Air covers 2 routes from Geneva.
The analysis of 7 routes shows a diverse picture. On both routes analysed
to and from Spain, the flight was clearly cheaper, with the most expensive
day train tickets of all routes analysed being Madrid–Zurich, costing more
than €500. On the routes to Berlin and Vienna, the train is almost always
cheaper.
On the other 3 routes analysed, the cheapest price depends on the day: on
the Basel–Zagreb route, the flight is clearly cheaper on days with a direct
low-cost flight, while the train is clearly cheaper on the other days. On the
Brussels–Zurich route, the train is cheaper than the plane with long-term
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117
bookings and more expensive with short-term bookings. The Geneva–Paris
route is an exemption: it is daily operated by easyJet, but the train is
cheaper on 7 out of 9 days.
On average for all routes analysed for Switzerland, the train was 70% more
expensive than the flight.
Routes analysed from and to Switzerland
Zurich–Berlin
Zurich–Berlin is one of the few easyJet routes from and to Switzerland. In
addition, Lufthansa flies this route. There are 5 direct train connections a
day, one of them a night train. The fastest train takes 8h32m. The day
connections were always cheaper than the night train, and starting from
€49.90. Very rare in this analysis, despite a daily presence of easyJet, the
train was found cheaper on 8 out of the 9 days analysed.
In 2019, more than 1.1 million passengers were counted on this route.
Shifting this route completely to rail would save 97,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, as much as the yearly emissions of 65,000 fossil
fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Bern.
Geneva–Paris
Geneva–Paris is the most popular route in Europe for private jets. For the
more modest, the choice is between a polluting easyJet flight, or one of the
8 daily direct high-speed trains that take only 3h13m. This route was one of
the few routes analysed where, despite being operated by easyJet, the train
was mostly cheaper, with train ticket prices between €29.50 and €93.70.
Despite the perfect train connection, in 2019, 1,059,000 people flew
between Geneva and Paris. Banning this flight would save 57,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
38,000 fossil fuelled cars, or approximately the complete car fleet of
Sankt Gallen.
Brussels–Zurich
As often on routes to Switzerland, Brussels–Zurich is only operated by
traditional airlines. While the direct Lufthansa flight was the cheapest flight
for mid- and long-term bookings, for short-term bookings even much more
polluting transfer flights via Mallorca, the Greek island of Kos and Warsaw
cost less than half of the direct flight. These 3 short-term flights were also
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118
cheaper than the train, while the train was cheaper on 5 out of 6 mid- and
long term trips. All long-term train tickets for this 6h43m long trip with one
transfer were available for €49.90.
A direct flight from Brussels to Zurich causes 157 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per person. A transfer flight via Greece causes almost
10 times as much as this, 1,059 kg. With the trains running mainly on
renewable electricity on this route, almost all of these emissions could be
saved.
Geneva–Barcelona
EasyJet as well as the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling are flying between
Geneva and Barcelona. The quickest train trip with 2 transfers takes around
8 hours, a train trip with only one transfer takes 11h25m due to a 4 hours
waiting time in Valence. The polluting flight was always clearly cheaper on
this route, with indecently low prices found starting from €25.99. On
average, the train cost 2.7 times as much as the polluting flight.
In 2019, 638,000 people flew between Geneva and Barcelona. Shifting this
flight to rail would save 52,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 35,000 fossil fuelled cars, or more
than the complete car fleet of Lugano.
Basel–Zagreb
Ryanair flies 4 times a week between Zagreb and the EuroAirport (between
Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg) at an average price of €40.29. On other days,
the cheapest flights were even more polluting transfer flights with easyJet
and Air Croatia via Split. The best train connection is a train to Zurich and
the night train to Zagreb. The train was cheaper only on 3 of the 9 days
analysed, on average the train cost 2.3 times as much as the flight.
A single flight from the EuroAirport to Zagreb causes 212 kg of harmful
greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. By using the 950 km long train
trip, 85% of these emissions could be saved.
