Analysis by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe
IMPRINT
Greenpeace Central & Eastern Europe
Wiedner Hauptstraße 120-124
1050 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 545 4580
Email: o[email protected]t
JULY 2024
Cover photo: © Mitja Kobal / Greenpeace
Imprint photos:
© Paul Langrock / Greenpeace
© Chris Grodotzki / Greenpeace
© Gesche Jäger / Greenpeace
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS 3
INTRODUCTION 4
SUMMARY AND KEY FINDINGS 5
METHODOLOGY IN BRIEF 7
IMPORTANCE OF DIRECT TRAINS 8
OVERALL RESULTS FOR EUROPE 9
Results for all 990 routes in bullet points 9
Table with main results 11
The scorecard 12
Very important missing direct train connections 14
Future possible direct train connections with infrastructure
improvements 16
A comparison of direct train and direct flight connections 18
WHY ARE THERE SO FEW DIRECT TRAIN CONNECTIONS IN EUROPE? 19
HOW TO GET MORE DIRECT TRAINS? 21
EXCURSUS: TICKET PRICES FOR DIRECT TRAINS 24
CONCLUSIONS AND DEMANDS 26
ANNEX 1: RESULTS PER COUNTRY IN ALPHABETIC ORDER 27
Austria (Vienna) 27
Balkan, 6 non-EU countries 30
Baltic countries (Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius) 30
Belgium (Brussels) 33
Bulgaria (Sofia) 35
Croatia (Zagreb) 38
Czechia (Prague) 40
Denmark (Copenhagen) 42
Finland (Helsinki) 45
France (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse) 45
Germany 51
Part A: Four largest cities (Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich) 53
Part B: Five additional cities (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover,
Nuremberg, Stuttgart) 62
Greece (Athens) 72
Hungary (Budapest) 74
Italy (Rome, Milan, Naples) 76
Luxembourg (Luxembourg City) 81
Moldova (Chisinau) 84
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Netherlands (Amsterdam) 84
Norway (Oslo) 87
Poland (Warsaw) 89
Portugal (Lisbon) 92
Romania (Bucharest) 94
Slovakia (Bratislava) 96
Slovenia (Ljubljana) 98
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia) 100
Sweden (Stockholm) 105
Switzerland (Zurich, Geneva) 107
UK (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester) 111
Ukraine (Kyiv) 116
ANNEX 2: TIPS FOR CONSUMERS HOW TO BUY A TICKET 116
ANNEX 3: TABLES WITH TRAIN AND FLIGHT CONNECTIONS 117
ANNEX 4: ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIMES FOR TRAIN SECTIONS CURRENTLY OUT
OF USE 118
ANNEX 5: FULL METHODOLOGY 118
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 aect 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 trac in Europe has returned to pre-pandemic
levels.
On average in Europe, planes produce almost five times as many harmful
greenhouse gases as trains. While more and more rail companies are significantly
reducing their emissions by electrifying and switching to green electricity, making
planes in some countries more than ten times worse than trains in terms of
emissions, the aviation industry is doing almost nothing to reduce its emissions.
One of the reasons people choose between flying and travelling by train is the
availability of good, direct connections. By train, you could leave Paris at 8 a.m.
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and arrive in Copenhagen at 9:30 p.m. But you need to change trains twice, in
Cologne and Hamburg, and risk missing your connecting train twice. And you need
three rail companies for this journey, Eurostar to Cologne, Deutsche Bahn to
Hamburg and DSB Danish Railways to Copenhagen. The SNCF can sell you a ticket
for the full trip (“through ticket”), but you'll have to be very lucky to get one for
less than €300. On the other hand, fiveairlines fly daily between Paris and
Copenhagen, with prices starting at €14.99. So why take the greener train on this
route?
Citizens deserve to have access to a clean, ecient and aordable transport
system that does not harm the climate, people and our planet.
It is high time to make rail more comfortable and aordable than flying across
Europe.
SUMMARY AND KEY FINDINGS
Greenpeace has analysed 990 routes between 45 major cities in all European
countries
1
, to compare the number of existing and potential direct train
connections with direct flight connections. This report shows that European cities
are still far better connected by air than by rail, encouraging people to fly rather
than take the train, despite aviation's damaging impact on the climate.
Furthermore, the analysis exposes the considerable untapped potential for new
direct trains (with a journey time of less than 18 hours) to replace flights, and
identifies the reasons for the massively poor train connectivity across the
continent. Greenpeace proposes solutions to policy makers on how to make rail
more attractive for cross-border journeys.
The main findings on the train connectivity are presented in the form of a
scorecard using a trac light colour system.
1
except island states (but including the UK), the five smallest states (Andorra,
Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City), Russia, Belarus and the Caucasus
region (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia).
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10 KEY FINDINGS
● Of 990 routes between 45 European cities that Greenpeace analysed, only
12% are currently served by direct trains, while 69% are served by direct
flight. This is almost sixtimes as many direct flights as direct train
connections between Europeancities.
● Of the 990 routes, 42% – 419 routes – could easily be served by direct
daytime or night trains of under 18 hours travel time using existing rail
tracks.
2
● However, at present only 27% – 114 of the 419 potential direct train routes –
are in fact served by direct train, leaving 73% – 305 potential routes –
unserved.
● The untapped potential for direct trains between European cities is
considerable: Direct train connections in Europe could be more than tripled
using existing track infrastructure.
● The top 5 cities best connected by direct train in Europe are (in this order):
Vienna (17 direct train connections), Munich (15), Berlin (14), Paris and
Zurich (13 each).
● The six worst connected cities by direct train are Athens, Lisbon, Pristina,
Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn (each with zero direct train connections to
other European cities).
● In none of the 45 cities analysed is the potential for direct trains fully
exploited. Even Vienna, the city with the most direct train connections in
Europe, has direct trains on only 59% of the possible routes. Most cities
have direct train connections on less than 50% of the potential routes.
● With the reactivation of some currently closed train links, such as between
Greece and Bulgaria or between Croatia and Bosnia, all 990 routes could be
travelled by train (although this may involve many changes and a long
journey time on some routes).
● There are more direct flights than direct train connections from/to all
45cities analysed (except for Kyiv). Even when comparing the number of
direct flights with direct trains only for routes with a train travel time of
below 18 hours, there is only one city with more direct train than flight
connections, namely Bratislava, which has a very small airport due to its
proximity to Vienna. In all other cities, the number of direct flights on
routes which could be served by train of less than 18 hours travel time is at
2
With additional infrastructure investments leading to an average train speed of at
least 80 km/h on all train routes, the number of direct train connections could even
be increased to 54% on the routes analysed.
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least 53% higher than the number of direct train connections. In 29of the
45cities, there are at least three times as many direct flights as there are
greener direct train connections to cities that can or could be reached by
train within 18 hours.
● Europe lacks direct train connections on many important routes, such as
Paris–Rome, Madrid–Paris, or London–Berlin, which are among the busiest
short-haul flight routes in Europe, each with well over one million
passengers per year. These three routes could each be travelled by direct
train within 10 hours and 30 minutes.
METHODOLOGY IN BRIEF
The main part of this report analysed 45 European cities for their existing and
potential direct train and flight connections. The cities are located across Europe,
only excluding island states, the five smallest states, Russia, Belarus, and Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia as the three members of the Council of Europe from the
Caucasus, and include the capital city of each country (except Zurich for
Switzerland), all other cities with more than one million inhabitants (except
Kharkiv) and the second and third largest cities in the five most populated
countries analysed. Additionally, Helsinki and Tirana were researched for train
connectivity but excluded from the statistics, since there is no existing or potential
train connection within 18 hours to any other city. Most data in this report,
therefore, refer to routes between 45 cities.
In the sections of the report comparing cities with each other, three cities at the
periphery, Chisinau, Istanbul and Kyiv, were excluded.
A potential direct train connection is defined as a route that could be travelled by
direct train within 18 hours using existing rail tracks (tracks which are currently in
use either for passenger or freight transport or both). The analysis also
distinguishes between potential trains with a journey time below and above
12hours – trains above 12 hours are usually operated as night trains with sleeper
compartments, while trains below 12 hours can be operated as day or night trains.
The analysis included only regular trains and flights, excluding seasonal services.
In addition, eight other cities of national relevance such as Frankfurt or Geneva
were analysed for their connections with the 45 cities. But routes between these
additional cities were not analysed. These eight cities are not included in the
overall results, but only in the national sections of this report.
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Table 1: 45 cities analysed for all 990 routes between them
Düsseldorf
Hanover
Stuttgart
Frankfurt/Main
Manchester
Toulouse
Geneva
Nuremberg
Table 2: eight other cities of national relevance which were analysed for their
connections to the 45 cities
All details on the methodology can be found in annex 5.
IMPORTANCE OF DIRECT TRAINS
There are many dierent reasons why direct train connections are important. They
include:
Accessibility. For people with reduced mobility, a direct train is crucial. Passengers
with reduced mobility may need help getting on and o the train. But would not
need help changing trains, and do not need to rely on barrier-free accessibility or
the availability of support sta at transfer stations. Also, when travelling with
small children and/or a lot of luggage, the convenience of a direct train is much
greater.
Time. Direct trains are quicker because there is no need to change trains. The time
saving may be only a few minutes on some well-connected routes, but can be
many hours on others.
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Amsterdam
Budapest
Ljubljana
Oslo
Sofia
Athens
Chisinau
London
Paris
Stockholm
Barcelona
Cologne
Luxembourg
Podgorica
Tallinn
Belgrade
Copenhagen
Lyon
Prague
Valencia
Berlin
Edinburgh
Madrid
Pristina
Vienna
Birmingham
Hamburg
Marseille
Riga
Vilnius
Bratislava
Istanbul
Milan
Rome
Warsaw
Brussels
Kyiv
Munich
Sarajevo
Zagreb
Bucharest
Lisbon
Naples
Skopje
Zurich
Simplicity. It is often much easier for passengers to find out about direct trains
and to buy a ticket.
Reliability. With a direct train there is no risk of being stranded at a transfer
station due to missed connection trains. A direct train may be late but it will still
arrive at its destination, barring any unforeseen circumstances. This saves
travellers a lot of stress.
Price. Direct trains are often much cheaper than connecting trains, especially if
more than one railway company is involved, and even more so, if you have to buy
separate tickets for dierent legs of the journey (see excursus on prices).
Passenger rights. In principle, EU regulations ensure a high level of consumer
protection for train passengers, for example by obliging railway companies to
refund part of the ticket price in the event of major delays, or even to pay for
necessary accommodation. However, there is no right to compensation if you have
bought tickets for dierent sections of your trip from dierent rail companies. (It
is often cheaper to buy a ticket from A to B from railway company X, and a ticket
from B to C from railway company Y, than to buy a through ticket from A to C from
one railway company).
OVERALL RESULTS FOR EUROPE
Results for all 990 routes in bullet points
● Of 990 routes between 45 European cities that Greenpeace analysed, only
12% are currently served by direct trains, while 69% are served by direct
flight. This is almost than six times as many direct flights as direct train
connections between Europeancities.
● Of the 990 routes, 42% – 419 routes – could easily be served by direct train
of under 18 hours travel time using existing rail infrastructure.
● However, at present only 27% – 114 of the 419 potential direct train routes –
are in fact served by direct train, leaving 73% – 305 potential routes –
unserved.
● The untapped potential for direct trains between European cities is
considerable: Direct train connections in Europe could be more than tripled
using existing rail infrastructure.
● The top five cities best connected by direct train in Europe are (in this
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order): Vienna (17 direct train connections), Munich (15), Berlin (14), Paris
and Zurich (13 each).
● The six worst connected cities by direct train are Athens, Lisbon, Pristina,
Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn (each with zero direct train connections to
other European cities).
● In none of the 45 cities analysed is the potential for direct trains fully
exploited. Even Vienna, the city with the most direct train connections in
Europe, has direct trains on only 59% of the possible routes. Most cities
have direct train connections on less than 50% of the potential routes.
● With the reactivation of some currently closed train links, such as between
Greece and Bulgaria or between Croatia and Bosnia, all 990 routes could be
travelled by train (although this may involve many changes and a long
journey time on some routes).
● There are more direct flights than direct train connections from/to all
45cities analysed except for Bratislava (which has a very small airport due
to its proximity to Vienna). In all other cities, the number of direct flights on
routes which could be served by train of less than 18 hours travel time is at
least 53% higher than the number of direct train connections. In 29of the
45cities, there are at least three times as many direct flights as there are
greener direct train connections to cities that can or could be reached by
train within 18 hours.
● Europe lacks direct train connections on many important routes, such as
Paris–Rome, Madrid–Paris, or London–Berlin, which are among the busiest
short-haul flight routes in Europe, each with well over one million
passengers per year. These three routes could each be travelled by direct
train within 10 hours and 30 minutes.
● Of the missing 305 direct train routes, 139 (46%) would have a travel time
within 12hours (day or night train), and 166 (54%) between 12 and 18 hours
(night train).
● With investments in rail infrastructure allowing a minimum average speed of
80 km/h on all train routes, 54% of all routes could be travelled by a direct
train within 18 hours in the future. These are 120 more routes. With an
average speed of 80 km/h, around 1,500 km can be travelled, making
polluting short-haul flights obsolete.
● Of the 419 routes between 45 European cities that can or could be travelled
by train within 18 hours, currently 335 (80%) can be travelled by a direct
flight. This is almost three times as many direct flights as existing direct
train connections.
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● Of the existing 114 direct train routes, 55 are day trains, 26 can be travelled
both with a direct day or a night train, and 33 can be travelled only with a
direct night train.
● Of the 990 routes, 820 can be travelled by train at the moment, though it
might require many transfers and a very long travelling time. The longest
train journey between the 45 cities is Tallinn–Lisbon. In total, it would take
five days, eight hours and 10 minutes, require 13 transfers, and four nights at
stations or in hotels.
● Of the 990 routes, 170 routes currently cannot be travelled by any train at
the moment. These are all routes to and from Greece, Northern Macedonia,
Bosnia and Kosovo, since these four countries are currently not connected
by passenger trains with any other country.
Table with main results
Total routes analysed (between 45 cities)
990
↪ Routes that can or could be travelled by
a direct train within 18h with existing tracks
419
42%
↪ Routes with an existing direct train
connection
114
27% of all routes that
could be travelled by a
direct train < 18h
12% of all 990 routes
↪ Existing routes with a direct day train only
55
48%
↪ Existing routes with a direct night train only
33
29%
↪ Existing routes with both a
direct day and a direct night train
26
23%
Potential but currently not existing direct train
connections (routes below 18h)
305
↪ Number of missing
day or night trains (below 12h)
139
46%
↪ Number of missing
night trains (between 12 and 18h)
166
54%
Routes that could be travelled by train within 18h
with moderate infrastructure investment
(1,500km = short-haul flight distance, average
train speed 80km/h)
539
54%
Routes that currently can be travelled by train
820
83%
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(including long train journeys and connecting
trains)
Routes that could be travelled by future train
connections (including long train journeys and
connecting trains)
990
100%
Routes with a possible direct train <18h that can
be travelled by direct flight
335
80% of those routes
which could be
travelled by direct
train within 18h
Total number of routes that can be travelled by
direct flight
679
69%
Table 3a: Table with main results
The scorecard
The scorecard shows how well cities are connected by direct trains. It indicates
train connectivity as a percentage of available direct train connections to possible
direct train connections (less than 18 hours).
For example, the scale means:
● 100%: There are direct train connections (of under 18 hours travel time)
available to all cities analysed.
● 0%: There is not a single direct train connection available to any of the
cities analysed
● 50%: There are direct train connections (of under 18 hours travel time) to
50% of all cities analysed.
The scorecard includes all cities analysed, except Chisinau, Kyiv and Istanbul.
These three cities were excluded because they have additional train connections
to cities and countries not within the scope of this analysis.
