79 out of 112 routes where the plane is cheaper than the train. This is the surprising finding of a study by Greenpeace, which carried out an air/rail comparison in Europe. And this at a time when the European Union and national authorities are constantly hammering home the need to favour rail over air transport. But in reality, rail fares are still much higher than airline fares - particularly in relation to low-cost. According to the NGO, these serve almost 79% of all the lines analysed.
Greenpeace notes that a train ticket costs on average 200% more than a plane ticket. In detail, for a last-minute booking (within the same week) on the 112 routes analysed, rail is 189% more expensive on average than air travel. For bookings made one month in advance, the price difference rises to 246%. Finally, for a ticket purchased up to 4 months in advance, the price difference is smaller. But it is still substantial at 180%.
The lines analysed covered routes with an overhead distance of less than 1,500 km. (short-haul flights). All destinations are included in 24 EU countries as well as Norway, the UK and Switzerland. All destinations have an international airport and a railway station.
France in the pillory
France is a bad pupil because train fares were considered too expensive compared with air travel. According to Greenpeace, on 9 out of 10 international routes to or from Paris, planes are almost always, or always, cheaper than trains.
On a total of 20 routes (France/International), air travel was cheaper on 17 routes. On 2 other routes, the train was only cheaper for a few days. The only exception for France is the route Geneva-Paris, where trains were cheaper 7 days out of 9.
On average, Greenpeace estimates that a train ticket for all journeys in France costs 2.6 times as much like a robbery. This puts France in 4th place for the most expensive rail journeys, after the UK, Spain and Belgium. By way of example, Greenpeace analyses Paris-Milan, where the air fare on easyJet and Ryanair ranged from €26 to €79.25. Last-minute train tickets cost at least €149. Out of 9 booking days analysed, only one day - day 8 - had a rail fare of 16% cheaper than the train.
Visit Paris-LondonOn average, a train journey cost twice as much as a flight on a low-cost airline. That is a average price of flights at €45.41. The cheapest Eurostar ticket was found for a long-term booking at €57, while a last-minute train ticket cost €132.
However, the difference between trains and planes is less than the Greenpeace study would have us believe.. The NGO forgets to include the cost of a ground transfer to the airport. And for Paris-London, this can quickly add up to an extra €80 between London trains and the RATP to CDG...