Zurich–Vienna
The Swiss and the Austrian capitals are perfectly connected by train. There
are 6 direct daily train pairs, one of them a night train. The day train takes
7h52m. By air, only the Lufthansa group connects the city. The train was
always found cheaper than the plane, on average the train was more than
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119
30% cheaper. Zurich–Vienna is one of the few perfect train routes analysed
in this report.
Despite the perfect train connection, in 2019, 941,000 people flew
between Zurich and Vienna. Banning this flight would save 75,000 tons of
harmful greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of
50,000 fossil fuelled cars, or more than the complete car fleet of Luzern.
Madrid–Zurich
This is the longest train route analysed for Switzerland. The train takes
15h26m, with 2 transfers in Barcelona and Paris. There is no night train
available on this route, though at least a direct connection from Barcelona
to Zurich will be re-introduced in 2024. People who want to use the
climate-friendly option have to invest a lot of time, but also a lot of money:
the train is on average 4 times more expensive than the plane, and has
been found more expensive on all days surveyed. The biggest price
dierence between rail and plane was €371.72, which is one of the biggest
dierences of all 112 routes analysed. The 2 Spanish low-cost carriers
Vueling and AIr Europa are flying daily on this route, and are responsible for
the lowest prices. On 2 days, an even more polluting transfer flight with
Vueling via Barcelona was cheaper than a direct flight.
In 2022, 484,000 passengers were flying on this route, emitting 150,000
tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. Despite the long train via Paris
compared to the air distance, 2,250 km and 1,250 km respectively),
around 75% of these GHG emissions could be saved by shifting to rail. The
savings would be equivalent to the yearly emissions of 75,000 cars, as
much as approximately the car fleet of Lausanne.
United Kingdom
Overall situation
The UK has become a hotspot for climate-wrecking low-cost carriers.
EasyJet and Ryanair fly from London to all other capitals part of this
analysis, except to Brussels, which can be reached by train from London in
2 hours. In many cases, transfer flights via the UK with Ryanair and easyJet
were also found the cheapest way for quite some routes, such as
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120
Amsterdam–Warsaw or Venice–Budapest. Even for London–Brussels,
transfer flights with Ryanair via Denmark were found at a quarter of the
price of the train. These ridiculous transfer flights involving huge detours
can cause up to 3 times the emissions of a direct flight, while the train
often causes more than 97% fewer emissions on these routes.
Thanks to the Eurostar tunnel, the UK is well-connected by rail to many
countries and cities. Even Barcelona and Rome can be reached within a day,
and with 1 and 2 changes respectively only. From all train routes analysed,
the Eurostar showed the highest prices.
On all 9 international routes analysed, the flight is always clearly cheaper,
except for London–Brussels where the train is cheaper for 2 out of 9 trips.
The most expensive train route found in this analysis is the route from
Barcelona to London. The train costs on average more than 10 times the
price of a flight, and nearly 30 times more on a short-term trip (Ryanair
flight: €12.99, train: €384).
The Edinburgh–London route, which in 2019 was the second most used
flight route in Europe, is systematically cheaper by plane; the same is valid
for the night train route from London to Inverness in Scotland.
Glasgow–London is the only domestic route where the train is cheaper on
2out of 6 days analysed. But on average, the train is twice as expensive as
the polluting flight on this route.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
121
Activists in Edinburgh Airport in 2007 oered passengers Climate Tickets to switch to the
train. Greenpeace has called attention to the unfair advantage flying has over train travel
for decades. © Richard Stanton/Greenpeace
Routes analysed within, from and to the UK
Amsterdam–London
Amsterdam–London is Europe's most used short-haul flight route, despite
the fact that there are 4 daily direct train connections lasting only 4 hours.
easyJet flies 15 times a day on this route. The Eurostar train was almost
always found to be more expensive than the polluting flight, with prices up
to €333. Only with one long-term booking, the train was €0.42 cheaper. On
average, the train cost almost double than the plane.