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Percentage of
available
direct trains
(ratio to
possible direct
trains)
45 main European
cities analysed (990 routes)
8 additional
cities of
national
relevance
95-100
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
Vienna
50
Munich Berlin
45
Zurich
40
Paris Budapest Bucharest
Frankfurt/Main
35
Brussels Prague
30
Riga Stockholm Warsaw Amsterdam Cologne
Hamburg
Stuttgart
Düsseldorf
25
Vilnius Bratislava
20
Marseille Barcelona Milan
Hanover
15
London Luxembourg Lyon Madrid Rome Oslo
Ljubljana Zagreb
Manchester
Nuremberg
10
Sofia Copenhagen Valencia Edinburgh
Podgorica
Geneva
Toulouse
5
Birmingham Naples Belgrade
0
Athens Lisbon Tallinn Sarajevo Pristina
Skopje
Table 3b: Scorecard for all cities analysed
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1
Vienna
59%
14
Cologne
31%
29
Podgorica
14%
2
Munich
52%
16
Bratislava
25%
30
Copenhagen
14%
3
Berlin
50%
16
Vilnius
25%
31
Sofia
13%
4
Zurich
46%
18
Marseille
23%
31
Valencia
13%
5
Paris
45%
19
Barcelona
23%
33
Edinburgh
12%
6
Bucharest
43%
20
Milan
21%
34
Naples
9%
7
Budapest
41%
21
Ljubljana
19%
35
Birmingham
9%
8
Brussels
39%
21
London
19%
36
Belgrad
6%
9
Prague
38%
23
Luxembourg
18%
37
Athens
0%
10
Hamburg
34%
23
Lyon
18%
37
Lisbon
0%
11
Riga
33%
25
Madrid
18%
37
Tallinn
0%
11
Stockholm
33%
26
Rome
17%
37
Pristina
0%
13
Warsaw
32%
27
Oslo
17%
37
Sarajevo
0%
14
Amsterdam
31%
28
Zagreb
15%
37
Skopje
0%
Table 3c: Train connectivity for 45 cities, sorted by percentages
● None of the cities analysed has a higher proportion of direct train
connections than 59%. This means that slightly more than half of the
destinations that could be reached by a direct train within 18 hours actually
can be reached by a direct train. Vienna, with 59%, is the city with the
highest proportion of direct train connections. Munich and Berlin are in 2nd
and 3rd place. All other cities including Zurich and Paris in 4th and 5th
place, have direct train connections of less than 50% of their full potential.
● There are six cities analysed without a single direct train connection to any
other city analysed: Athens, Lisbon, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tallinn.
Greece, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Kosovo currently do not have any
active passenger rail connection with any other country.
● 22 out of 42 cities analysed (52%) have a direct train connectivity of less
than 20%, meaning that less than one out of five possible direct train routes
can currently be travelled with a direct train.
● Cities in Central Europe are better connected by direct train and therefore
rank higher on the scorecard, while cities in the UK, South-East Europe and
Spain are particularly poorly connected.
Very important missing direct train
connections
Europe is missing direct train connections on routes between some major cities,
such as Paris–Rome, Madrid–Paris, or London–Berlin, which are among the busiest
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short-haul flight routes in Europe with well over one million passengers each year.
The following tables show examples for very important missing direct train
connections. To identify major connections that are currently not served by direct
train, Greenpeace has applied two main criteria: the proximity of the
non-connected cities and if they overlap with some of the most used short-haul
flight routes, which is an indicator for the relevance of the route.
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
3
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Amsterdam–Hamburg
5h15m
Osnabrück
4h45m
Amsterdam–Luxembourg
5h34m
Brussels
5h15m
Athens–Sofia
Not possible
12h30m
Bucharest–Sofia
9h34m
Ruse
9h
Cologne–London
5h05m
Brussels
3h55m
Copenhagen–Oslo
8h32m
Gothenburg
7h40m
Lisbon–Madrid
8h48m
Entroncamento,
Badajoz
8h40m
Ljubljana–Milan
8h51m
Villach, Venice
7h10m
Lyon–Zurich
4h50m
Geneva
4h50m
Riga–Tallinn
10h6m
Valga
6h30m
Rome–Zurich
8h2m
Milan
7h20m
Vienna–Zagreb
8h23m
Villach
6h10m
Table 4: Missing routes due to proximity
3
In most cases, Greenpeace chose the quickest connection as the best possible
connection.
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Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel
time of a
direct
train
4
Flight
passengers,
2023
Milan–London
11h25m
Geneva, Paris
(Nord/Gare de Lyon)
10h20m
2,709,000
Paris–Madrid
10h4m
Barcelona
9h40m
2,584,000
Madrid–London
13h59m
Barcelona, Paris
(Nord/Gare de Lyon)
12h15m
2,575,000
Paris–Lisbon
26h42m
Barcelona, Madrid,
Badajoz,
Entroncamento
17h45m
2,422,000
Paris–Rome
10h53m
Geneva, Milan
10h30m
2,247,000
Geneva–London
8h1m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
6h
2,171,000
Rome–London
15h52m
Milan, Zurich, Paris
(Nord/Gare de Lyon)
13h10m
2,079,000
Lisbon–Madrid
8h48m
Entroncamento and
Badajoz
8h40m
1,858,000
Copenhagen–
London
15h31m
Hamburg, Cologne,
Brussels
12h50m
1,823,000
Berlin–London
9h46m
Cologne, Brussels
8h10m
1,491,000
Budapest–London
20h50m
Stuttgart, Paris
18h
1,424,000
Copenhagen–Oslo
8h32m
Gothenburg
7h40m
1,352,000
Table 5: 12 most used short-haul flight routes between the 45 cities with a missing
direct train alternative below 18 hours.
Future possible direct train connections with
infrastructure improvements
Especially in the Eastern part of Europe, trains are currently very slow on many
routes. For example, the Bucharest–Vienna night train has an average travel speed
4
The estimated travel times for connections via Paris are based on using the direct route
Lyon–Paris Disneyland–Paris CDG–Lille, as it is used for the direct Marseille–Brussels
train.
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of less than 60 km/h. With investment in rail infrastructure, allowing an average
travel speed of 80 km/h on all train routes between the cities analysed, all routes
between cities with a distance of around 1,500 km could be travelled by train
within 18 hours. This is roughly equivalent to an overland air distance of 1,300 km.
With this investment, almost all European short-haul flights, defined as 1,500 km
distance, could be replaced by a direct train alternative (except flights to islands
or over the sea).
An average train speed of 80 km/h can be achieved relatively easily by upgrading
existing rail infrastructure, without the very expensive, time-consuming and
sometimes also environmentally damaging construction of new high-speed lines.
Such investments typically include the renewal or replacement of bridges, tracks
or switches, electrification, local bypasses, additional parallel tracks on some
lines, some short tunnels or train control systems.
On the existing high-speed rail network in Europe, much longer distances than
1,500 km can be travelled by train within 18 hours. For example, the
Madrid–Amsterdam route is almost 2,300 km long and can already be travelled by
train in 14h4m, including the time for two transfers in Barcelona and Paris.
In addition to the 419 potential train connections that could be achieved simply
using existing tracks between the 45 cities, a further 120 connections could be
introduced in the future with moderate infrastructure investments.
The following table shows examples of cities that would benefit from
infrastructure improvements that would allow them to reach cities up to 1,500 km
away within 18 hours. Notably, most of these cities are located in Central & Eastern
and South-Eastern Europe.
/CONNECTION FAILED 17
Number of potential,
additional future train
connections
Examples for destinations accessible
within 18h, after infrastructure
improvements
Sarajevo
17
Istanbul, Prague, Zurich
Bucharest
12
Munich, Prague, Warsaw
Prague
10
Kyiv, Tallinn, Sofia
Athens
9
Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna
Belgrade
9
Berlin, Hamburg, Warsaw
Sofia
9
Ljubljana, Kyiv, Zagreb
Bratislava
8
Riga, Skopje, Sarajevo
Munich
8
Bucharest, Riga, Sofia
Riga
8
Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna
Table 6: Number of additional potential future direct connections per city after
infrastructure improvements
5
A comparison of direct train and direct flight
connections
● 679 of all 990 routes (69%) between 45 European cities can be travelled by
a direct flight. This is almost six times as many direct flights as existing
direct train connections (114).
● Of 419 routes between 45 European cities that could be travelled by direct
train within 18 hours, 335 (80%) can be travelled by direct flight, whereas
only 114 can currently be travelled by direct train. These are three times as
many direct flights as direct train connections.
● There are more direct flights than direct train connections from/to all
45cities analysed (except for Kyiv). Even when comparing the number of
direct flights with direct trains only for routes with a train travel time of
below 18 hours, there is only one city with more direct train than flight
connections, namely Bratislava
6
, which has a very small airport due to its
proximity to Vienna.
● In all cities except Kyiv, Chisinau and Bratislava, the number of direct flights
on routes which could be travelled by train within 18hours is at least 53%
higher than the number of direct train connections.
○ In 36of the 45cities, there are at least twice as many direct flights
as direct train connections to cities that can or could be reached by
train within 18 hours.
○ In 29of the 45cities, there are at least three times as many direct
flights as direct train connections to cities that can or could be
6
The Bratislava airport was designed as a regional airport during Czechoslovak times, after
that, the nearby Vienna Airport was used as the main airport for travels to and from
Bratislava.
5
This information for all cities can be found in the country sections.
/CONNECTION FAILED 18
Vilnius
8
Cologne, Munich, Zagreb
Ljubljana
8
Athens, Barcelona, Sofia
Zagreb
8
Bucharest, Copenhagen, Marseille
Berlin
8
Belgrade, Kyiv, Tallinn
Vienna
7
Athens, Sofia, Vilnius
Warsaw
7
Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia
Budapest
5
Athens, Riga, Vilnius
Zurich
4
Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje
Milan
4
Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje
reached by train within 18 hours.
○ In 23 of the 45 cities, there are at least four times as many direct
flights as direct train connections to cities that can or could be
reached by train within 18 hours.
○ In 18 of the 45 cities, there are at least five times as many direct
flights as direct train connections to cities that can or could be
reached by train within 18 hours.
● With 42 direct flight connections to all 44 other cities analysed, Athens is
together with London and Istanbul the best connected city by direct flights.
At the same time, Athens cannot be reached by train from any other city, as
there have been no passenger trains to or from Greece in any direction for
five years.
● There are six cities where all destinations that could be reached by train
within 18 hours are served by direct flight: London
7
, Riga, Tallinn, Stockholm,
Istanbul and Lisbon.
WHY ARE THERE SO FEW DIRECT TRAIN
CONNECTIONS IN EUROPE?
There is no simple answer to the question why there are so few direct train
connections in Europe. Greenpeace has identified the following factors, which
cannot be quantified.
Lack of infrastructure investment. Since 1995, all European countries combined
have invested 66% more in roads than in rail. Some countries have invested even
more than three times as much in roads as in rail. Most of these countries now
have very low average rail speeds and have very few direct cross-border train
connections: Romania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece.
Lack of rolling stock. There are many dierent electricity, signalling and safety
systems for railways in Europe, and even dierent track gauges. For example, a
normal German high-speed train cannot simply run on the French rail network but
needs to have equipment for the two dierent national systems.
Also largely due to a historic lack of money for investment and partly due to a
higher demand for short and medium distance rail journeys, many railway
companies have concentrated on national connections and are short of
interoperable rolling stock and sleeper carriages. New connections are rather
introduced on commuter routes than on cross-border connections.
Lack of political will, belief and support. In most European countries, governments
still generally favour road and air transport over rail. As a result, governments
rarely mandate and fund railways to provide additional cross-border services
7
Due to the proximity, one hour by train only, there is no flight between London and
Birmingham.
/CONNECTION FAILED 19
under the PSO regime, failing to create a level playing field in the taxation of rail
and air transport, leaving air transport largely untaxed. Also due to a lack of
political support, hundreds of direct train connections in Europe have been closed
in the last two decades, with the most recent peak during the COVID crisis. With a
largely national mindset, there is also little support for harmonising rail regulations
in Europe which would make cross-border rail transport easier and more ecient.
Shortcomings in the European regulatory framework for cross-border rail.
Coordinating international trains is dicult because more than 11,000 national
rules apply to the European rail market, including safety systems, language, and
signalling. The EU has started to harmonise the rules but this is taking many years
also due to the reluctance of many national governments. In the meantime,
coordinating international train services between operators is time-consuming and
costly.
High rail tolls. Most countries are asking for a very high rail toll which the rail
operator has to pay to the infrastructure operator for using the infrastructure.
Suspending this toll can reduce operational costs especially for night trains by
20%
8
which is decisive for the cost calculation of new night trains. Belgium is one
of the few countries which have skipped this toll for night trains leading to the
reintroduction of night trains from and to Brussels. The high rail tolls are especially
disadvantageous to rail over cars since there are not too many road tolls in
Europe.
Unfair competition of flights. The closure of hundreds of trains over the last two
decades has coincided with falling air fares and the emergence of low-cost
carriers such as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizzair. Railways are also at a massive
disadvantage to airlines, which enjoy tax breaks such as exemption from kerosene
tax and no VAT on international flights. As a result, the railways have lost their
competitive edge over the airlines, particularly in the overnight train sector. The
more airfares fell, the less people used night trains and the more night trains were
phased out.
Lack of cooperation. The European railway market is dominated by national public
railway companies with long traditions. For all these railway companies, the home
market is by far the most important market. While historically there was good
cooperation among railway companies on timetables and ticket sales, the
international cooperation got worse some decades ago with the upcoming
liberalisation and the uprising of airlines. Also the complexity of dierent national
regulations is not fostering cross-border cooperation. The Austrian railway
company ÖBB, the largest operator of night trains in Europe, is one of the few
railway companies with a clear European mindset.
Lack of data. Air transport data are systematically collected for ALL European air
routes and published by EUROSTAT. For example, it is known that in December
8
Origin of this data: Austrian Railway Company ÖBB
/CONNECTION FAILED 20
2023 exactly 5,260 people flew from Luxembourg to Munich and 4,763 people from
Munich to Luxembourg. Such data does not exist for rail transport. The most you
can find on Eurostat is the number of passengers between countries, but not
between cities and not even for all European countries. Railway companies also do
not know exactly where their own passengers travel. They only know for the
tickets they sell themselves or that are sold by other ticket companies for their
trains. For example, if you travel by train from Vienna to London, the Austrian
railway company ÖBB will only know that you travelled to Brussels on their night
train because you have to buy a separate ticket from Eurostar. Conversely,
Eurostar does not know that you started somewhere else. This is not a solid
foundation for introducing new train services.
HOW TO GET MORE DIRECT TRAINS?
There are many options and ways to introduce more direct trains in Europe. While
politicians and railway companies would perhaps cite hundreds of reasons why it
is dicult, there are steps – some are easier than others – to boost rail
connectivity. And indeed, not everything in the railway sector can be changed
overnight, especially given the massive underfunding of the sector in recent
decades. A Greenpeace report showed that since 1995, all European countries
combined have invested 66% more in roads than rail.
Greenpeace sees the following options for increasing the number of direct train
connections:
The easiest. 2 out of 1. Combining a train from A to B with a train from B to C to
form a train from A to C. This is particularly easy if both trains are operated by the
same railway company. The measure could be implemented more or less
immediately and without significant investment costs.
Example 1: Paris–Madrid
Paris–Madrid is the most used short-haul intra-EU flight for which there is no
direct train service. In 2023, 2.5 million passengers flew between the two cities.
The fastest current train connection takes 10h4m including a change at Barcelona
Sants. A direct train would take around 9h30m, which could be both a day or a
night train, and would therefore be a real alternative to polluting flights. The
French SNCF operates the direct service between Paris and Barcelona, and the
SNCF subsidiary OUIGO is also one of the four railway companies operating trains
between Barcelona and Madrid. So it cannot be too complicated to start with the
Paris–Madrid route.
/CONNECTION FAILED 21
Example 2: London–Cologne
There are several Eurostar trains running from London to Brussels-Midi, and
several Eurostar trains running from Brussels-Midi to Cologne. But there is no
direct train from London to Cologne, whereas there are direct trains from London
to Amsterdam via Brussels-Midi. So why not start with a direct connection
between Germany and the UK? It would not take longer than four hours. In 2019,
540,000 passengers flew between London and Cologne, so the lack of demand
cannot be a reason either.
Example 3: Copenhagen–Oslo
Every hour, a train is running between Copenhagen and Göteborg, every second
hour a train is running between Göteborg and Oslo. But there is not a single direct
train between Denmark and Norway. Why not? A direct train would take no longer
than 7h15m. By air, around 1.5 million people travel between the two cities each
year. So the lack of demand cannot be the reason.
The second easiest. Prolonging train routes. This is particularly easy for night
trains, since night train wagons are not used dierently during the day. A night
train from A to B can simply be extended to a route from A via B to C. This
measure does not require investment in rolling stock. For example, the Polish
railway company recently extended its night train between Warsaw and Vienna to a
route from Warsaw via Vienna to Munich.
