The most polluting way to travel is almost always the cheapest. Or: Trains are often slightly cheaper than planes. It’s a matter of interpretation or wording, but these are two headlines about a new Greenpeace study on the fact that flying in Europe is cheaper than talking the train in more than half of all cases.
In any case, flying often remains the most economical option, despite its significant impact on the climate. Greenpeace points out, among other things, that aviation fuel is not taxed and international airline tickets are also exempt from VAT. Meanwhile, railway companies often must pay full VAT, in addition to rising energy costs and high infrastructure fees.
In the words of the environmental organization: Policies at the EU and national levels have created an unfair competitive advantage for climate-wrecking airlines.
In 54% of cases, flying is cheaper
For the study, which did not consider baggage fees often charged by airlines or family discounts sometimes offered by rail companies, Greenpeace examined 109 international routes up to 1,500 km in 31 European countries.
In 54% of cases, flying was found to be cheaper. Of the 33 domestic routes examined, a cheaper train connection was available in 70% of cases. The biggest difference was noted on the Barcelona-London route. There, a train ticket was no less than 26 times more expensive than a plane ticket (€14,99 for the plane vs €389 for the train on one mid-term trip. As a matter of fact, that connection also offered the cheapest ticket: €12,99, offered by easyJet.
According to Greenpeace, it is low-cost airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and Vueling that often offer the lowest fares with their unfair and aggressive pricing strategies, and they are generally cheaper than traveling by train.
Only 29 routes were always or almost always cheaper by train. These are mainly routes in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in the Baltic States and Poland. For example, you can travel from Vilnius to Warsaw by train for €25, while the plane costs €336.94.
Some improvement
Compared to the study published in 2023, there has been some improvement. The number of routes on which the train is the cheapest option has risen by 14 percentage points to 41%.
According to Greenpeace, this is because fewer ultra-cheap flight connections via hubs such as London or Dublin are being offered. In addition, the cost of train tickets rose less than inflation, and train connections on certain routes have improved.
Madrid-Brussels 11,5 times cheaper by plane
For Belgium, only Brussels was examined. Six out of the 10 routes analyzed for Brussels are predominantly cheaper by plane: Copenhagen, Vienna, Madrid, Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest. The connection with Berlin, Hamburg and Zurich were found to be predominantly cheaper by train.
Despite a very short train journey of 2 hours to London, the flight was found to be cheaper on about half of the days. The largest difference between rail and flight fares was found on the Madrid–Brussels route, with the train costing 11,5 times as much as the flight for a mid-term trip (€240.50 for 2 separate tickets from the Spanish state railway company Renfe and the French SNCF, vs €21 for a Ryanair flight).
Belgium scores poorly
With 60% of routes being more expensive by train than by plane, Belgium ranks sixth among the worst-preforming countries, alongside Romania and Norway. Only France (95%), Spain (92%), the United Kingdom (90%), Italy (88%), and Hungary (71%) score even worse. Belgium also performs significantly worse than Luxembourg (40%) and the Netherlands (22%).
At the other end of the spectrum is Lithuania. All routes from Vilnius are cheaper by train. In Poland, this is the case in 89% of cases, and in Slovenia in 80%.
Funds to make train travel cheaper
To make train travel more attractive, Greenpeace is calling on the EU and national governments to stop subsidizing aviation, introduce a simple ticket system for trains, and invest more in public transport. The organization also advocates the introduction of “climate tickets”, affordable and simple tickets that are valid on all forms of public transport in a country or a specific region.
It also calls for the establishment of funds to make train travel cheaper and better, for example by introducing a fair tax taxation scheme for aviation, starting with taxes on business class and first-class flights, and by introducing a moderate tax for billionaires and centi-millionaires.
Travelling by train is climate-friendly and should therefore always be cheaper than flying, according to the environmental organization.