In 2019, more than 4.7 million passengers were travelling this route by air
(both-ways). Banning this useless and very polluting short-haul flight
route would save more than 216,000 tonnes of CO
2
per year, as much as
the annual emissions of around 144,000 fossil fuelled cars. This is
approximately the car fleet size in Newcastle.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
122
Glasgow–London
There are countless direct train connections between Glasgow and London,
with the quickest train taking 4h34m. On most days, easyJet flies more
than 10 times a day on this route. Both train and flight prices have a wide
range, flights between £18.49 and £108.99, and trains between £37 and
£83.70. The flight was clearly cheaper on all short-term bookings, while the
train was cheaper on 2 out of 3 mid-term trips. Train tickets cannot be
purchased 4 months in advance in the UK, which is disadvantageous for rail
over planes. On average, the train cost twice as much as the flight.
In 2019, 2.3 million passengers were travelling this route by air (both
ways). Banning this useless short-haul flight route would save 173,000
tonnes of CO
2
per year, as much as the yearly emissions of around 115,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet size of Luton.
Paris–London
As for all other large capitals analysed, the polluting flight from Paris to
London was clearly cheaper on all days analysed, with the train costing
more than twice as much on average. The 2 low-cost airlines easyJet and
the Spanish Vueling always have the cheapest prices, traditional airlines
such as Air France and British Airways were always more expensive. There
are 16 daily and direct Eurostar train connections lasting 2h17m between
Paris and London. The average flight price was low at €45.41. The cheapest
Eurostar ticket was found for a long-term trip for €57, the most expensive
train ticket even cost €132 for this quite short trip.
Despite the perfect train connections, in 2019, more than 2.1 million
people flew between Paris and London. Banning this useless short-haul
flight would save 98,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases. This is
equivalent to the yearly emissions of 65,000 fossil fuelled cars, or
approximately the complete car fleet of Exeter.
Manchester–Cologne
Ryanair flies 5 to 6 times a week from Manchester to Cologne, on most
other days an even more polluting transfer flight via Dublin was the
cheapest option. The flight was always much cheaper on this route than the
eco-friendly train. On average, a train ticket costs almost 5 times as much
as a plane ticket. On 2 mid-term bookings, the train price was more than
10times as much. The train trip takes only 7h40m and requires transfers in
London and Brussels, with travel options every 2 hours.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
123
In 2022, more than 71,000 passengers were flying between Manchester
and Cologne, causing more than 15,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions. The 920 km long train trip causes only one seventh of harmful
emissions.
Edinburgh–London
Edinburgh–London is Europe's 2
nd
most used short-haul flight route with a
train alternative, despite the fact that there are countless direct train
connections, with the fastest one lasting only a bit more than 4 hours.
Ryanair and easyJet are frequently flying, and are always cheaper than the
greener train, with very low prices starting at £14.99. On average, the train is
60% more expensive than the plane.
In 2019, 3.4 million passengers were travelling this route by air. Banning
this useless short-haul flight route would save 244,000 tonnes of CO
2
per
year. This is approximately equivalent to the yearly emissions of the
complete car fleet of Belfast.
Barcelona–London
Barcelona–London is the most expensive train route out of all routes
analysed. On average, the train cost more than 10 times as much as the
polluting flight. On one day, the train even cost 30 times as much.
3low-cost airlines fly between the 2 cities, Ryanair, easyJet and the
Spanish Vueling, with prices starting extremely low at €12.99. Also the most
expensive flight ticket found – €80.60 – is much cheaper compared to
most other routes. The train route can be travelled with one transfer, and
takes 10h57m – which is very quick considering that the route is 1,500 km
long. Though, the train ticket was not available for less than €300, making
this route also one of the most expensive routes in absolute amounts.
Long-term train tickets are not available for this route.
In 2019, 3.36 million people flew between Barcelona and London, making
it the 3rd most used short-haul flight in Europe with a rail alternative.