Example 1: Vienna–Naples
The ÖBB night train from Vienna to Rome takes 13h52m. It could easily be
extended to Naples, adding only another two hours to the journey. In 2023,
232,000passengers flew between Vienna and Naples, so the demand is there.
Example 2: Zagreb–Cologne
The daily night train operated by the Croatian railway company from Zagreb to
Stuttgart takes 13h. It could easily be prolonged to Cologne, adding another
threehours of travelling time.
New train routes as a business model. Surely there are routes with no direct train
connection and a high demand. Under these circumstances the route can be
operated as a business case for railway companies, either traditional state-owned
or private ones, and such routes can be initiated by themselves by cooperating
with infrastructure operators and other railway companies. Governments can
support such new trains by improving frame conditions and/or promotion.
/CONNECTION FAILED 22
Example 1: London–Barcelona
London–Barcelona is the most used short-haul flight route in Europe where there
is no alternative direct train connection. In 2023, 2.8 million people flew on this
route. Currently, the fastest train connection takes 10h56m, but includes a rather
complicated transfer with local transport in Paris from Paris Nord to Paris Gare de
Lyon. As the direct high speed train from Brussels to Marseille shows, it is possible
to cross the Paris region without a change of stations. A direct train from London
to Barcelona would take less than 10 hours, and would therefore pose a real
alternative to the polluting flight. Given the high flight demand on this route, and
the usually very high occupancy rate of the Paris–Barcelona trains, this train is
likely to be profitable for Eurostar and/or the French SNCF railway company.
However, it is possible that one of the companies might need to purchase new
rolling stock for this new route. But even in this case, latest in some years an
inauguration should be possible.
Example 2: Paris–Rome
Paris–Rome is the second most used short-haul intra-EU flight for which there is
no direct train service. In 2019, 2.25 million passengers flew between the two
cities. The fastest current train connection takes 10h53m including two changes at
Geneva and Milan. A direct high-speed train would take around 10h40m, while the
reintroduction of the conventional night train, phased-out in 2013, would take
around 15h. Both would therefore be a real alternative to polluting flights. Given
the high flight demand on this route, and the usually very high occupancy rate of
the French and Italian high speed trains, this train is likely to be profitable for
SNCF and/or Trenitalia or another private railway company. However, it is possible
that one of the companies might need to purchase new rolling stock for this new
route. But even in this case, it should be possible to launch the service within two
years at the latest.
New train routes that need public support. There are definitely some train routes
that can be expected to have low occupancy, at least in the beginning. This is
especially relevant in countries where the train has got a poor image due to lack of
investment or other reasons. In such cases, governments can ask (and pay) railway
companies to operate certain routes. In the EU jargon, this is called “public service
obligations (PSOs)”. Depending on whether or not the railway company has
available rolling stock, the introduction of these trains can take from a few months
to about two years for day trains and three years for night trains.
Example 1: Zagreb–Vienna
Despite the proximity of the two capitals, the direct train was phased out in 2023
due to permanent delays and a low demand. Despite this, in 2023, 135,000 people
flew, and even more took the bus or the car which were the quicker and more
reliable means of transport between the two cities. Both the Croatian as well as
/CONNECTION FAILED 23
the Austrian government could help to reintroduce this connection through public
service obligations (PSOs).
Example 2: Madrid–Lisbon
Since 2020, there has been no direct train between the two capitals, despite
1.56million flight passengers on this route in the year before. Flight prices on the
Iberian Peninsula are usually extremely low. Therefore, this route might need
public support (PSOs), ideally granted by both the Spanish and Portuguese
governments, until the demand for the train is high enough to cover the railway
company's costs. The currently quickest train connection takes 8h48m with two
transfers. A direct train connection would be possible in around 8h30m and would
therefore pose a real alternative to the polluting flight.
EXCURSUS: TICKET PRICES FOR DIRECT
TRAINS
Greenpeace has published a number of reports showing that, on average, it is
much cheaper to fly than to take the train. One of the many reasons for this
situation is that connecting trains, especially if more than one railway company is
involved, are often more expensive than direct trains, and even more so if you have
to buy separate tickets for each section of the train.
This section gives some examples of such journeys, but does not give a complete
assessment of all costs for all journeys.
Example 1: Vienna–Brussels
9
Three times a week there is a direct ÖBB night train between Vienna and Brussels.
On other days the best connection is the ÖBB night train from Vienna to
Düsseldorf, followed by the Eurostar, formerly Thalys, train to Brussels. ÖBB
cannot sell Eurostar tickets, so a separate purchase is required.
Cost range for the direct night train Vienna–Brussels: €54.90 – €94.90
Cost range for the night train Vienna–Düsseldorf: €64.90 – €94.90
+
Cost range for the Eurostar from Düsseldorf to Brussels: €50 – €80
9
Data researched on 8.4. for the first half of May via tickets.oebb.at,
www.eurostar.com and www.ryanair.com, cheapest category, no discounts
considered
/CONNECTION FAILED 24
While a night train journey from Vienna to Brussels costs almost the same as from
Vienna to Düsseldorf, the additional Eurostar ticket increases the total price of the
Vienna–Brussels journey in any case by more than 50%, and in some cases even by
more than 100%.
Except on Sundays, flight prices on this route range from €16.32 to €81.32. The
direct train from Vienna to Brussels can be cheaper than the flight on some days,
while the train journey with a change in Düsseldorf is always more expensive than
the flight.
Example 2: Prague–Amsterdam
10
Three times a week, the European sleeper train connects Prague with Amsterdam.
On other days the best train connection are day trains with a transfer in Berlin.
The Czech railways are able to sell through tickets for the complete journey.
Cost range for the direct night train Prague–Amsterdam: €49 – €69
Cost for the through ticket from Prague to Amsterdam via Berlin: CZK1703 (€67.30)
Except on the only day where the night train cost €69, the direct night train is
clearly cheaper.
Except on Sundays, flight prices for this route range from CZK1,034(€40.90) to
CZK2,134 (€84.40), making the direct night train more competitive with the
polluting flight than the day train connection including a transfer in Berlin.
Example 3: Stuttgart–Paris and Stuttgart–Lyon
11
The air distances from Stuttgart to Paris and to Lyon are very similar, at 500 km
and 470km respectively. While there is a direct train connection between Stuttgart
and Paris, a journey from Stuttgart to Lyon requires a transfer in Strasbourg. Both
DB and SNCF can sell tickets for both routes, but DB prices were found to be
cheaper for most trips analysed.
DB price range for the direct train Stuttgart–Paris: €44.90–€89.90
DB price range for the route Stuttgart–Lyon via Strasbourg: €99.90–€104.90
The 500 km journey from Stuttgart to Paris with the direct train cost up to 50%
less than the 470 km journey from Stuttgart to Lyon requiring a transfer in
Strasbourg.
11
Data researched on 23.4. for the period 13.-17.5. via bahn.de and sncf.fr, cheapest
category, no discounts considered
10
Data researched on 8.4. for the first half of June via europeansleeper.com, cd.cz,
www.eurostar.com and www.easyjet.com, cheapest category, no discounts
considered
/CONNECTION FAILED 25
Example 4: Madrid–Marseille and Madrid–Toulouse
The distances from Madrid to Marseille and to Toulouse are similar, 1,100 km and
1,000 km. While there is a direct train connection between Madrid and Marseille, a
journey from Madrid to Toulouse requires at least one transfer in Narbonne, or
even two at Barcelona and Perpignan. Tickets for the direct Madrid–Marseille train
are only sold by the Spanish railway company RENFE, while tickets for the
Madrid–Toulouse route are only sold by the French railway company SNCF (or
buying a ticket from RENFE to Narbonne, and a separate ticket from SNCF to
Toulouse).
RENFE price range for the direct train Madrid–Marseille: €135–€189
SNCF price range for Madrid–Toulouse: €188.80–€251.20
Despite being the slightly shorter route, the indirect Madrid–Toulouse train is
30–60% more expensive than the direct Madrid–Marseille train.
CONCLUSIONS AND DEMANDS
This analysis shows that there is a clear lack of direct train connections in Europe.
With almost six times as many direct air connections, the availability of direct rail
connections is an important factor for people choosing between a polluting flight
and a greener train, especially as direct cross-border trains are not only more
convenient and reliable, but often cheaper than connecting trains.
Greenpeace is therefore calling on national governments to introduce more direct
long-distance and cross-border day and night rail services by increasing
cross-border cooperation with other governments, encouraging better cooperation
between railway companies, improving the necessary framework conditions such
as reducing toll taxes, and directly commissioning direct train services where they
are not yet economically viable (PSOs, public service obligations).
To increase the number of direct train connections in Europe in the future,
governments will have to invest much more in rail infrastructure, ideally by shifting
investment from road and air to rail. This investment is particularly important in
countries where even the main rail lines are currently in poor condition, such as
Romania, Croatia or Bulgaria. Greenpeace suggests prioritising investment in
existing lines rather than building new high-speed rail lines, as the former will
have a much faster impact, is more cost-eective and potentially less damaging to
the environment.
Greenpeace is calling on the European Commission to speed up already
announced measures to boost cross-border rail transport in Europe. These
/CONNECTION FAILED 26
measures include a unified train information system involving all rail companies
providing regular passenger services, a unified booking system, in particular
allowing the purchase of through tickets for all routes in Europe (excluding local
lines), or speeding up technical and legal harmonisation. The EU Commission must
also support the purchase of new and second-hand rolling stock.
More generally, the EU should develop a new Rail strategy to make travelling by
train the best option for European people. The EU Commission and national
governments should take eective measures to create a level playing field
between airlines and railways, such as the introduction of an eective kerosene
tax, the abolition of VAT on train tickets in all countries, or measures against wage
dumping in the low-cost airline sector.
ANNEX 1: RESULTS PER COUNTRY IN
ALPHABETIC ORDER
Austria (Vienna)
● 91% or 40 out of the 44 routes analysed from/to Vienna can be travelled by
direct flight, while only 39% – 17 of these routes – can be travelled by direct
train. This is more than twice as many direct flights as direct train
connections between Vienna and the rest of Europe. As such, Vienna is far
better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to fly instead of taking
the train.
● However, at present 59% – 17 of the 29 potential direct train routes below
18 hours from/to Vienna – are in fact served by direct train, leaving 41% –
12of the 29 potential routes – unserved. Nevertheless, this is the best
result of all 45 cities analysed.
● Also, with its 17 direct train connections, Vienna is the city in Europe with
the highest number of direct train connections.
● Of the 17 direct train connections to/from Vienna, 13 are served by night
trains with six of them served both by day and night trains. With this
number, Vienna is also the city with the most night trains.
● Of the potential but currently non-existent direct train connections (of
under 18 hours travel time) to/from Vienna, perhaps the most obvious one is
/CONNECTION FAILED 27
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Vienna. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Austria, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
to/from Zagreb. This connection existed until the end of 2023. According to
ÖBB, this line was closed due to the unreliability of the Croatian railway
company. The second most obvious missing day (or night) train connection
is to/from Belgrade.
● While 59% of the routes between Vienna and other major European cities
which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct train,
90% – 26 out of the 29 routes – are served by direct flight.
12
● Vienna lacks direct train connections on some important European routes,
such as Vienna–London, Vienna–Barcelona and Vienna–Copenhagen, which
are among the busiest short-haul flight routes from/to Austria. These routes
could each be travelled by a night direct train.
● Another key European route that could be served by direct train from
Austria is to Southern France, for example, Vienna–Lyon or Vienna–
Marseille. These routes could each be travelled by a direct night train.
● With moderate investment in Europe’s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, seven additional cities could
be served by a direct train to/from Vienna in the future. These are: Athens,
Riga, Sofia, Podgorica, Pristina, Skopje and Chisinau. Almost all of the
investment will have to be made outside Austria.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
29
Total number of existing direct train connections
17
59%
Night trains only
7
41%
Day trains only
4
24%
Both day and night trains
6
35%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
12
Below 12 hours
3
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
7
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
26
90%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
53%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
40
91%
Table 7: Key data for Vienna
12
Only 3 of these 29 cities cannot be reached by a direct flight: Bratislava, which is too close to
Vienna for a flight, Kyiv, which cannot be reached by air due to the war, and Ljubljana.
/CONNECTION FAILED 28
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Brussels, Bucharest, Kyiv,
Milan, Paris, Rome
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich,
Warsaw, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Luxembourg, Zagreb
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Copenhagen,
London, Lyon, Marseille, Naples,
Sarajevo, Vilnius
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Chisinau, Podgorica, Pristina,
Riga, Sarajevo, Sofia
Table 8: Destination analysis for Vienna
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Vienna–London
13h34m
13
Frankfurt,
Brussels
12h
1,258,000
Vienna–Barcelona
20h6m
Zurich, Geneva,
Lyon
18h
698,000
Vienna–Copenhagen
17h29m
Hamburg
17h25m
520,000
Vienna–Belgrade
19h47m
14
Budapest,
Szeged,
Subotica, Novi
Sad
10h30m
259,000
Vienna–Naples
14h45m
Bologna
13h50m
232,000
Vienna–Zagreb
8h23m
Villach
6h10m
135,000
Table 9: examples for missing train connections for Vienna, including Top 5 flights
without direct train connection <18h
14
Stopover in Szeged or Subotica required
13
Quickest day time train connection
/CONNECTION FAILED 29
Balkan, 6 non-EU countries
This section summarises the findings for the six non-EU Balkan countries: Albania
(Tirana), Bosnia (Sarajevo), Kosovo (Pristina), Montenegro (Podgorica), Northern
Macedonia (Skopje) and Serbia (Belgrade).
● This region has the worst cross-border rail connections in Europe.
● Despite all countries having operational railway companies, four countries
only have domestic rail connections, and cannot be reached by train from
any other country: Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Macedonia.
● Albania's capital city Tirana is the only capital analysed without a railway
station since it was demolished in 2013.
● The only cross-border train route in this region is the night train between
Belgrade and Montenegro (Podgorica and further to Bar).
● All trains in this region are very slow.
● Serbia is the only country of these six which can be reached by train from
another country. However, the only way to enter Serbia is the route
Budapest–Belgrade, with three transfers in Szeged, Subotica and Novi Sad.
Current refurbishments on this route are supposed to be finished in 2025,
leading to a hopefully better rail connectivity of Belgrade.
● There is currently no train connection between Serbia and Croatia, nor
between Serbia and Romania or Bulgaria.
● Belgrade could be reached by train from 18 cities within 18 hours, including
Rome, Zurich and Prague. For Podgorica, only seven other cities could be
reached by train with the existing track infrastructure.
● This region would benefit most from upgrading the existing tracks to an
average speed of 80 km/h. For example, it would then be possible to reach
Sarajevo by train from 17 more cities.
Baltic countries (Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius)
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. The purpose of the research was to identify
existing and potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of
direct flights on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for the
threeBaltic countries, while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
● Overall, the three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have a
railway system in a poor stage and are badly connected with other
countries.
● Tallinn is not connected by direct train with any other city analysed. It is
only possible to travel by train to Riga with local trains with a long transfer
time at the border station. In total, the journey takes around 10 hours.
● Riga is only connected by direct train with Vilnius. This train was only
/CONNECTION FAILED 30
introduced recently and runs once a day in each direction.
● Apart from Riga, Vilnius is directly connected by train to Warsaw, though
due to dierent gorge sizes and lacking flexible rolling stock, a change of
train is needed at the border station.
● There is no night train available in any of the Baltic countries.
● Due to the poor state of the railways in the Baltic countries, the total
number of cities that could be reached by train within 18 hours is quite low.
Only three cities each could be reached from Riga and Tallinn, and eight
from Vilnius.
● The most obvious missing direct day train connection is Tallinn–Riga.
Vilnius–Berlin could be travelled by night train in 13h30m. However, as
neither Lithuanian Railways nor Deutsche Bahn operate night trains, this
route is unlikely to be introduced in the near future.
● With moderate investment in rail infrastructure, allowing an average speed
of 80 km/h on all train routes, nine additional cities could be served by
direct trains from Riga and Vilnius within 18 hours, including Hamburg,
Munich and Zagreb.
