Europe has rail infrastructure in place to support more than triple the existing direct train connections between major cities, according to a recent Greenpeace report titled “Connection Failed”.
The environmental group analysed 990 routes, between 45 major European cities, and found that just 114 of them (12%) are served by direct train connections. There are another 305 routes (31%) where a direct connection would be possible using existing tracks, but the route is unserved.
The analysis also found that there are almost 6 times more direct flights than direct train connections between the 45 cities, with 69% of the 990 routes served by direct flights. Besides the higher availability of flights, another Greenpeace report found last year that even for existing connections, trains are up to 30 times more expensive than flights.
Today we face huge gaps in our rail network and a considerable untapped potential for direct trains, mainly because of misguided mobility spending priorities.
Herwig Schuster, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe
“For years, Europe has rolled out the red carpet for climate-damaging air travel, showering it with tax breaks, while trains and rail infrastructure have withered away. It’s time for European governments and the EU to correct this historic imbalance by improving the connectivity and comfort of trains and ending the unfair advantages of the airline industry”, said Herwig Schuster, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe. “Europeans deserve access to clean, efficient, comfortable and affordable public transport that is good for them and good for the planet.”
With 17 direct trains to other major European cities, Vienna has the most connections. Nevertheless, it still only uses 59% of the possible routes. Based on existing tracks and timetables, there is a potential for 12 more direct train connections to and from the Austrian capital.
After Vienna, the cities that are best connected by direct trains are Munich, with 15 routes and potential for 14 more, Berlin, with14 routes and potential for 14 more, Zurich, with 13 routes and potential for 15 more, and Paris, with 13 routes and potential for 16 more.
At the other end, the six worst connected cities are Athens, Lisbon, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn, none of which have a direct train connection to any of the other major European cities included in the analysis.
Lastly, Greenpeace points out that the total number of cross-border passenger night trains in Europe has fallen from 1,257 per week in 2001 to just 445 in 2019. Moreover, amid the European Year of Rail in 2021, the European Commission announced 15 new cross-border rail projects, but, in 2023, they were reduced to 10 and none of them have materialised yet.