Shifting these flights to rail would save 461,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 303,000 cars,
approximately the car fleet size of Glasgow.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
124
London–Brussels
Brussels is the only capital analysed to which there is no direct low-cost
carrier flight from London. Therefore direct flights are relatively expensive,
and transfer flights e.g. with Ryanair via Denmark or Dublin are the
cheapest but most polluting option on this route. The direct train takes
slightly more than 2 hours and runs 10 times a day. However, the Eurostar is
one of the most expensive trains found in this analysis. It cost around €100
on average on this short route, and cost almost twice as much as a flight
ticket. The cheapest flight found is a very polluting transfer flight with
Ryanair via Denmark for €36.83. The Eurostar cost 2.7 times as much as
this amount on the same day.
For obvious climate reasons, a flight with a 2 hour train alternative must
be banned. It is causing 88 kg of harmful greenhouse gases per passenger
and direction. A transfer flight from London to Brussels via Denmark is
almost 6 times worse for the environment, and should also be banned for
this route. A Eurostar trip on this route could save 92% of the airline’s
emissions.
London–Bratislava
The Slovak capital Bratislava is a popular destination for UK party tourists,
enjoying good and, compared to the UK, cheap beer, food and night club
entry prices. This is presumably the reason why London is the only (!)
destination which can be reached daily from Bratislava airport. Ryanair and
Wizz Air are oering extremely low prices on this route starting from just ￡
12.99 (€15). With beer prices at less than €3 in Bratislava, and around €8 in
London, the return on investment in the flight is recouped after the 4th
beer. The return flight can be paid for through savings on the cost of dinner.
The train connection from London to Bratislava is quite good for the long
distance. You need to take the Eurostar to Brussels (or Amsterdam), then
the night train to Vienna, and a 1 hour connection train to Bratislava. The
price of the train is however not fair at all. On 3 of the 9 days analysed, the
train price was found higher than €350. For long-term bookings only the
train was found for €139.90. On average, train fares are at 780% of airfares,
with the largest dierence being 15.5 times. It is the third most expensive
train route out of all 112 routes analysed.
In 2022, more than 160,000 people were flying on this route, making it the
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
125
most used flight route in Slovakia for regular flights, and emitting around
61,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases, as much as 40,000 cars per year.
Since the largest part of this train route goes through Germany and
Austria with 100% renewable electricity, at least 85% of these harmful
emissions could be saved by shifting to rail.
London–Vienna
As on almost all other routes from and to the UK, the polluting flight was
always clearly cheaper than the train. On average, the train cost almost
5times as much as the plane. On one midterm booking, the train cost
9times as much. 4 airlines fly daily on this route, which is Austria's most
used short-haul flight route: British Airways, Austrian Airlines (Lufthansa),
Ryanair and Wizz Air. The last one was always the cheapest, with prices
starting from €29.02 on. By climate-friendly rail, only one transfer is
needed, either in Brussels or Amsterdam for the night train to Vienna.
In 2019, more than 1,350,000 passengers flew on this route. Shifting this
flight to rail would save 197,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gases,
equivalent to the yearly emissions of around 38,000 people living in the
UK. Since the largest part of this route lies in Germany and Austria with
100% renewable electricity use by their railway companies, at least 90%
of these emissions could be saved.
London–Inverness
London–Inverness is the longest possible night train route in the UK, taking
11h30m. The fastest day trains on this route last a bit more than 8 hours.
British Airways and easyJet fly this route daily, with easyJet always found
cheaper. Except on 2 short term bookings where the night train was booked
out already, the night train was the cheapest train option on this route. The
polluting easyJet flight was cheaper on 8 out of 9 days analysed, with the
train costing almost double of the flight on average.