● Currently there are massive rail construction works undergoing in the Baltic
countries (“Rail Baltica” project is aiming to connect all three countries with
Poland by 2030) that might allow even more cities to be directly linked by
train in the future.
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Riga
Vilnius
Tallinn
Existing and potential direct train
connections to 44 cities <18h
3
8
3
Total number of existing direct train
connections
1
33%
2
25%
0
0%
Night trains only
0
0%
0
0%
0
Day trains only
1
100%
2
100%
0
Both day and night trains
0
0%
0
0%
0
Total missing direct train connections
below 18 hours
2
6
3
Below 12 hours
2
1
2
Additional future possible direct train
connections <18h, with investment
9
9
3
Direct flight connections on routes with
an existing or possible direct train
connection <18h
3
100%
6
75%
3
100%
Percentage of more direct flights than
direct trains
200%
200%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
35
80%
18
41%
21
48%
Table 10: Key data for Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn
/CONNECTION FAILED 31
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Vilnius
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Tallinn, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
none
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Chisinau,
Hamburg, Kyiv, Munich, Prague, Vienna
Table 11: Destination analysis for Riga
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
none
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Riga, Vilnius
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Warsaw
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Berlin, Kyiv, Prague
Table 12: Destination analysis for Tallinn
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Riga, Warsaw
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Tallinn
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Berlin, Bratislava, Hamburg, Prague,
Vienna
/CONNECTION FAILED 32
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest,
Chisinau, Cologne, Kyiv, Ljubljana,
Munich, Zagreb
Table 13: Destination analysis for Vilnius
Belgium (Brussels)
● Despite being the capital city of the EU and geographically in a central
position, Brussels is not well connected by direct trains. Only 11 cities can
be reached by an existing direct train, while 28 cities could be reached by a
direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity of only 39%.
● Only four cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Berlin,
Munich, Prague and Vienna. None of these night trains operate daily.
● There is no direct train connection to 61% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours. Important destinations without a
direct train connection within 12 hours include Hamburg, Madrid and Zurich.
Missing night train connections include Rome, Warsaw and Zagreb.
● All other 44 cities analysed can be reached by a direct flight, except
Cologne and Luxembourg, both of which are too close to fly, and Kyiv.
● There are 136% more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that
could be reached by train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connections from Brussels under 12 hours
are Madrid and Barcelona, which are by far the most used short-haul flight
routes from Brussels without a direct train alternative, followed by Milan
and Geneva. Other important and quite short direct train connections would
be to Hamburg and Zurich.
● The most important missing night train destination is Rome, which is in the
top 5 short-haul flights from Brussels without a direct train alternative.
/CONNECTION FAILED 33
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Brussels. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Belgium, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
28
Total number of existing direct train connections
11
39%
Night trains only
4
36%
Day trains only
7
64%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
17
Below 12 hours
9
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
26
93%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
136%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
41
93%
Table 14: Key data for Brussels
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Amsterdam, Cologne, London,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Paris
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Berlin, Munich, Prague, Vienna
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Geneva,
15
Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Budapest, Ljubljana, Naples, Rome,
Stockholm, Valencia, Warsaw, Zagreb
Table 15: Destination analysis for Brussels
15
Due to the methodology chosen, Geneva is not included in the statistics for Brussels. But
it is mentioned here as part of the Top 5 flights from Brussels without a direct train
alternative.
/CONNECTION FAILED 34
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time of
a direct train
Flight
passengers,
2023
16
Brussels–Madrid
12h23m
Valence,
Barcelona
11h40m
1,125,000
Brussels–
Barcelona
9h17m
Valence
8h55m
920,000
Brussels–Milan
9h30m
Paris (Nord/
Gare de Lyon),
Geneva
9h10m
786,000
Brussels–Rome
12h57m
Paris (Nord/
Gare de Lyon),
Geneva, Milan
12h30m
773,000
Brussels–Geneva
5h17m
Paris
(Nord/Gare de
Lyon)
5h
495,000
Brussels–Zurich
7h37m
Frankfurt
6h10m
291,000
Brussels–Hamburg
6h26m
Cologne
5h40m
140,000
Table 16: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Brussels, including
Top 5 flights without direct train connection <18h
Bulgaria (Sofia)
16
Data include flights from/to Brussels Airport and Charleroi Airport, and from/to all
airports belonging to the destination.
/CONNECTION FAILED 35
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Sofia. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and potential
direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights on the
same routes. The following section summarises the results for Bulgaria, while the overall
results for Europe can be found here.
● Sofia is very poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only one city,
Istanbul, can be reached by an existing direct train, while eight cities could
be reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train
connectivity of only 13%.
● The train connection to Istanbul runs overnight and is operated by the
Turkish railway company. The Bulgarian railway company is operating
domestic night trains but no international one.
● There is no direct train connection to 87% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing day train connection is the one to Bucharest.
Currently, there is a pure summer service on this route.
● Other important destinations without a direct train connection within 12
hours include Belgrade and Skopje. Currently, there are no passenger trains
crossing the borders both to Serbia and North Macedonia. Travelling from
Sofia to Belgrade by train would require travelling through Romania and
Hungary.
● An important night train connection is missing for Athens. This connection
was closed in 2019. Athens cannot be reached by any train from Sofia, since
there is currently no passenger transport over the Greek border too.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, nine additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Sofia in the future.
● There are 400% more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that
could be reached by train within 18 hours. Out of the 44 European cities
analysed, 29 can be reached by a direct flight.
● Flight passenger data for Sofia on Eurostat look incomplete, there is for
example no data available for Sofia–Belgrade. The direct flight between
Sofia and Zagreb only started in 2024. For these reasons, flight passenger
data for Sofia are not fully included in this report. From the available data,
Athens would be the most used short-haul flight route from Sofia with a
missing train connection below 18 hours, with 152,000 flight passengers in
2023.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
8
Total number of existing direct train connections
1
13%
Night trains only
1
100%
Day trains only
0
0%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
7
Below 12 hours
4
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
9
/CONNECTION FAILED 36
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
5
63%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
400%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
29
66%
Table 17: Key data for Sofia
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
none
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Istanbul
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Bucharest, Pristina, Skopje
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Athens, Sarajevo, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Bratislava, Chisinau, Kyiv, Ljubljana,
Munich, Podgorica, Prague, Vienna,
Warsaw
Table 18: Destination analysis for Sofia
Route
Current travel time
by train, best
possible connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Sofia–Belgrade
1d13h57m
Vidin, Craiova,
Orastie,
Bekescsaba,
Szeged,
Subotica, Novi
Sad
11h30m (direct
route)
Sofia–Bucharest
9h34m
Ruse
9h
Sofia–Athens
Not possible
12h30m
Table 19: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Sofia
/CONNECTION FAILED 37
Croatia (Zagreb)
● Zagreb is poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only four cities
analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while 26 cities could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity
of only 15%.
● Only two cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Munich and
Zurich.
● The other two cities that can be reached by a direct train are Budapest and
Ljubljana. These both direct train connections are rare. There is only one
train pair a day to Budapest and three to Ljubljana.
● There is no direct train connection to 85% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The two most obvious missing train connections under 12 hours are to
Belgrade and Vienna. There is currently no passenger train crossing the
Croatian–Serbian border.
● The most important missing night train connection from Zagreb is Frankfurt,
which is the most used short-haul flight route from Zagreb without a direct
train alternative, followed by London, Amsterdam and Paris.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Zagreb in the future.
● There are 350% more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that
could be reached by train within 18 hours.
/CONNECTION FAILED 38
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Zagreb. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Croatia, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
26
Total number of existing direct train connections
4
15%
Night trains only
2
50%
Day trains only
2
50%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
22
Below 12 hours
7
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
8
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
18
69%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
350%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
25
57%
Table 20: Key data for Zagreb
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Budapest, Ljubljana
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Zurich
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Bratislava, Milan, Prague,
Rome, Sarajevo, Vienna
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Cologne,
Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Naples, Paris, Podgorica, Pristina,
Skopje, Sofia, Warsaw
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Bucharest, Chisinau,
Copenhagen, Istanbul, Marseille, Kyiv,
Vilnius
Table 21: Destination analysis for Zagreb
/CONNECTION FAILED 39
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Zagreb–Frankfurt
12h35m
Villach
12h30m
346,000
Zagreb–London
21h52m
Stuttgart, Paris
16h15m
218,000
Zagreb–Amsterdam
20h15m
Stuttgart,
Cologne,
Amsterdam
18h
197,000
Zagreb–Paris
16h55m
Stuttgart
16h30m
180,000
Zagreb–Vienna
8h23m
Villach
6h10m
135,000
Zagreb–Brussels
17h57m
Stuttgart,
Frankfurt
17h15m
130,000
Zagreb–Belgrade
27h52m
17
Budapest,
Szeged,
Subotica, Novi
Sad
6h
62,000
Zagreb–Prague
12h8m
Graz
11h10m
No direct
flight
Table 22: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Zagreb
Czechia (Prague)
● Prague is rather poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only
10cities analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while 26 cities
could be reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train
connectivity of only 38%. However, this means that 62% (or 16) of the cities
cannot be reached by a direct train.
17
Stopover in Szeged or Subotica required
/CONNECTION FAILED 40
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Prague. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Czechia, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
● Five cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train. Amsterdam,
Brussels and Zurich are directly served only by night train, while Budapest
and Warsaw are served by both day and night trains.
● While only 38% of the routes between Prague and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 77% – 20 out of these 26 routes – are served by direct flight. Thus,
Prague is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to fly
instead of taking the train.
● Among the most important missing train destinations within 12 hours are
Cologne, Ljubljana and Paris. Among the most important missing night train
destinations are London, Milan and Rome.
● Passenger data per airport pair are not available for the Czech Republic and
therefore cannot be included in this analysis.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, 10 additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Prague within 18 hours in the future
including Bucharest and Sofia.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
26
Total number of existing direct train connections
10
38%
Night trains only
3
30%
Day trains only
5
50%
Both day and night trains
2
20%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
16
Below 12 hours
6
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
10
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
20
77%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
100%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
33
75%
Table 23: Key data for Prague
/CONNECTION FAILED 41
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Berlin, Bratislava, Hamburg, Munich,
Vienna
18
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Budapest, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Cologne, Copenhagen, Ljubljana,
Luxembourg, Paris, Zagreb
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrade, Birmingham, London, Lyon,
Marseille, Milan, Naples, Rome,
Stockholm, Vilnius
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Bucharest, Chisinau, Kyiv, Podgorica,
Pristina, Riga, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia,
Tallinn
Table 24: Destination analysis for Prague
Route
Current travel
time by train, best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Prague–Ljubljana
10h54m
Graz
9h40m
Prague–Cologne
8h47m
Berlin
8h
Prague–Milan
13h10m
Munich, Verona
12h40m
Prague–Paris
12h41m
Munich, Stuttgart
10h10m
Table 25: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Prague
Denmark (Copenhagen)
18
The night train to/from Vienna stops in the middle of the night, and was therefore not
included in this analysis.
/CONNECTION FAILED 42
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Copenhagen. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Denmark, while
the overall results for Europe can be found here.
● Copenhagen is poorly connected by direct trains. Only three cities analysed
can be reached by an existing direct train, while 22 cities could be reached
by a direct train within 18 h. This is a direct train connectivity of only 14%.
● Berlin can be reached by a direct night train, Hamburg can be reached both
by day and night train, and Stockholm can be reached by direct day trains.
● There is no direct train connection to 86% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connection from Copenhagen under
12hours is Oslo, which is the second most used short-haul flight route from
Copenhagen without a direct train alternative, followed by Amsterdam and
Frankfurt. Oslo is the only capital of a neighbouring country without a direct
train connection from Copenhagen. Another missing and rather short direct
train connection is to Brussels.
● The most important missing night train destinations are London, Paris and
Vienna, all of which are in the top 6 short-haul flights without a direct train.
● Other than by direct train, all cities analysed except Bratislava can be
reached by direct flight from the Copenhagen airport. There are 600% more
direct flights than direct trains to destinations that could be reached by
train within 18 hours. The high number of direct flight connections show the
high need for cross-border journeys from and to Copenhagen.
● When the new Femern tunnel opens in 2029, Denmark will be better
connected, and hopefully there will be many more direct train connections.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, at least one additional city,
Zagreb, could be served by a direct night train in the future.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
22
Total number of existing direct train connections
3
14%
Night trains only
1
33%
Day trains only
1
33%
Both day and night trains
1
33%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
19
Below 12 hours
7
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
1
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
21
95%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
600%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
40
91%
Table 26: Key data for Copenhagen
/CONNECTION FAILED 43
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Stockholm
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Berlin
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Hamburg
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne,
Luxembourg, Munich, Oslo, Prague
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Birmingham, Bratislava, Budapest,
Ljubljana, London, Lyon, Marseille,
Milan, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Zagreb
Table 27: Destination analysis for Copenhagen
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Copenhagen–
London
15h31m
Hamburg,
Cologne,
Brussels
12h50m
1,823,000
Copenhagen–Oslo
8h32m
Gothenburg
7h40m
1,352,000
Copenhagen–
Amsterdam
10h34m
Hamburg,
Osnabrück
9h30m
1,124,000
Copenhagen–Pari
s
14h41m
Hamburg,
Cologne
12h10m
980,000
Copenhagen–
Frankfurt
10h34m
Hamburg
9h40m
548,000
Copenhagen–
Vienna
19h51m
Hamburg
17h50m
19
539,000
Copenhagen–
Brussels
12h9m
Hamburg,
Cologne
10h50m
416,000
19
This is the estimated time for a conventional night train based on the Hamburg–Vienna
route. A direct high-speed train could run the full route in around 14 hours.
/CONNECTION FAILED 44
Table 28: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Copenhagen,
including Top 6 flights (all above 500,000 passengers in 2023) without direct train
connection <18h
Finland (Helsinki)
There are currently no international train connections to Finland. One reason is the
shut-down of the train connection with Russia (Saint-Petersbourg) due to the
Ukraine war, the other reason is that there is also no passenger train running
between Finland and Sweden at the moment. Even with the reopening of the
railway line between North Sweden and North Finland, the train route from
Helsinki to Stockholm would take longer than 18 hours.
For this reason, this report is not containing more data on Finland.
France (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse)
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Paris, Marseille and Lyon, and some other cities of national relevance
including Toulouse as the 4th largest French city. The purpose of the research was to
identify existing and potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the
number of direct flights on the same routes. The following section summarises the
results for France, while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
Vienna
59%
Berlin
50%
Zurich
46%
Paris
45%
Brussels
39%
Marseille
23%
Lyon
18%
Luxembourg
18%
Toulouse
13%
Table 29a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
French cities compared to selected other cities
● Paris is the city in Europe with the fourth highest number of direct train
connections, after Vienna, Munich and Berlin. 13 of the 44 routes between
Paris and other European cities analysed are served by direct trains.
/CONNECTION FAILED 45
● Despite belonging to the cities with the most direct train connections, even
on routes to/from Paris the untapped potential for direct trains is con-
siderable: Direct trains are oered on only 45% of the 29 routes between
Paris and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct train
with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● Thus, 55% – 16 out of 29 – of the routes between Paris and other cities are
not currently served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be served by using the existing tracks.
● While 45% of the routes between Paris and other major European cities
which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct train,
93% – 27 out of the 29 routes, all except Bratislava and Cologne – are
served by direct flight.
● Thus, Paris is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse are all poorly connected by direct trains with
other cities. There are only six direct trains from Marseille, five from Lyon
and threefrom Toulouse. This means that for Marseille only 23% (6 out of
28) of routes that could be served by a direct train are served by a direct
train, while for Lyon this percentage is at 18% (5 out of 26) and even lower
at 13% for Toulouse (3 out of 24).
● There is no international train going to Toulouse, while Marseille and Lyon
are at least directly connected with Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg each.
● Night trains are rare in France. Cross-border night trains only run from Paris
to Berlin, Munich and Vienna; in addition, there are some domestic night
trains including the Paris–Marseille and Paris–Toulouse routes.
● The French railway company SNCF operates the domestic night trains, but
no international ones. Both night trains running to France are operated by
the Austrian railway company ÖBB.
● Unlike international rail services, all French cities analysed are well served
by direct trains with each other, both in terms of frequency and speed.
● Thanks to the ecient high-speed rail network in France and all
neighbouring countries, the number of European cities analysed that could
be reached by a direct train from France within 18 hours is high. This is the
case for 29 destinations from Paris, 28 from Lyon, 26 from Marseille and 24
from Toulouse.
