Which is cheaper, the plane or the train? The environmental organization Greenpeace has examined 112 European city networks with regard to this question. These include, for example, frequently used routes within Germany, such as Hamburg-Munich or Stuttgart-Berlin, but also longer, somewhat less frequented cross-border routes such as Cologne-Barcelona or Freiburg-Zagreb.
The result of the study: Only on a few European routes can train fares undercut the prices of flights. In 71 percent of the cases, the train was more expensive than the plane. On routes starting or ending in Germany, train journeys cost an average of 51 percent more than an equivalent flight connection.
The trains on the Hamburg-Brussels, Hamburg-Luxembourg and Hamburg-Munich routes were always cheaper. The highest price difference was recorded on the route between Barcelona and London, which was expected to cost up to 384 euros by train. That is 30 times more than by plane with a ticket price of 12.99 euros, writes Greenpeace.
In fact, for the Barcelona-London route, there are online offers from low-cost airlines that cost between 11 and 16 euros, depending on the travel date. However, it is important to know that the Vueling airline only allows a small piece of hand luggage for the connection, the next higher tariff including checked luggage would be around five times as expensive for a trip in December 2023. Other airlines also experience a noticeable price increase when travelers check baggage.
This is how the environmental organization proceeded
What criteria did Greenpeace use when selecting the cities? First of all, the capitals of the EU countries were taken into account, as well as cities with more than one million inhabitants, Greenpeace traffic expert Marisa Reiserer explains to the SZ. Two other factors were whether the city is an important tourist destination or whether there is a connection that has a high frequency of bookings. In addition, some night train routes were considered.
A maximum train journey time of 24 hours was taken as a basis for the length of the routes. This value is set relatively high, but a shorter time could have been used as a basis, says Reiserer. In fact, few travelers are willing to accept such a long travel time.
However, the expert points out that even some longer distances can be covered by train. For example, the route between Barcelona and London can be done in around ten hours. You only have to change trains once, namely in Paris. And from the French capital there are very fast connections to both London and Barcelona with high-speed trains that travel at 300 kilometers per hour.
There is also a very fast connection from Munich to Paris, for example, the French TGV covers this route in just over five and a half hours. If the German rail network were better developed, it would be even faster. A direct connection is also planned for the Berlin-Paris connection from the end of 2024, which should significantly reduce the travel time.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn said the Greenpeace study shows that “particularly on top German routes, rail travel is usually cheaper than flying”. Tickets for these city connections start at EUR 17.90. However, as consumer advocates keep pointing out, the contingent for these tickets is limited and on busy days such as Friday or Sunday they can often only be obtained if you book in good time. Saver prices, according to the railway spokesman, are also available for connections to neighboring countries, such as France and Italy. This is also pointed out by the Verkehrsclub Deutschland, an organization that is committed to an ecological turnaround in traffic and regularly gives tips to rail customers. In a study, the Bahntest 2021/2022, the VCD Tips for city connections abroad compiled.
Deutsche Bahn also notes that the Greenpeace study does not take some aspects into account. The train is significantly cheaper when it comes to taking children or luggage with you. In addition, you travel by train to the center of the city, which means there are no additional costs for the journey from the airport to the city center.
Greenpeace calls for a tax on kerosene
The fact that the train is often more expensive in cross-border traffic is mainly due to low-cost airlines. Almost 80 percent of the routes that Greenpeace examined are served by low-cost airlines. You benefit from the fact that there is no petroleum tax on aviation fuel and no VAT has to be paid for a flight ticket. In addition, regional governments in numerous countries have given generous subsidies to low-cost airlines such as Ryanair so that they can use remote and otherwise underused airports such as Frankfurt-Hahn or Barcelona-Girona.
In most cases, as the Greenpeace study shows, the railways are not competitive. The environmental organization is therefore calling for a tax of 50 cents per liter of kerosene, which could go towards expanding rail infrastructure and subsidizing cheap rail tickets.
“More and more people want to travel by train and do without flights, but the lack of kerosene tax and other climate-damaging subsidies for the aviation industry distort prices and are a crash landing for good intentions,” says Reiserer. Consumers should be able to rely on the fact that the train is always the cheapest means of transport.
Detlef Neuß from the Pro Bahn passenger association is also demanding that the tax disadvantages for rail traffic be ended. If air travel and rail were taxed in an economically fair and climate-friendly manner, i.e. according to the criterion of how much CO₂ they emit, then rail would be “unrivaled cheap,” says Neuß.
The Pro-Bahn spokesman also points out another point that is important for cross-border traffic: a booking system is needed that makes buying cross-border tickets easier than it is today and secures passenger rights.
In fact, many holidaymakers who want to travel in a climate-conscious manner, for example, try to split their tickets into pieces. For example, they buy a ticket for the journey from Munich to Verona with Deutsche Bahn and then a ticket for the onward journey from Verona to Rome with the Italian Trenitalia. In fact, by trying things out and choosing different train companies, you can sometimes achieve better prices, explains Neuss. However, in the above example, “two separate contracts of carriage are concluded and then there are no continuous passenger rights”. In plain language: If the first train is too late and you miss the second, you will not get any money back.