An easyJet flight from London to Inverness causes 154 kg of harmful
greenhouse gases per passenger. Taking the train on this 900 km long
route could save around 80% of these emissions. Based on the average
UK electricity mix, the CO
2
saving is equivalent to the consumption of 680
kWh of electricity, enough for cooking on an electric stove for a year.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
126
Berlin–London
There are several polluting flights per day by Ryanair and easyJet on this
route, with Ryanair being 5 out of 9 times the cheapest and easyJet 4 times
the cheapest. The best train connection is the private European Sleeper to
Brussels, followed by the Eurostar to London. Alternatively, there are some
day train connections with minimum 2 transfers and lasting around 11
hours. The night train was always cheaper than the day trains, though it
does not run every day but only every other day. This means that for this
route, the research date for the night train trip can be either the day of
departure or the day of arrival. As with all other routes analysed to and
from the UK, the polluting flight was always cheaper, with average train
ticket prices costing 2.3 times as much as flight tickets. Since the night
train to Brussels is relatively aordable with prices mostly below €100, the
average train price is less compared to most other UK routes, but the
absolute average price dierence is significant with €108.89.
In 2019, a bit more than 2 million people flew on the route Berlin–London.
Shifting this route to rail would save 237,000 tons of harmful greenhouse
gases. This is as much as the yearly emissions of 158,000 fossil fuelled
cars, more than the complete car fleet of Newcastle.
Marseille–London
Marseille–London is one of the quickest and best long-distance train
connections in Europe. The 1,300 km long train trip takes just 7h26m with
only one change in Paris or Lille, and there are 9 train connections on most
days. By air, the 2 cities are connected by both low-cost airlines easyJet
and Ryanair. As with all other routes to the UK, the polluting flight is always
clearly cheaper. On average, the train cost almost 7 times as much as the
flight, on one day even more than 12 times as much. Flights are extremely
cheap on this route, with an average price of €35.76, which would not be
possible without the many subsidies these airlines receive.
In 2019, more than 610,000 people flew between Paris and Marseille.
Shifting this flight fully to rail would save around 78,000 tons of harmful
greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 52,000
fossil fuelled cars. This is approximately the car fleet of Bath.
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127
An Unfair Regulatory Playing
Field
With trains on average twice as expensive as planes and one route costing
up to 30 times as much for a same-day trip, it is clear that citizens are
being encouraged to fly across Europe. Trains are often too expensive, but
planes are sometimes outrageously cheap. One explanation is the unfair
pricing systems that favour air travel over rail: while airlines pay neither
kerosene tax nor VAT on international flights and benefit from subsidies
paid with taxpayers money, railways have to pay energy taxes, VAT and high
rail tolls in most countries.
Transport and Environment estimated that in 2022 in Europe (EU27+UK), the
fuel tax and ETS exemptions amounted to €20.5 billion and VAT exemption
to €18.8 billion, partially oset by €5.0 billion in revenues from aviation
ticket taxes. The total European tax gap, which is the dierence between
what would have been raised in a no-exemption scenario and the amount
of money raised by air travel pricing, amounted to €34.2 billion in 2022.
Why low-cost carriers are cheaper
Working conditions reduced to the legal minimum, multiplying extra costs,
subsidies from local authorities... low-cost airlines have exploited every
loophole and trick in the book to be as competitive as possible. At the
expense of the planet and the climate, but also of workers and customers.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of reasons why low-cost airlines sell cheaper
tickets:
● The number of sta is reduced to the legally required minimum. Any
service sta is not available anymore.
● Lower salaries. Low-cost carriers pay lower salaries and oer worse
working conditions than traditional airlines. This gets especially
obvious, when traditional airlines get smaller or bankrupt, and
low-cost carriers take over their sta.
● Freelancers instead of employed sta. Especially pilots have to found
their own one-(wo)man company and sell their services as
“contractors”.
● Loopholes in labour laws. Low-cost carriers love to employ their sta
in countries with lower labour laws, such as in Malta.
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128
● No worker’s representation. Often, low-cost carriers do everything to
prevent organised workers’ representation, such as workers councils,
from being created.
● Less corporate taxes. Complicated corporate structures and/or
registrations in low-tax countries such as Malta and Ireland reduce
the need to pay taxes on profits.
● Low compensation. If a flight is seriously delayed, all airlines are
obliged to pay compensation. Low-cost carriers try to escape from
this compensation, or try to keep them low by linking to the low base
price of the ticket.