● The most obvious missing direct train connections for Paris are the routes
to Rome and Madrid
20
, both being among the Top five most used short-haul
flights routes in Europe without a direct train connection. Both routes could
be travelled in less than 12 hours by train. Paris–Venice is the fourth most
used short-haul flight route from Paris without a direct train alternative.
Based on flight passenger numbers, the most important missing night train
connections from Paris are Lisbon and Copenhagen.
● London and Lisbon are among the Top three short-haul flights without
direct train alternatives for Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse each. The other Top
20
The Spanish railway company Renfe expects the Madrid–Paris connection to be ready by
the end of 2024.
/CONNECTION FAILED 46
three routes are Marseille–Munich, Lyon–Amsterdam and Toulouse–
Brussels. Except Lisbon, all these routes could be easily travelled with a day
train.
● Other very important missing direct train connections include Lyon–Zurich,
Marseille–Milan/Rome and Toulouse–Madrid.
● While there are few direct train connections, there are many more direct
flights from Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse to all cities that could be reached
by train within 18 hours. From Lyon, 79% of these cities are served by a
direct flight, from Marseille it is 81%, and even from the smaller Toulouse
Airport, 58% are served with a direct flight. All French cities analysed are
therefore much better connected by air than by rail, which encourages
people to fly rather than take the train.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, in total three additional cities
could be served by a direct train to/from France within 18 hours in the
future, Marseille–Zagreb, Lyon–Belgrade and Lyon–Sarajevo. Most of the
investment for these routes will have to be made outside France.
FRANCE
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Numbe
r
%
Paris
Marseille
Lyon
Toulouse
Existing and potential direct
train connections <18h to
44/45 cities
29/44
26/44
28/44
24/45
Total number of existing
direct train connections
13
45%
6
23%
5
18%
3
13%
Night trains only
2
15%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Day trains only
9
69%
5
83%
5
100%
2
67%
Both day and night trains
2
15%
1
17%
0
0%
1
33%
Total missing direct train
connections below 18 hours
16
20
23
21
Below 12 hours
9
12
14
14
Additional future possible
direct train connections
<18h, with investments
0
1
2
0
Direct flight connections on
routes with an existing or
possible direct train
connection <18h
27
93%
21
81%
22
79%
14
58%
Percentage of more direct
flights than direct trains
108%
250%
340%
387%
Direct flights to 44 cities (45
for Toulouse)
39
89%
25
57%
27
61%
17
39%
Table 29b: Key data for the French cities analysed
/CONNECTION FAILED 47
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels,
Cologne, London, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Milan, Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Berlin, Vienna
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Marseille, Munich
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Birmingham, Edinburgh, Hamburg,
Ljubljana, Madrid, Naples, Prague,
Rome, Valencia
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen,
Lisbon, Stockholm, Warsaw, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
none
Table 30: Destination analysis for Paris
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Barcelona, Brussels, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Madrid
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Paris
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Berlin, Birmingham,
Cologne, Edinburgh, London, Milan,
Munich, Naples, Rome, Valencia, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen,
Hamburg, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Prague,
Vienna
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Zagreb
Table 31: Destination analysis for Marseille
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Barcelona, Brussels, Luxembourg,
Marseille, Paris
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
/CONNECTION FAILED 48
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Berlin, Birmingham,
Cologne, Edinburgh, Hamburg, London,
Madrid, Milan, Munich, Naples, Rome,
Valencia, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen,
Lisbon, Ljubljana, Prague, Vienna,
Warsaw, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Sarajevo
Table 32: Destination analysis for Lyon
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Lyon, Marseille
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Paris
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Birmingham,
Brussels, Cologne, Edinburgh, Hamburg,
London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan,
Munich, Valencia, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Berlin, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Naples,
Prague, Rome, Vienna
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
none
Table 33: Destination analysis for Toulouse
/CONNECTION FAILED 49
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimate
d travel
time of a
direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Paris–Madrid
10h3m
Barcelona
9h40m
2,543,000
Paris–Lisbon
27h19m
21
Barcelona,
Madrid, Badajoz,
Entroncamento
17h45m
2,422,000
Paris–Rome
10h53m
Geneva, Milan
10h30m
2,247,000
Paris–Venice
10h24m
Geneva, Milan
9h50m
1,188,000
Paris–Copenhagen
13h39m
Cologne,
Hamburg
12h15m
975,000
Marseille–London
8h14m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
6h15m
601,000
Marseille–Lisbon
30h56m
22
Madrid, Vigo,
Porto
17h
275,000
Marseille–Munich
10h14m
Mannheim
10h10m
192,000
Marseille–Amsterdam
8h38m
Brussels
7h30m
157,000
Marseille–Rome
10h40m
Nice, Ventimiglia,
Genova
9h50m
142,000
Lyon–London
5h30m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
5h
619,000
Lyon–Amsterdam
6h6m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
5h45m
291,000
Lyon–Lisbon
32h23m
23
Montpellier,
Madrid, Badajoz,
Entroncamento
16h
281,000
Lyon–Zurich
4h50m
Geneva
4h50m
No direct
flight
Lyon–Milan
7h5m
Geneva
6h15m
n.a.
Toulouse–London
9h1m
Paris
7h30m
519,000
23
Stopover in Vigo required
22
Stopover in Vigo required
21
Stopover in Barcelona required
/CONNECTION FAILED 50
(Montparnasse/
Nord)
Toulouse–Lisbon
30h17m
24
Narbonne,
Madrid, Vigo,
Porto
16h40m
257,000
Toulouse–Brussels
6h48m
Paris
(Montparnasse,
Nord)
6h15m
250,000
Toulouse–Madrid
7h2m
Narbonne
6h30m
189,000
Table 34: examples for missing direct train connections from/to the French cities
analysed, including Top 5 flights without direct train connection <18h from Paris,
and Top 3 flights for Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse each.
Germany
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, and some other cities of national
relevance including Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/Main, Hanover, Nuremberg and Stuttgart, as the
cities with large airports. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Germany, while
the overall results for Europe can be found here.
Vienna
59%
Düsseldorf
33%
Munich
52%
Stuttgart
33%
Berlin
50%
Cologne
31%
Zurich
46%
Amsterdam
31%
Paris
45%
Hanover
23%
Brussels
39%
Luxembourg
18%
Frankfurt
38%
Nuremberg
16%
Hamburg
34%
Copenhagen
14%
Table 35a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
German cities compared to selected other cities
24
Stopover in Vigo required
/CONNECTION FAILED 51
Summary for all nine German cities analysed
● Munich and Berlin, with 15 and 14 respectively, have the second and third
most direct train connections of all 45 cities analysed, after Vienna. Both
cities have at least half of the possible direct train connections within
18hours. In Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Cologne, the
availability of direct train connections is significantly lower than in Munich
and Berlin, ranging between 30 and 40% (9-11 out of 29-30 potential
connections), which means that 60-70% of the potential direct train
connections within 18 hours do not exist. The availability of direct
connections is poor in Hanover, with only 23% (7 out of 30potential
connections). Of all the German cities surveyed, Nuremberg has the poorest
availability of direct train connections, with only 16% (5 out of 31 potential
connections).
● Despite Deutsche Bahn having stopped operating night trains some years
ago, the connectivity with night trains in Germany is poor but still above the
European average, thanks to the Austrian, Croatian, Hungarian, Polish,
Swedish and some private railway companies.
● The transport systems of all cities analysed are clearly favouring flights over
trains, and thus encouraging people to fly rather than choosing the greener
train. The worst oer with direct trains in relation to direct flights was
found for Frankfurt. The number of direct flights to destinations that could
be reached by train within 18 hours is 155% higher than the number of direct
trains to these cities (11 trains vs 28 flights out of 29 destinations). The ratio
of trains to planes is only slightly better in Düsseldorf (10 trains vs 25 flights
out of 30 destinations). Even from the small Hanover airport, 71% more
direct flights are departing than direct trains from the Hanover train station.
● Germany also would be a clear beneficiary of rail infrastructure upgradings,
mainly necessary in the Eastern part of Europe, allowing an average speed
of 80 km/h on all main routes. Under this condition, up to eight additional
destinations, mainly in the Eastern part of Europe, could be reached by train
within 18 hours in the future, including Munich–Bucharest, Berlin–Tallinn,
Berlin–Kyiv and Hamburg–Belgrade.
The following sections present the results by city. Part A describes the results for
the four largest German cities, which were among the 45 cities analysed in full.
Part B describes the results for the additionally selected five German cities, which
were only analysed for their connectivity to the other 45 cities, but not for the
routes between them (for example, Stuttgart–Nuremberg was not analysed).
25
25
In order to ensure a fair comparison of German cities with other European cities,
routes between the fourlarge cities and the other five cities are not included in
the statistics for the four large cities but only in the statistics for the five
additional cities (for example, the data for Nuremberg–Berlin is only included in
the Nuremberg dataset, not in the Berlin dataset).
/CONNECTION FAILED 52
/CONNECTION FAILED 53
Part A: Four largest cities (Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich)
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Berlin
Cologne
Hamburg
Munich
Existing and potential direct
train connections to 44 cities
<18h
28
29
29
29
Total number of existing
direct train connections
14
50%
9
31%
10
34%
15
52%
Night trains only
5
36%
0
0%
1
10%
7
47%
Day trains only
4
29%
5
56%
5
50%
3
20%
Both day and night trains
5
36%
4
44%
4
40%
5
33%
Total missing direct train
connections below 18 hours
14
20
19
14
Below 12 hours
7
14
8
8
Additional future possible
direct train connections <18h,
with investments
8
3
3
8
Direct flight connections on
routes with an existing or
possible direct train
connection
24
86%
16
55%
22
76%
28
97%
Percentage of more direct
flights than direct trains
71%
78%
120%
87%
Direct flights to 44 cities
37
84%
25
57%
32
73%
37
84%
Table 35b: Key data for the four largest German cities (part of the 45 cities fully
analysed)
Findings for Berlin:
● Berlin is the city in Europe with the third highest number of direct train
connections, after Vienna and Munich. 14 of the 44 routes between Berlin
and other European cities analysed are served by direct trains.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, Berlin is also the
city analysed with the third highest number of night train connections. 10of
the 44 routes between Berlin and the other European cities analysed are
served by night trains, five of them are served by both a direct day and a
direct night train.
● Despite belonging to the cities with the most direct train connections, even
on routes to/from Berlin the untapped potential for direct trains is
considerable: Direct trains are oered on only half of the 28 routes between
Berlin and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct train
with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
/CONNECTION FAILED 54
● Thus, another half – 14 out of 28 – of the routes between Berlin and other
cities are not currently served by a direct train (with a journey time of less
than 18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While half of the routes between Berlin and other major European cities
which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct train,
86% – 24 out of the 28 routes, all except Bratislava, Hamburg, Ljubljana and
Prague – are served by direct flight.
● Thus, Berlin is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Berlin under 12 hours is
London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from Berlin
without a direct train alternative, followed by Milan and Luxembourg. The
latter is the only capital of a neighbouring country without a direct train
connection.
● The most important missing night train destinations are Barcelona, Rome
and Oslo, all of which are in the top five short-haul flights without a direct
train alternative.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train from Berlin in the
future, including Belgrade, Tallinn and Kyiv.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Hamburg, Munich, Prague, Warsaw
26
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Brussels, Copenhagen, Paris,
Stockholm, Zurich
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Amsterdam, Bratislava, Budapest,
Cologne, Vienna
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Birmingham, Ljubljana, London,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Milan
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Edinburgh, Naples, Oslo,
Rome, Vilnius, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Chisinau, Kyiv, Podgorica,
Pristina, Riga, Sarajevo, Tallinn
Table 36: Destination analysis for Berlin
26
Direct train connections to the five German cities additionally analysed are not included
here.
/CONNECTION FAILED 55
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers
2023
Berlin–London
9h46m
Cologne, Brussels
8h10m
1,491,000
Berlin–Milan
11h41m
Munich, Verona
10h45m
576,000
Berlin–Barcelona
19h30m
Basel (Bad. BF,
SBB), Mulhouse,
Montpellier
16h
537,000
Berlin–Rome
14h6m
Munich, Verona
13h20m
322,000
Berlin–Oslo
18h52m
Malmö,
Gothenborg
17h10m
256,000
Berlin–
Luxembourg
8h22m
Koblenz
7h30m
93,000
Table 37: examples for missing train connections for Berlin, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Cologne:
● Despite being one of Europe's major rail hubs, where the Berlin–Brussels
and Frankfurt–Amsterdam routes cross, Cologne is very poorly connected by
direct trains to other major European cities. Only nine of the 44 routes
between Cologne and other European cities analysed are served by direct
trains. These are clearly less direct train connections compared to Berlin
and Munich.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, there are
fourcities, Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Zurich, which still can be reached by
night trains, all of them operated by the Austrian railway company ÖBB. All
of these four cities can also be reached by direct day trains.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Cologne is very
high: Direct trains are oered on only 31% (9 of the 29) of routes between
Cologne and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct train
with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● Thus, 69% – 20 out of 29 – of the routes between Cologne and other cities
are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only one third of the routes between Cologne and other major
European cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served
by direct train, 55% – 16 out of the 29 routes – are served by direct flight
from the Cologne-Bonn Airport. The nearby and much larger Düsseldorf
airport serves 9 more routes, connecting the Rhineland metropolitan region
much better by plane than by train.
27
27
In German: Metropolregion Rheinland
/CONNECTION FAILED 56
● Thus, Cologne is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to
fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Cologne under 12 hours
is London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from
Cologne without a direct train alternative, followed by Barcelona, Milan and
Rome.
● Among the most important missing night train destinations are Stockholm,
Oslo and Zagreb.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, three additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, including Belgrade and Vilnius.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg,
Luxembourg, Paris
28
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Budapest, Copenhagen, Edinburgh,
Ljubljana, London, Lyon, Marseille,
Milan, Prague, Rome, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Madrid, Naples, Oslo, Stockholm,
Valencia, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Sarajevo, Vilnius
Table 38: Destination analysis for Cologne
28
Direct train connections to the five German cities additionally analysed are not included
here.
/CONNECTION FAILED 57
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers
2023
Cologne–London
5h05m
Brussels
3h55m
504,000
Cologne–
Barcelona
12h43m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon)
10h40m
291,000
Cologne–Milan
9h48m
Basel
8h10m
262,000
Cologne–Rome
12h15m
Mannheim, Bern,
Milan
11h15m
182,000
Cologne–Bologna
12h21m
Munich
9h20m
109,000
Cologne–
Budapest
11h35m
Vienna
11h05m
67,000
Cologne–Prague
8h39m
Berlin
8h
Data n.a.
Table 39: examples for missing train connections for Cologne, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Hamburg:
● Hamburg is rather poorly connected by direct trains with important
European cities. Only 10 of the 44 routes between Hamburg and other
European cities analysed are served by direct trains. These are clearly less
direct train connections compared to Berlin and Munich, though at least the
same number of cities could be reached by train from Hamburg within 18
hours.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, there are 5cities
which still can be reached by night trains, all of them operated by Austrian
or Swedish railway companies.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Hamburg is high:
Direct trains are oered on only 34% (10 of the 29) of routes between
Hamburg and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct
train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● Thus, 66% – 19 out of 29 – of the routes between Hamburg and other cities
are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only one third of the routes between Hamburg and other major
European cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served
by direct train, 76% – 22 out of the 29 routes – are served by direct flight.
/CONNECTION FAILED 58
● Thus, Hamburg is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging
people to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Hamburg under 12 hours
is London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from
Hamburg without a direct train alternative, followed by Paris and
Amsterdam.
● The most important missing night train destinations are Barcelona and
Madrid, both are in the top 5 short-haul flights without a direct train
alternative. Another important missing night train connection is to Oslo.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, 3 additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, including Belgrade and Riga.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Cologne,
Prague
29
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Stockholm
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Brussels,
London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Paris,
Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Edinburgh, Ljubljana,
Madrid, Marseille, Milan, Naples, Oslo,
Rome, Vilnius, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Riga, Sarajevo
Table 40: Destination analysis for Hamburg
29
Direct train connections to the five German cities additionally analysed are not included
here.