● No liability for transfer flights. Low-cost carriers do not sell transfer
flights. If passengers book a transfer flight, these are ocially 2
separate flights: if the first flight is delayed and passengers miss the
second flight, it is fully at the risk of passengers. In contrast to this,
traditional airlines have to take responsibility for missed transfer
flights, and pay compensation and/or arrange re-bookings and/or
hotel accommodation.
● Subsidies. Low-cost carriers are benefiting more from lower airport
fees and/or refunds on some airports than traditional airlines.
Especially incentives for new routes from an airport are mainly
designed for low-cost carriers, which are typically flying to small
airports near large airports, which are considered new destinations
(Paris–Beauvais, Frankfurt–Hahn…). There are cases where low-cost
carriers receive direct subsidies for flying on some (low-used) routes,
and cases where they get subsidies for the “development” of regions.
● Limited inclusion. Only online check-in is included. If people due to
age, disability or other reasons are not able to use online-check-ins,
an extra fee is applied that is often higher than the ticket price.
● Costs for additional services. For each and every additional service,
the customer will have to pay an additional fee.
● Zero tolerance for inconsequential mistakes. If a passenger by
mistake comes with a luggage a bit heavier than allowed, the fees for
the luggage can be a multiple of the ticket price.
● Maximise profits. Low-cost airlines generally focus on very profitable
routes and seasons. E.g Ryanair is only flying to the Greek island of
Corfu from May to October, while Aegean airlines flies there daily to
oer a service for the local population. The same scheme can be
found for routes e.g. to Ibiza in Spain, where only traditional airlines
such as Iberia fly o-season.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
129
Aviation worker in Frankfurt am Main Airport.
Conclusions
Despite its terrible impact on the climate, flying remains an option for many
European citizens, and this is no surprise: thanks to the outrageous
subsidies that airlines benefit from, they can oer unreasonably low prices
– low-cost airlines are at the forefront with their aggressive pricing
strategies. But these cheap tickets come at a high cost to the planet and its
inhabitants, including their employees, airport neighbours, customers,
people aected by extreme weather events or biodiversity in general.
This unfair regulatory playing field for travel is undermining Europe's
railways, exploiting workers and polluting the planet, all to the benefit of
airlines: it is time to reverse the trend.
The analysis also revealed other problems, such as the diculty of booking
cross-border train tickets, with prices varying depending on the operator,
the unavailability of train tickets more than a few months in advance for
some companies, and the need to book several tickets with dierent
operators, which again highlights the need for a simpler ticketing system.
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130
Greenpeace is calling on national governments to introduce climate tickets,
aordable and simple long-term tickets valid on all public transport in a
country or defined region, including all trains and cross-border transport.
Climate tickets can be financed through windfall taxes, the phasing out of
environmentally harmful subsidies, or a fair tax system based on CO
2
emissions. In parallel, subsidies to airlines and airports must end, starting
with the phasing out of kerosene tax exemptions.
Greenpeace Demands
Demands for fair pricing of flights and trains
● Introduce national, simple and aordable climate tickets including
the domestic section of cross-border train connection (as this is
already the case with the Austrian climate ticket)
● In countries which have implemented climate tickets, mutually
recognise and integrate systems together so one can access public
transport with a simple and single ticket across borders
● Introduce a European wide ticket valid for all means of public
transport, more aordable and simpler than the Interrail pass, rail
subscription/monthly ticket modelled on the highly successful
national climate tickets in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, etc.
● Phase out the VAT exemptions on flight tickets and the kerosene tax
exemption
● Make rail more aordable, starting with reducing/skipping VAT on
train tickets, family fares and social fares for low income travellers
● Reduce or skip track access charges for trains
● Improve workers’ rights (employment forms, contractual
arrangements, union relations, collective bargaining, work-life
balance, etc.) and prevent tax optimisation, especially by low cost
airlines
● End any subsidies for airports and airlines
● Introduce flight ticket taxes to cover the climate and environmental
impact of air travel
● Investigations by national competent authorities with regard to unfair
commercial practices and predatory pricing practised in passenger air
transport.