/CONNECTION FAILED 59
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
30
Hamburg–London
10h2m
Cologne, Brussels
8h
838,000
Hamburg–Paris
8h12m
Cologne
7h30m
374,000
Hamburg–
Amsterdam
5h15m
Osnabrück
4h45m
349,000
Hamburg–
Barcelona
20h48m
31
Dortmund,
Brussels, Valence
15h15m
269,000
Hamburg–Madrid
23h54m
32
Dortmund,
Brussels, Valence,
Barcelona
18h
215,000
Hamburg–Warsaw
7h45m
Berlin
7h20m
115,000
Hamburg–Oslo
15h59m
Lund, Gothenburg
13h
97,000
Table 41: examples for missing train connections for Hamburg, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Munich:
● Munich is the city in Europe with the second highest number of direct train
connections, after Vienna. 15 of the 44 routes between Munich and other
European cities analysed are served by direct trains.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, Munich is also
the city in Europe with the second highest number of night train
connections. 12of the 44 routes between Munich and the other European
cities analysed are served by night trains, 5 of them are served by both a
direct day and a direct night train.
● Despite belonging to the cities with the most direct train connections, even
on routes to/from Munich the untapped potential for direct trains is
considerable: Direct trains are oered on only 52% (15 of the 29) of routes
between Munich and other European cities which could be travelled by a
direct train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing
tracks.
● Thus, 48% – 14 out of 29 – of the routes between Munich and other cities
are not currently served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
32
Including a 3.5 hours stay overnight in Dortmund
31
Including a 3.5 hours stay overnight in Dortmund
30
Flight data include flights to all London and Paris airports.
/CONNECTION FAILED 60
● While a bit more than half of the routes between Munich and other major
European cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served
by direct train, 97% – 28 out of the 29 routes, all except Bratislava – are
served by direct flight.
● Thus, Munich is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging
people to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Munich under 12 hours is
London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from Munich
without a direct train alternative, followed by Copenhagen. The missing
direct train to Bratislava is the shortest of all the missing connections.
● The most important missing night train destinations are Barcelona and
Madrid, both are in the top five short-haul flights without a direct train
alternative. Another important missing night train connection is to
Stockholm.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train from Munich in the
future, including Bucharest, Riga and Sofia.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Berlin, Prague, Zurich
33
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Brussels, Ljubljana, Milan,
Rome, Warsaw, Zagreb
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Budapest, Cologne, Hamburg, Paris,
Vienna
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Birmingham, Bratislava, Copenhagen,
London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille,
Naples
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Belgrade, Edinburgh, Madrid,
Stockholm, Valencia
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Bucharest, Podgorica, Pristina, Riga,
Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Vilnius
Table 42: Destination analysis for Munich
33
Direct train connections to the five German cities additionally analysed are not included
here.
/CONNECTION FAILED 61
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
34
Munich–London
10h10m
Frankfurt,
Brussels
8h50m
1,361,000
Munich–Madrid
17h40m
Karlsruhe-Durlach,
Karlsruhe,
Strasbourg, Lyon,
Barcelona
15h20m
831,000
Munich–Barcelona
14h38m
Paris (Nord/Gare de
Lyon)
13h
767,000
Munich–
Copenhagen
11h13m
Hamburg
11h
472,000
Munich–
Stockholm
18h39m
Hamburg
16h20m
455,000
Munich–Bratislava
5h9m
Vienna
5h05m
—
Munich–Naples
10h59m
Bologna
10h30m
276,000
Table 43: examples for missing train connections for Munich, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
34
Flight data include flights to all London and Paris airports, but not flights from/to
Memmingen.
/CONNECTION FAILED 62
Part B: Five additional cities (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover,
Nuremberg, Stuttgart)
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Düsseldorf
Frankfurt/ Main
Hanover
Nuremberg
Stuttgart
Existing and
potential direct
train connections
to 45 cities <18h
30
29
30
31
30
Total number of
existing direct
train connections
10
33%
11
38%
7
23%
5
16%
10
33%
Night trains only
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
3
30%
Day trains only
7
70%
11
100%
5
71%
5
100%
1
10%
Both day and
night trains
3
30%
0
0%
2
29%
0
0%
1
10%
Total missing
direct train
connections
below 18 hours
20
18
23
26
20
Below 12 hours
13
13
12
20
16
Additional future
possible direct
train connections
<18h, with
investments
3
5
3
7
6
Direct flight
connections on
routes with an
existing or
possible direct
train connection
25
83%
28
97%
12
40%
11
35%
22
73%
Percentage of
more direct
flights than direct
trains
150%
155%
71%
127%
120
%
Direct flights to
45 cities
33
73%
42
93%
15
33%
18
40%
25
56%
Table 44: Key data for the five other German cities analysed
/CONNECTION FAILED 63
Findings for Düsseldorf:
● Despite being the capital city of the most populated German federal state,
Düsseldorf is poorly connected by direct trains to other major European
cities. Only 10 of the 45 routes between Düsseldorf and other European
cities analysed are served by direct trains. These are clearly less direct train
connections compared to Berlin and Munich.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, there are three
cities, Munich, Vienna and Zurich, which still can be reached by night trains,
all of them operated by the Austrian railway company ÖBB. All of these
three cities can also be reached by direct day trains.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Düsseldorf is
very high: Direct trains are oered on only one third (10 of the 30) of routes
between Düsseldorf and other European cities which could be travelled by a
direct train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing
tracks.
● Thus, two thirds – 20 out of 30 – of the routes between Düsseldorf and
other cities are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of
less than 18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only one third of the routes between Düsseldorf and other major
European cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served
by direct train, 83% – 25 out of the 30 routes – are served by direct flights
from the Düsseldorf Airport.
● Thus, Düsseldorf is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Düsseldorf under
12hours is London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route
from Düsseldorf without a direct train alternative, followed by Barcelona,
Copenhagen and Milan.
● The most important missing night train destination is Madrid, which is in the
top five short-haul flights without a direct train alternative. Other important
missing night train connections are Stockholm and Oslo.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, three additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, Belgrade, Sarajevo and Vilnius.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Cologne,
Hamburg, Luxembourg, Paris
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Munich, Vienna, Zurich
/CONNECTION FAILED 64
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Budapest, Copenhagen, Edinburgh,
Ljubljana, London, Lyon, Marseille,
Milan, Prague, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Madrid, Naples, Oslo, Rome,
Stockholm, Valencia, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Sarajevo, Vilnius
Table 45: Destination analysis for Düsseldorf
Route
Current
travel time,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Düsseldorf–London
6h44m
Brussels
4h45m
728,000
Düsseldorf–
Barcelona
13h21m
Brussels, Valence
11h20m
403,000
Düsseldorf–Madrid
16h27m
Brussels, Valence,
Barcelona
13h10m
365,000
Düsseldorf–
Copenhagen
8h53m
Hamburg
8h
234,000
Düsseldorf–Milan
10h16m
Basel
8h40m
217,000
Düsseldorf–
Marseille
8h43m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon)
8h15m
No direct
flight
Table 46: examples for missing train connections for Düsseldorf, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Frankfurt/Main:
● Despite being home to Germany's largest airport, Frankfurt is poorly
connected by direct trains to other major European cities. Only 11 of the 45
routes between Frankfurt and other European cities analysed are served by
direct trains. These are clearly less direct train connections compared to
Berlin and Munich.
● Surprisingly for a city in central Germany, there is currently no reasonable
night train service from and to Frankfurt. Two night train lines,
Brussels–Berlin and Zurich–Prague, are passing Frankfurt between two and
four a.m., and were therefore not counted as night train connections in this
report.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Frankfurt is very
/CONNECTION FAILED 65
high: Direct trains are oered on only 38% (11 of the 29) of routes between
Frankfurt and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct
train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● Thus, 62 % – 18 out of 29 – of the routes between Frankfurt and other cities
are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only 38% of the routes between Frankfurt and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 97% – 28 out of the 29 routes – are served by direct flights from the
Frankfurt Airport. The only exception is Cologne, which is literally too close
for a flight.
● Thus, Frankfurt is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Frankfurt under 12 hours
is London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from
Frankfurt without a direct train alternative, followed by Barcelona, Milan,
Rome and Copenhagen. The missing direct train to Luxembourg is the
shortest of all the missing connections.
● The most important missing night train destinations are Madrid and
Stockholm, both are in the top seven short-haul flights from Frankfurt
without a direct train alternative.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, five additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, Belgrade, Sarajevo and Vilnius.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Cologne,
Hamburg, Lyon, Marseille, Munich,
Paris, Vienna, Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Budapest, Copenhagen, Edinburgh,
Ljubljana, London, Luxembourg, Milan,
Prague
35
, Rome, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Madrid, Naples, Stockholm, Valencia,
Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje,
Vilnius
35
The night train to/from Prague arrives/departs in the middle of the night, and was
therefore not counted as a direct train connection.
/CONNECTION FAILED 66
Table 47: Destination analysis for Frankfurt/Main
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
36
Frankfurt–
London
6h29m
Brussels
5h20m
1,690,000
Frankfurt–Madrid
15h44m
Strasbourg,
Lyon, Barcelona
13h35m
866,000
Frankfurt–
Barcelona
12h38m
Strasbourg, Lyon
10h50m
816,000
Frankfurt–Milan
7h55m
Bern
7h20m
787,000
Frankfurt–Rome
11h22m
Bern, Milan
10h25m
568,000
Frankfurt–
Copenhagen
10h37m
Hamburg
9h50m
544,000
Frankfurt–
Stockholm
17h59m
Hamburg
17h30m
510,000
Frankfurt–
Budapest
9h58m
Vienna
9h15m
460,000
Frankfurt–Prague
8h4m
Regensburg
6h40m
406,000
Frankfurt–
Manchester
9h16m
Brussels,
London
(StPancras/
Euston)
7h45m
379,000
Frankfurt–
Luxembourg
4h41m
Koblenz
3h50m
No direct
flight
Table 48: examples for missing train connections for Frankfurt, including Top 10
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Hanover:
● Hanover is poorly connected by direct trains with important European cities.
Only seven of the 45 routes between Hanover and other European cities
analysed are served by direct trains. These are clearly less direct train
connections compared to Berlin and Munich, though almost the same
number of cities could be reached by train from Hanover within 18 hours.
36
Flight data include flights to all London, Milan and Rome airports, but not flights from/to
Frankfurt-Hahn.
/CONNECTION FAILED 67
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, there are two
cities which still can be reached by night trains, Vienna and Zurich.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Hanover is high:
Direct trains are oered on only 23% (seven of the 30) of routes between
Hanover and other European cities which could be travelled by a direct train
with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● Thus, 77% – 23 out of 30 – of the routes between Hanover and other cities
are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only 23% of the routes between Hanover and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 40% – 12 out of the 30 routes – are served by direct flight from the
small Hanover Airport. 10 more destinations are served by flights from the
nearby Hamburg Airport.
● Thus, Hanover is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to
fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Hanover under 12 hours
is London, which is the most used short-haul flight route from Hanover
without a direct train alternative, followed by Paris, Copenhagen and Milan.
● The most important missing night train destination is Barcelona, which is
the top three most used short-haul flight from Hanover without a direct
train alternative. Other important missing night train connections are
Stockholm and Oslo.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, three additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, including Belgrade and Riga.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg,
Munich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Vienna, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Birmingham, Bratislava, Brussels,
Budapest, Copenhagen, London,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Milan,
Paris, Prague, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Edinburgh, Ljubljana,
Madrid, Naples, Oslo, Rome,
Stockholm, Vilnius, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Riga, Sarajevo
/CONNECTION FAILED 68
Table 49: Destination analysis for Hanover
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Hanover–London
7h47m
Cologne, Brussels
6h50m
180,000
Hanover–Paris
6h35m
Cologne
6h10m
129,000
Hanover–Barcelona
23h7m
Cologne, Paris
(Nord/Austerlitz),
Toulouse,
Narbonne
13h10m
86,000
Hanover–
Copenhagen
6h14m
Hamburg
6h
21,000
Hanover–Milan
11h2m
Basel
10h30m
n.a.
37
Hanover–Prague
6h48m
Dresden
6h40m
No direct
flight
Table 50: examples for missing train connections for Hanover, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Nuremberg:
● Nuremberg is the German city analysed with least direct train connections.
Only five of the 45 routes between Nuremberg and other European cities
analysed are served by direct trains. These are clearly less direct train
connections compared to Berlin and Munich, though the same number of
cities could be reached by train from Nuremberg within 18 hours.
● Surprisingly for a city in central Germany, there is currently no reasonable
night train service from and to Nuremberg. Two night train lines,
Vienna–Hamburg and Vienna–Amsterdam, are passing Nuremberg between
1:30 and 4 a.m., and were therefore not counted as night train connections
in this report.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Nuremberg is
very high: Direct trains are oered on only 16% (5 of the 31) of routes
between Nuremberg and other European cities which could be travelled by
a direct train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing
tracks.
37
This flight only started in 2024. With a frequency of four flights per week, this is likely to
be one of the top 5 routes for Hannover without a direct rail alternative.
/CONNECTION FAILED 69
● Thus, 84% – 26 out of 31 – of the routes between Nuremberg and other
cities are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less
than 18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only 16% of the routes between Nuremberg and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 35% – 11 out of the 31 routes – are served by direct flight from the
small Nuremberg Airport. All other destinations, except Bratislava, are
served by flights from the nearby Munich Airport.
● Thus, Nuremberg is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Nuremberg under
12hours is London, which is the most used short-haul flight route from
Hanover without a direct train alternative, followed by Amsterdam, Paris,
Budapest and Zurich. The missing train connection to Prague is the shortest
missing connection from Nuremberg.
● Important missing night train destinations are Stockholm and Barcelona.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, seven additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, including Bucharest, Sofia and Riga.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich,
Vienna
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
38
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, Ljubljana, London,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Milan,
Naples, Paris, Prague, Rome, Warsaw,
Zagreb, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Barcelona, Belgrade, Madrid,
Stockholm, Valencia, Vilnius
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Bucharest, Podgorica, Pristina, Riga,
Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia
Table 51: Destination analysis for Nuremberg
38
All night trains stop in Nuremberg between 1:30 and 5 am and are therefore not counted
as night trains.
/CONNECTION FAILED 70
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Nuremberg–London
8h57m
Frankfurt, Brussels
7h20m
200,000
Nuremberg–
Amsterdam
6h37m
Düsseldorf
6h10m
168,000
Nuremberg–Paris
6h34m
Stuttgart
5h40m
123,000
Nuremberg–
Budapest
7h48m
Vienna
7h5m
48,000
Nuremberg–Zurich
5h26m
Munich
4h45m
47,000
Nuremberg–Prague
4h40m
Schwandorf
4h40m
No direct
flight
Table 52: examples for missing train connections for Nuremberg, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Findings for Stuttgart:
● Stuttgart is poorly connected by direct trains to other major European cities.
Only 10 of the 45 routes between Stuttgart and other European cities
analysed are served by direct trains. These are clearly less direct train
connections compared to Berlin and Munich.
● Despite Deutsche Bahn not operating night trains anymore, there are
fourcities, Budapest, Ljubljana, Vienna and Zagreb, that still can be reached
by night trains, operated by the Croatian and Hungarian railway companies.
● The untapped potential for direct trains on routes to/from Stuttgart is very
high: Direct trains are oered on only one third (10 of the 30) of routes
between Stuttgart and other European cities which could be travelled by a
direct train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing
tracks.
● Thus, two thirds – 20 out of 30 – of the routes between Stuttgart and other
cities are currently not served by a direct train (with a journey time of less
than 18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While only one third of the routes between Stuttgart and other major
European cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served
by direct train, 73% – 22 out of the 30 routes – are served by direct flights
from the Stuttgart Airport.
● Thus, Stuttgart is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
/CONNECTION FAILED 71
● The most important missing train connection from Stuttgart under 12 hours
is London, which is the most used short-haul flight route from Stuttgart
without a direct train alternative, followed by Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome
and Milan. The missing direct train to Brussels is the shortest missing
connection.
● Among the most important missing night train destinations are Stockholm
and Belgrade.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, six additional cities in the
Eastern part of Europe could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in
the future, including Sarajevo and Vilnius.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich,
Paris, Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Budapest, Ljubljana, Zagreb
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Vienna
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Birmingham,
Bratislava, Brussels, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, London, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Marseille, Milan, Naples, Prague, Rome,
Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrade, Madrid, Stockholm, Valencia
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje,
Sofia, Vilnius
Table 53: Destination analysis for Stuttgart
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Stuttgart–London
7h38m
Paris
6h10m
353,000
Stuttgart–
Barcelona
12h17m
Paris (Est/Gare
de Lyon)
10h40m
320,000
Stuttgart–
Amsterdam
6h17m
Frankfurt Airport
5h40m
283,000
Stuttgart–Rome
11h25m
Munich, Bologna
11h
79,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 72
Stuttgart–Milan
8h34m
Zurich
7h30m
71,000
Stuttgart–
Brussels
4h33m
Frankfurt Airport
4h30m
No direct
flight
Stuttgart–Lyon
6h4m
Strasbourg
5h20m
No direct
flight
Table 54: examples for missing train connections for Stuttgart, including Top five
flights without direct train connection <18h
Greece (Athens)
● Athens is not at all connected by cross-border direct train to any other city.
Even worse, since 2019 there has not been any single passenger train
entering or leaving Greece.
● With the currently poor rail infrastructure, only 5 cities could be reached by
train within 18 hours, Belgrade, Istanbul, Pristina, Skopje and Sofia.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, nine additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Athens in the future including Budapest,
Bucharest and Vienna.
● All of the European cities analysed can be reached by direct flight, except
Pristina and Kyiv. By that, Athens has the highest air connectivity of all cities
analysed (together with London and Istanbul). Thus, Greece and Athens are
fully encouraging people to fly instead of taking the train.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities
<18h
5
Total number of existing direct train connections
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
5
/CONNECTION FAILED 73
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Athens. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Greece, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Below 12 hours
2
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investments
9
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or
possible direct train connection <18h
4
80%
Direct flights to 44 cities
42
95%
Table 55: Key data for Athens
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
none
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Pristina, Skopje
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrade, Istanbul, Sofia
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest,
Chisinau, Ljubljana, Podgorica,
Sarajevo, Vienna, Zagreb
Table 56: Destination analysis for Athens
Route
Current travel time
by train, best
possible connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Athens–Belgrade
Not possible
15h30m
Athens–Sofia
Not possible
12h30m
Table 57: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Athens
/CONNECTION FAILED 74
Hungary (Budapest)
● Budapest is the city in the newer EU-member states with the highest
number of direct train connections to the other cities analysed in absolute
terms. 12 destinations are served by direct train. However, nearby Vienna
has three more direct train connections.
● Budapest also has relatively many night train connections. Seven cities
analysed can be reached by a direct night train. Only Vienna, Munich and
Zurich oer more night train connections.
● 41% of the 29 cities that can or could be reached by a direct train within
18hours with the existing tracks can be reached by an existing direct train.
However, this means that 59% (or 17) of the cities cannot be reached by a
direct train.
● Despite the relatively good rail network, there are 92% more polluting direct
flights to the cities that can or could be reached by train within 18 hours.
● The most obvious missing direct day train connection is to Belgrade. This
direct connection was closed in 2019 due to construction works; a train
journey from Budapest to Belgrade currently requires three changes. It is
however possible that the direct Budapest–Belgrade connection will restart
in 2025.
● The most important missing train connection from Budapest under 12 hours
is Frankfurt, which is the second most used short-haul flight route from
Budapest without a direct train alternative.
● Among the most important missing night train destinations are London,
Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris, which are all among the Top six
short-haul flights from Budapest without a direct train alternative.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, five additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Budapest within 18 hours in the future.
These are: Athens, Chisinau, Istanbul, Riga and Vilnius.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
29
Total number of existing direct train connections
12
41%
Night trains only
2
17%
/CONNECTION FAILED 75
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Budapest. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Hungary, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Day trains only
5
42%
Both day and night trains
5
42%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
17
Below 12 hours
2
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
5
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
23
79%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
92%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
36
82%
Table 58: Key data for Budapest
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Bratislava, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Vienna,
Zagreb
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Zurich, Kyiv
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Berlin, Bucharest, Munich, Prague,
Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Cologne
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen,
London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille,
Milan, Naples, Paris, Podgorica, Pristina,
Rome, Sarajevo, Skopje
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Chisinau, Istanbul, Riga, Vilnius
Table 59: Destination analysis for Budapest
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers
(2023)
Budapest–
London
20h50m
Stuttgart, Paris
18h
1,424,000
Budapest–
Frankfurt
9h56m
Vienna
9h5m
461,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 76
Budapest–
Milan
16h7m
Salzburg
12h30m
458,000
Budapest–
Brussels
16h55m
Stuttgart,
Frankfurt
16h
424,000
Budapest–
Amsterdam
18h19m
Vienna
17h30m
383,000
Budapest–
Paris
15h53m
Stuttgart
15h30m
381,000
Budapest–
Belgrade
14h37m
Szeged, Subotica,
Novi Sad
8h
n.a.
Table 60: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Budapest,
including Top 6 flights without direct train connection <18h
Italy (Rome, Milan, Naples)
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Rome, Milan and Naples. The purpose of the research was to identify
existing and potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of
direct flights on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Italy,
while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
Vienna
59%
Zurich
46%
Paris
45%
Brussels
39%
Milan
21%
Rome
17%
Naples
9%
Table 61a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
Italian cities compared to selected other cities
● The three largest Italian cities are poorly connected to other countries by
direct trains. Only four of the cities analysed outside Italy are served by
direct trains: Munich and Vienna by night trains from Rome and Milan, and
Zurich and Paris by daytime trains from Milan. There are no international
trains to Naples.
/CONNECTION FAILED 77
● Trenitalia is operating domestic night trains, but no international ones. All
night trains running to Italy are operated by the Austrian railway company
ÖBB.
● Unlike international rail services, all Italian cities analysed are well served by
direct trains, both in terms of frequency and speed.
● Thanks to the ecient high-speed rail network in Italy, France and Germany,
the number of cities that could be reached by a direct train from Italy
within 18 hours is high. This is the case for 28 destinations from Milan,
23from Rome and 22 from Naples.
● This means that for Rome, only 17% (4 out of 23) of the destinations that
could be reached by a direct train, can be reached by an existing direct
train. For Milan, this percentage is at 21% (6 out of 28), and the lowest at 9%
(2 out of 22) for Naples.
● The most obvious missing direct train connections are Rome–Paris,
Rome–Zurich, Milan–Ljubljana and Milan–Barcelona. All these routes could
be travelled in less than 12 hours by train. Rome–Berlin and Rome–London
could be travelled in less than 18 hours by train.
● While there are few direct train connections, there are direct flights from
Rome and Milan to all cities that could be reached by train within 18 hours
except Ljubljana. Even from the smaller Naples Airport, 19 out of
22destinations are served with a direct flight. All Italian cities are therefore
much better connected by air than by rail, which encourages people to fly
rather than take the train.
● For the three largest Italian cities, the connectivity by air to all 44 cities
analysed is well above the European average. Most flights to the cities
analysed depart from Milan. 91% of all cities can be reached by direct flight
from MIlan, for Rome it is 89%. Even for the smallest of the three airports,
Naples, 77% of the cities analysed can be reached by direct flight with most
of the missing destinations in the Balkan region.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, four additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Milan within 18 hours in the future. For
Rome and Naples, such investment would allow one additional route.
Almost all the investment for these routes will have to be made outside
Italy.
/CONNECTION FAILED 78
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Rome
Milan
Naples
Existing and potential direct train
connections to 44 cities <18h
23
28
22
Total number of existing direct train
connections
4
17%
6
21%
2
9%
Night trains only
2
50%
2
33%
0
0%
Day trains only
1
25%
2
33%
1
50%
Both day and night trains
1
25%
2
33%
1
50%
Total missing direct train
connections below 18 hours
19
22
20
Below 12 hours
7
12
6
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500
km)
1
4
1
Direct flight connections on routes
with an existing or possible direct
train connection <18h
22
96%
27
96%
19
86%
Percentage of more direct flights
than direct trains
450%
350%
850%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
39
89%
40
91%
34
77%
Table 61b: Key data for the three largest Italian cities
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Naples
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Vienna
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Milan
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Cologne, Ljubljana, Lyon, Marseille,
Paris, Zagreb, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belgrade,
Berlin, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Brussels, Budapest, Hamburg, London,
Luxembourg, Prague
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Sarajevo
Table 62: Destination analysis for Rome
/CONNECTION FAILED 79
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Paris, Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Vienna
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Naples, Rome
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin,
Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Ljubljana,
London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille,
Zagreb
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrade, Birmingham, Budapest,
Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Hamburg,
Madrid, Prague, Valencia, Warsaw
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje
Table 63: Destination analysis for Milan
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Rome
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Milan
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Ljubljana, Lyon, Marseille, Munich,
Paris, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belgrade,
Berlin, Bratislava, Cologne, Brussels,
Budapest, Hamburg, London,
Luxembourg, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Sarajevo
Table 64: Destination analysis for Naples
/CONNECTION FAILED 80
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time of
a direct train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Rome–Paris
10h53m
Milan,
Geneva
10h30m
2,205,000
Rome–London
16h52m
Milan, Zurich,
Paris (Gare
de Lyon/
Nord)
14h10m
2,079,000
Rome–Barcelona
25h48m
39
Torino,
Chambéry-C
halles-les-Ea
ux, Lyon,
Nîmes
15h10m
1,485,000
Rome–Brussels
14h9m
Milan, Zurich,
Paris (Gare
de
Lyon/Nord)
13h10m
771,000
Rome–
Amsterdam
16h4m
Milan,
Lugano,
Basel
15h30m
733,000
Rome–Zurich
8h2m
Milan
7h20m
450,000
Rome–Berlin
13h47m
Bologna,
Munich
13h20m
319,000
Rome–Marseille
10h40m
Genova,
Ventimiglia,
Nice
9h50m
172,000
Milan–London
11h25m
Paris
(Nord/Gare
de Lyon),
Geneva
40
10h20m
2,709,000
Milan–Barcelona
11h29m
Geneva, Lyon
11h20m
1,384,000
Milan–Madrid
14h35m
Geneva,
Lyon,
Barcelona
14h5m
1,332,000
Milan–Frankfurt
8h3m
Bern
7h30m
787,000
Milan–Brussels
9h30m
Geneva,
9h10m
780,000
40
The current direct Milan–Paris connection is not an option for Milan–London since it
arrives in Paris later than the last Eurostar departure for London.
39
Stopover in Lyon required
/CONNECTION FAILED 81
Paris
(Nord/Gare
de Lyon)
Milan–Prague
13h10m
Verona,
Munich
12h40m
545,000
Milan–Ljubljana
8h51m
Venice,
Villach
7h10m
No direct
flight
Naples–London
24h35m
41
Torina, Paris
(Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
15h10m
827,000
Naples–Paris
14h29m
Milan,
Zurich
11h45m
791,000
Naples–
Barcelona
26h1m
42
Milan,
Geneva,
Lyon, Nimes
16h15m
393,000
Naples–Munich
10h43m
Bologna
10h30m
278,000
Naples–Frankfurt
12h43m
Milan,
Lugano,
Basel
12h15m
204,000
Table 65: examples for missing direct train connections from/to the 3 largest
Italian cities, including Top 5 flights without direct train connection <18h each
Luxembourg (Luxembourg City)
● Despite being geographically in a central position, Luxembourg is very poorly
connected by direct trains. Only five cities analysed can be reached by an
existing direct train, while 28 cities could be reached by a direct train within
42
Stopover in Geneva required
41
Stopover in Paris required
/CONNECTION FAILED 82
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Luxembourg City. The purpose of the research was to identify existing
and potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct
flights on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for
Luxembourg, while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity of only 18%.
● Only five cities analysed can be reached by a direct train, Brussels, Cologne,
Lyon, Marseille and Paris.
● There is not a single night train entering or leaving Luxembourg.
● There is no direct train connection to 82% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connection from Luxembourg under
12hours is London, which is the most used short-haul flight route from
Luxembourg without a direct train alternative, followed by Milan,
Frankfurt/Main, Amsterdam and Munich.
● Important missing night train connections include Rome, Stockholm and
Warsaw.
● Other than by direct train, 22 cities which could be reached by train within
18 hours can be reached by direct flight from the Luxembourg airport. There
are 340% more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that could be
reached by train within 18 hours. The high number of direct flight
connections show the high need for cross-border rail journeys from and to
Luxembourg.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, two additional cities, Belgrade
and Sarajevo, could be served by a direct train within 18 hours in the future.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
28
Total number of existing direct train connections
5
18%
Night trains only
0
0%
Day trains only
5
100%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
23
Below 12 hours
15
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
2
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection within 18 hours
22
79%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
340%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
29
66%
Table 66: Key data for Luxembourg
/CONNECTION FAILED 83
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Brussels, Cologne, Lyon, Marseille, Paris
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin,
Birmingham, Bratislava, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, Hamburg, London, Madrid,
Milan, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Budapest, Ljubljana, Naples, Rome,
Stockholm, Valencia, Warsaw, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Sarajevo
Table 67: Destination analysis for Luxembourg
Route
Current
travel time
by train,
best
possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Luxembourg–London
6h46m
Brussels
5h40m
399,000
Luxembourg–Milan
9h19m
Mulhouse, Basel
8h
255,000
Luxembourg–
Frankfurt
3h55m
Koblenz
3h45m
190,000
Luxembourg–
Amsterdam
5h33m
Brussels
5h15m
160,000
Luxembourg–Munich
5h49m
Strasbourg,
Mannheim
5h40m
152,000
Luxembourg–Berlin
8h45m
Koblenz
7h30m
93,000
Table 68: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Luxembourg,
including Top five flights without direct train connection <18h
/CONNECTION FAILED 84
Moldova (Chisinau)
● There are two direct train connections available for Chisinau: a night train
from and to Bucharest, and, despite the Ukraine war, a night train from and
to Kyiv.
● Due to geography and a very slow rail speed in Moldova and Romania, there
is currently no other city that could be reached by train within 18 hours.
● Despite the dierent track gauges in Moldova and Romania, there is no need
to change trains.
● Chisinau would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a rail investment
programme that would allow an average speed of 80 km/h on all routes in
Europe. An additional 18 destinations could be reached by train within
18hours, including Vienna, Belgrade and Budapest. Some of these routes
would pass through Ukraine, so an end to the war is a prerequisite for
realising the full potential.
● Despite its small size, Chisinau has direct flights to 22 of the cities
analysed, clearly favouring air travel over rail.
Netherlands (Amsterdam)
● Despite being geographically in a central position, Amsterdam is poorly
connected by direct trains. Only nine cities analysed can be reached by an
existing direct train, while 29 cities could be reached by a direct train within
18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity of only 31%.
● Only five cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Berlin,
Munich, Prague, Vienna and Zurich. The Dutch railway company NS is not
operating night trains, all night trains to and from Amsterdam are operated
by the Austrian railway company ÖBB or by the private company
Europeansleeper.
● There is no direct train connection to 69% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connection from Amsterdam under
12hours is Barcelona, which is the most used short-haul flight route from
Amsterdam without a direct train alternative, followed by Copenhagen,
Milan and Manchester. Other important missing and rather short train
connections are to Hamburg and Luxembourg.
/CONNECTION FAILED 85
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Amsterdam. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for the Netherlands,
while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
● The most important missing night train destination is Madrid, which is the
second most used short haul flight from Amsterdam without a direct train
alternative. Other important missing night train connections are to
Stockholm, Oslo and Rome.
● There are 200% more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that
could be reached by train within 18 hours.
● 84% of all 44 destinations analysed can be reached by direct flight from
Amsterdam including all cities in the EU analysed except Bratislava and
Cologne.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
29
Total number of existing direct train connections
9
31%
Night trains only
4
44%
Day trains only
4
44%
Both day and night trains
1
11%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
20
Below 12 hours
10
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
27
93%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
200%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
37
84%
Table 69: Key data for Amsterdam
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Brussels, Cologne, London, Paris
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Prague, Vienna, Zurich
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Berlin
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, Hamburg, Luxembourg,
Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Madrid,
Naples, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm,
Valencia, Zagreb
Table 70: Destination analysis for Amsterdam
/CONNECTION FAILED 86
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Amsterdam–
Barcelona
11h12m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon)
10h10m
1,463,000
Amsterdam–
Copenhagen
11h6m
Duisburg,
Hamburg
10h15m
1,120,000
Amsterdam–Madrid
14h35m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon),
Barcelona
12h55m
1,052,000
Amsterdam–Milan
11h32m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon), Geneva
11h15m
1,046,000
Amsterdam–
Manchester
6h59m
London
(StPancras/Eusto
n)
6h30m
947,000
Amsterdam–
Warsaw
13h22m
Berlin
11h30m
555,000
Amsterdam–
Hamburg
5h15m
Osnabrück
4h45m
351,000
Amsterdam–
Luxembourg
5h34m
Brussels
5h15m
161,000
Amsterdam–
Marseille
7h45m
Paris (Nord/Gare
de Lyon)
7h30m
158,000
Table 71: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Amsterdam,
including Top five flights without direct train connection <18h
/CONNECTION FAILED 87
Norway (Oslo)
● Oslo is very poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only one city
analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while six cities could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity
of only one sixth (17%).