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131
Other demands to help shift from air to rail
● Ban of all airlines’ advertisements
● Ban of short-haul flights with a reasonable train alternative
● Expand the Interrail French–German initiative and oer a cheap / free
ticket to all European youth
Demands for the improvement of rail
● Selling tickets for long-distance trains a longer period in advance
● Accepting online tickets in all countries and by all railways companies
● Same prices/oers for the same trip in all operators’ ticket shops
● Introduce an integrated EU-wide ticketing and payment system to
make it easier for passengers to book a train journey involving
dierent operators and make it mandatory for rail companies to sell
through tickets to protect passenger rights
● Unified train timetable information system
● More direct connections, starting with the reintroduction of lines
which were closed in the past (such as the night trains Paris–Venice,
Hendaye(F)–Lisbon, Athens–Bucharest…)
● Introduce new and more rail connections between all countries where
tracks exist (esp. Greece, Portugal, Lithuania–Latvia)
● Massive investments to upgrade and modernise the rail
infrastructure, increase the capacity of the rail networks, and make
rail faster especially in Central and Eastern European countries
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
132
Annex I: Details of the
Methodology
● The geographic focus of the research is the EU27 plus CH, NO, UK,
minus Malta, Cyprus and Ireland.
● All routes analysed are below 1,500 km air distance (short-haul
flights).
● All destinations have an international airport and a railway station.
● The selected routes represent a mix of geography, and include both
typical business and leisure destinations. Main and regional airports
were included. The routes include direct flight and direct rail
connections, routes which have only one kind of direct connection,
and routes without any direct connection (the last one is rare).
● The trips can be done either with trains & flights arriving on the same
day (not later than 1 a.m. of the following day), or with night trains
18
including needed connection trains, not exceeding a total travel time
of 24 hours (and without boarding or changing between 1 and 4.30
a.m.). For night train connections, the given date is the departure,
except when this night train was not available, the date is the arrival
date. In the report, train connections under these definitions were
described as “reasonable”.
● Routes with a train travel time below 4 hours were excluded, if flights
are dominantly transfer flights (such as Budapest–Vienna). Routes
under 4 hours were included, if due to the flight ticket prices, this
route is obviously also frequently used for a trip between the 2 cities
(such as London–Brussels).
● Prices were taken only from ocial airline & railway operator
websites. If one ticket for a route operated by more than one railway
operator can be bought, the price was usually taken from the website
of the railway operator from the departure country (e.g. the price for
Brussels–Hamburg was taken from SNCB), or from the railway
operator who is able to sell one ticket.
19
When the price appeared
unreasonably high, the price was also checked from the other
involved railway operators (e.g. for Venice–Budapest, prices from
19
E.g, for the route from Naples to Düsseldorf, only ÖBB is selling a ticket for the complete
route, not Trenitalia or Deutsche Bahn.
18
A night train is defined as a train with sleepers and/or couchettes, though for the price
analysis, supplements for couchettes and sleepers are not included if the train includes
normal wagons.
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
133
Trenitalia, ÖBB and MAV were checked). It was not possible to always
check all railway operators selling tickets for the route.
● Greenpeace always chose the cheapest available ticket option (2nd
class, economy class, no extra reservations, no luggage fees,
non-refundable tickets, etc.). Discount cards, individual subscriptions
and long-term tickets were not taken into consideration.
● All routes were analysed for a one-way trip within 2, 4 and 7 days,
within a month (exactly one month and plus and minus 2 days), and
within 4 months (exactly one month, and plus 4, and minus 4 days) –
this selection is ensuring a mix of weekdays.
● Only flights were considered, which included at the maximum one
transfer. Also train routes were limited to a maximum of one more
change than needed. (If there is a direct train, only 1 transfer was
considered, if there is one transfer required, 2 transfers were
considered at the most; Except, if trains on the direct routes were
not available, routes with more transfers were considered.)
● If the day train connection takes longer than 12 hours, and if a night
train is available, the night train was the first choice for this analysis.
If the day train connection takes less than 8 hours, and if a night
train is available, the day train was the first choice for this analysis.
● Transfer flights were only researched if the direct flight cost above
€80. Generally, transfer connections were only considered if they
were at least 10% cheaper than the direct one.
● For flights, all airports “belonging to one city” were considered (e.g.
Brussels airport and Charleroi).
Annex II: Sources and links
The following table includes the main sources that were used to obtain
data on ticket prices.
Country
Railway companies
Airlines
20
Austria
https://shop.oebbtickets.at/de/ticket
https://westbahn.at/en/
https://www.austrian.com/at/en/homepage
https://www.corendonairlines.com/
Belgium
https://www.b-europe.com/EN
https://www.brusselsairlines.com/at/en/homep
20
The airlines and railway companies are listed according to their home base, or in cases,
their home country is not part of the research, the airline was listed under the country of
departure (e.g. Air Serbia under Romania).
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
134
https://www.thalys.com/de/de
age
https://www.tuifly.be/en
Bulgaria
https://www.bdz.bg/en
https://www.air.bg/en
Croatia
https://www.hzpp.hr/
https://www.croatiaairlines.com/
Czech Rep.
https://www.cd.cz/en/
https://regiojet.com/
https://www.csa.cz/cz-en/
Denmark
https://www.dsb.dk/en/
Estonia
https://elron.ee/en
Finland
https://www.vr.fi/en
https://www.finnair.com/at-en
France
https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-e
n/
https://wwws.airfrance.fr/en
https://www.transavia.com/en-EU/home/
Germany
https://www.bahn.com/en
https://shop.lufthansa.com/booking/
https://www.eurowings.com/at.html
https://www.condor.com/eu
Greece
https://www.hellenictrain.gr/en/ticke
t-purchase
https://www.skyexpress.gr/en
https://www.olympicair.com/en/
Hungary
https://jegy.mav.hu/
https://Wizzair.com/en-gb#/
Italy
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
https://www.ita-airways.com/fr_fr/
Latvia
https://www.ldz.lv/en
https://www.airbaltic.com/
Lithuania
https://ltglink.lt/en
Luxembourg
https://www.cfl.lu/en-gb
https://www.luxair.lu/en
Netherlands
https://www.nsinternational.com/en
https://www.europeansleeper.eu/en
https://www.klm.com/
Norway
https://www.vy.no/en
https://www.norwegian.com/uk/
https://www.wideroe.no/en
https://www.flygbra.se/en
https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/fr
Poland
https://www.intercity.pl/en/
https://www.lot.com/nl/en
Portugal
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en
https://www.flytap.com/en-at/
Romania
https://mersultrenurilor.infofer.ro/en-
GB/Itineraries
https://www.tarom.ro/en
https://air-connect.com/en
https://www.airserbia.com/en/
Slovakia
https://www.zssk.sk/en/
Slovenia
https://potniski.sz.si/en/
/ Trains vs. Planes Price Analysis
135
Spain
https://www.renfe.com/es/en
https://iryo.eu/en/booking
https://www.ouigo.com/es/en
https://tickets.vueling.com/ScheduleSelectNew
.aspx
https://www.iberia.com/es/?language=en
https://www.volotea.com/en/
https://www.aireuropa.com/ot/en/home
Sweden
https://www.sj.se/
https://www.flysas.com/en/
Switzerland
https://www.sbb.ch/en/timetable.ht
ml
https://www.swiss.com/at/en/homepage
UK
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket
s-railcards-and-oers/buying-a-tick
et/
https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en
https://www.sleeper.scot/
https://www.ryanair.com/de/de
https://www.easyjet.com/en
https://www.aerlingus.com/html/en-AT/home.h
tml
https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/p
ublic/en_at/
Annex
III: Dataset
The dataset we compiled for this report can be viewed online at this link.
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