● The only cross-border direct train goes to Stockholm, which is at least a
convenient connection with five train pairs a day.
● While the Norwegian railway company Vy operates several domestic night
trains, there is no international night train running from and to Oslo.
● There is no direct train connection to 83% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The obvious most important missing direct train destination is Copenhagen.
Oslo–Copenhagen is also the most used international short-haul flight route
from Oslo with almost 1.5 million passengers a year. A direct train between
the two cities would not last longer than 7h40m.
● Other destinations without a direct night train connection include
Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne/Düsseldorf and Hamburg, all of them are
among the Top five short-haul flights from Oslo without a direct train
alternative.
● All cities analysed that can or could be reached by train within 18 hours, can
be reached by a direct flight, except Cologne (but nearby Düsseldorf can be
reached by direct flight). There are 400% more direct flights than direct
trains to these destinations.
● 32 out of 44 cities analysed can be reached by direct flight. This is 73%,
while only one of these cities (2%) can be reached by a direct train.
/CONNECTION FAILED 88
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Oslo. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and potential
direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights on the
same routes. The following section summarises the results for Norway, while the overall
results for Europe can be found here.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
6
Total number of existing direct train connections
1
17%
Night trains only
0
0%
Day trains only
1
100%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
5
Below 12 hours
1
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
5
83%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
400%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
32
73%
Table 72: Key data for Oslo
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Stockholm
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Copenhagen
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg
Table 73: Destination analysis for Oslo
/CONNECTION FAILED 89
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
43
Flight
passengers,
Gardermoen and
Torp, 2023
Oslo–Copenhagen
8h32m
Gothenburg
7h40m
1,339,000
Oslo–Amsterdam
20h14m
Gothenburg,
Malmö,
Hamburg,
Osnabrück
17h45m
761,000
Oslo–Berlin
17h32m
Gothenburg,
Malmö
16h
256,000
Oslo–Düsseldorf
17h35m
Gothenburg,
Malmö, Hamburg
16h10m
145,000
Oslo–Hamburg
14h14m
Gothenburg,
Malmö
13h
115,000
Table 74: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Oslo, including Top
five flights without direct train connection <18h
Poland (Warsaw)
● Warsaw is rather poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only
eightcities analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while 25
cities could be reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct
train connectivity of only 32%.
● Six cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Bratislava,
Budapest, Kyiv, Munich, Prague and Vienna. Except for Kyiv and Munich, all
of them are served both by day and night train connections.
● Berlin and Vilnius can be reached by a direct day train. The train connection
to Vilnius counts as a direct connection although a change of trains is
needed at the Polish–Lithuanian border due to dierent gauges.
● There is no direct train connection to 68% of the cities that could be
43
Some routes are possible with a high-speed night trains
/CONNECTION FAILED 90
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Warsaw. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Poland, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connection from Warsaw under 12 hours is
Amsterdam, which is the third most used short-haul flight route from
Warsaw without a direct train alternative. Other important missing direct
train connections below 12 hours are to Hamburg and Riga.
● The most important missing night train destination is London, which is by
far the most used short-haul flight from Warsaw without a direct train
alternative, followed by Paris, Milan and Brussels.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Warsaw in the future, including Bucharest
and Sofia.
● While only 32% of the routes between Warsaw and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 84% – 21 out of the 25 routes – are served by direct flight. Thus,
Warsaw is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to
fly instead of taking the train.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
25
Total number of existing direct train connections
8
32%
Night trains only
2
25%
Day trains only
2
25%
Both day and night trains
4
50%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
17
Below 12 hours
5
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
8
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
21
84%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
163%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
38
86%
Table 75: Key data for Warsaw
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Berlin, Vilnius
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Kyiv
/CONNECTION FAILED 91
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Vienna
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Cologne, Hamburg,
Ljubljana, Riga
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Birmingham, Brussels, Copenhagen,
London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Milan,
Paris, Stockholm, Tallinn, Zagreb,
Zurich
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade, Bucharest, Chisinau,
Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje,
Sofia
Table 76: Destination analysis for Warsaw
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
Modlin and
Chopin, 2023
Warsaw–
London
16h26m
Berlin, Cologne,
Brussels
14h
1,330,000
Warsaw–Paris
15h36m
Berlin, Cologne
13h20m
748,000
Warsaw–
Amsterdam
13h29m
Berlin
11h30m
555,000
Warsaw–Milan
20h29m
Vienna, Venice
17h30m
481,000
Warsaw–
Brussels
13h4m
Berlin (Gesund-
brunnen/Hbf),
Cologne
12h30m
470,000
Warsaw–Riga
25h57m
44
Vilnius
10h30m
45
202,000
Warsaw–
Hamburg
7h50m
Berlin
7h30m
98,000
Warsaw–
Zagreb
21h17m
Salzburg,
Villach
13h40m
n.a.
Table 77: examples for missing direct train connections from/to, including Top five
short-haul flights from Modlin and Chopin Airports without direct train connection
<18h
45
Potential route via Kaunas, not running through Vilnius
44
Stopover in Vilnius required
/CONNECTION FAILED 92
Portugal (Lisbon)
● Lisbon is not connected by a cross-border direct train to any other city.
Travelling by train to Spain is currently only possible by using regional trains.
A journey to Madrid includes at least two transfers.
● Despite being at the geographic edge of Europe, thanks to a large
high-speed rail network in Spain and France, six out of the other 44 cities
analysed could be reached by train within 18 hours, including the three
largest French cities Paris, Marseille and Lyon. Also the Swiss city of Geneva
could be reached within 18 hours.
● All Spanish cities could be reached in less than 12 hours by a direct train.
● The obvious most missing direct train is to Madrid. Considering the actual
flight passenger numbers, Paris would be the most important direct train.
● All cities that could be reached by train within 18 hours can be reached by
direct flight. Of the routes to all 44 cities analysed, 34 are served by a direct
flight. Mostly smaller cities in Central & Eastern Europe, the Balkan and in
the Baltics cannot be reached by direct flight. Thus, Lisbon is fully
encouraging people to fly instead of taking the train.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
6
Total number of existing direct train connections
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
6
Below 12 hours
3
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
6
100%
Direct flights to 44 cities
34
77%
Table 78: Key data for Lisbon
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
none
/CONNECTION FAILED 93
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Lisbon. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Portugal, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Lyon, Marseille, Paris
Table 79: Destination analysis for Lisbon
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Lisbon–Paris
26h33m
46
Entroncamento,
Badajoz, Madrid,
Barcelona
17h45m
2,503,000
Lisbon–Madrid
8h48m
Entroncamento,
Badajoz
8h40m
2,096,000
Lisbon–Barcelona
13h21m
Entroncamento,
Badajoz, Merida,
Madrid
11h20m
1,392,000
Lisbon-Geneva
29h23m
47
Entroncamento,
Badajoz, Mérida,
Madrid,
Barcelona
18h
802,000
Lisbon–Lyon
28h20m
48
Entroncamento,
Badajoz, Madrid,
Barcelona
16h40m
329,000
Lisbon–Marseille
24h57m
49
Entroncamento,
Badajoz, Madrid,
Barcelona,
Narbonne
15h50m
324,000
Table 80: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Lisbon, Top six
flights without direct train connection <18h
49
Stopover in Madrid required
48
Stopover in Barcelona required
47
Stopover in Barcelona required
46
Stopover in Madrid required
/CONNECTION FAILED 94
Romania (Bucharest)
● The connectivity by direct trains for Bucharest does not fit into any of the
"poorly connected" or "well connected" categories. Due to the poor state of
the railway network in Romania and neighbouring countries, only seven
cities could be reached by a direct train within 18 hours. However, three of
them can be reached by direct train, resulting in a direct train connectivity
of 43%, which is 50% higher than the European average.
● The three cities with a direct train connection are Budapest, Chisinau and
Vienna. In addition, there is a direct night train to Istanbul only during the
summer period (which has not been taken into account in the statistics of
this report due to the chosen methodology).
● Budapest, Chisinau and Vienna are served by night trains operated by the
Romanian railway company CFR. Budapest can also be reached by a direct
day train.
● There is no direct train connection to 57% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The obvious most important missing day train connection is the one to
Sofia. There was a summer-only service on this route in 2023, but it was not
included in the 2024 timetable at the time of writing.
● Other important destinations without a direct train connection within
18hours include Belgrade and Bratislava.
● Bucharest would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of all the cities
analysed if moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure allowed an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes: 13 additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Bucharest in the future.
● There are twice as many direct flights as direct trains to destinations that
could be reached by train within 18 hours. Bratislava is the only city that
could be reached by train within 18 hours without a direct flight connection
from Bucharest. Of the 44 European cities analysed, 33 can be reached by a
direct flight.
● Flight passenger data for Bucharest are incomplete at Eurostat, for example,
passenger numbers to Belgrade and Sofia are not available there.
Number
%
/CONNECTION FAILED 95
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Bucharest. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Romania, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
7
Total number of existing direct train connections
3
43%
Night trains only
2
67%
Day trains only
0
0%
Both day and night trains
1
33%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
4
Below 12 hours
1
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
12
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
6
86%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
100%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
33
75%
Table 81: Key data for Bucharest
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
none
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Chisinau, Vienna
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Budapest
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Sofia
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrad, Bratislava, Istanbul
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Kyiv, Ljubljana, Munich,
Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Sarajevo,
Skopje, Vilnius, Warsaw, Zagreb
Table 82: Destination analysis for Bucharest
Route
Current travel
Transfers
Estimated travel
/CONNECTION FAILED 96
time by train, best
possible
connection
time of a direct
train
Bucharest–Belgrade
1d3h12m
Bekescsaba, Szeged,
Subotica, Novi Sad
16h30m
Bucharest–Sofia
9h34m
Ruse
9h
Table 83: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Bucharest
Slovakia (Bratislava)
● Bratislava is poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only seven
cities analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while 28 cities
could be reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train
connectivity of only 25%. Neighbouring cities such as Prague, Budapest or
Vienna have a much higher number of cross-border direct train connections.
● Only two cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Berlin and
Warsaw.
● The other five cities that can be reached by a direct train are Budapest,
Hamburg, Prague, Vienna and Zurich.
● There is no direct train connection to 75% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours. Important destinations without a
direct train connection within 12 hours include Brussels, Munich and Zagreb.
Important night train connections are missing for London, Milan and Paris.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Bratislava in the future. These are: Athens,
Chisinau, Kyiv, Podgorica, Pristina, Skopje, and Sofia.
● Bratislava is the only city analysed with fewer direct flights than direct train
connections on routes which could be travelled by train within 18 hours.
This is due to the historical reason that Bratislava airport was built as a
regional airport during the communist period and the proximity of Vienna
airport, which can be reached in one hour from Bratislava.
● London and Milan are the two most used short-haul flight destinations from
Bratislava without a direct train connection below 18 hours, with 204,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 97
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Bratislava. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Slovakia, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
and 101,000 passengers each in 2023.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
28
Total number of existing direct train connections
7
25%
Night trains only
0
0%
Day trains only
5
71%
Both day and night trains
2
29%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
21
Below 12 hours
8
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
8
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
4
14%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
8
18%
Table 84: Key data for Bratislava
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Budapest, Hamburg, Prague, Vienna,
Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Berlin, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Brussels, Cologne, Ljubljana,
Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Zagreb
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Birmingham,
Bucharest, Copenhagen, London, Lyon,
Marseille, Naples, Paris, Rome,
Sarajevo, Vilnius
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Chisinau, Kyiv, Podgorica,
Pristina, Riga, Skopje, Sofia
Table 85: Destination analysis for Bratislava
/CONNECTION FAILED 98
Route
Current travel time
by train, best
possible connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
train
Bratislava–Munich
5h15m
Vienna
5h05m
Bratislava–Ljubljana
7h14m
Vienna
7h05m
Bratislava–London
14h58m
50
Salzburg,
Stuttgart,
Paris
13h
Bratislava–Milan
14h31m
Vienna
11h
Table 86: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Bratislava
Slovenia (Ljubljana)
● Ljubljana is poorly connected by cross-border direct trains. Only five cities
analysed can be reached by an existing direct train, while 27 cities could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity
of only 19%.
● Only two cities analysed can be reached by a direct night train, Munich and
Zurich.
● The other three cities that can be reached by a direct train are Budapest,
Vienna and Zagreb. All these direct train connections are rare. There is only
one train pair a day to Vienna, two to Budapest and three to Zagreb.
● There is no direct train connection to 81% of the cities that could be
reached by a direct train within 18 hours.
● The most important missing train connection from Ljubljana under 12 hours
is Frankfurt, which is the second most used short-haul flight route from
Ljubljana without a direct train alternative, followed by Paris and Belgrade.
Other important missing direct train connections below 12 hours are Milan
and Prague.
● The most important missing night train destination is London, which is the
most used short-haul flight route from Ljubljana, followed by Brussels. Also
a night train to Warsaw and Amsterdam were needed.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
50
Quickest day train connection
/CONNECTION FAILED 99
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Ljubljana. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Slovenia, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, eight additional cities could be
served by a direct train to/from Ljubljana in the future. These are: Athens,
Barcelona, Bucharest, Chisinau, Istanbul, Kyiv, Sofia and Vilnius.
● Although Ljubljana's airport is very small and many Slovenians fly from
nearby Zagreb airport, there are 200% more direct flights than direct trains
to destinations that could be reached by train within 18 hours.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
27
Total number of existing direct train connections
5
19%
Night trains only
2
40%
Day trains only
3
60%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
22
Below 12 hours
11
Additional future possible direct train connections <18h, with
investment
8
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
13
48%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
160%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
16
36%
Table 87: Key data for Ljubljana
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Budapest, Vienna, Zagreb
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Munich, Zurich
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Belgrade, Berlin, Bratislava, Cologne,
Milan, Naples, Paris, Prague, Rome,
Sarajevo, Warsaw
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen,
Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Marseille, Podgorica, Pristina, Skopje
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Athens, Barcelona, Bucharest, Chisinau,
Istanbul, Kyiv, Sofia, Vilnius
Table 88: Destination analysis for Ljubljana
/CONNECTION FAILED 100
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time of
a direct train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Ljubljana–London
19h17m
Stuttgart,
Paris
16h45m
158,000
Ljubljana–
Frankfurt
10h17m
Villach,
Salzburg
10h
112,000
Ljubljana–Paris
14h20m
Stuttgart
11h45
87,000
Ljubljana–
Belgrade
25h6m
51
Budapest,
Szeged,
Subotica,
Novi Sad
8h
79,000
Ljubljana–
Brussels
15h22m
Stuttgart,
Frankfurt
14h45m
61,000
Ljubljana–
Prague
10h13m
Graz
10h
No direct
flight
Ljubljana–Milan
10h40m
Villach,
Venice
7h
No direct
flight
Table 89: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Ljubljana
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia)
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The purpose of the research was to
identify existing and potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the
number of direct flights on the same routes. The following section summarises the
results for Spain, while the overall results for Europe can be found here.
51
Stopover in Szeged or Subotica required
/CONNECTION FAILED 101
Vienna
59%
Munich
52%
Berlin
50%
Paris
45%
Barcelona
23%
Madrid
18%
Valencia
13%
Lisbon
0%
Table 90a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
Spanish cities compared to selected other cities
● All Spanish cities are poorly connected to other countries by direct trains.
The only two direct train lines are Madrid–Barcelona–Marseille and
Barcelona–Lyon–Paris.
● There is currently no single night train running from, to or within Spain.
● Unlike international rail services, all Spanish cities analysed are well served
by direct trains, both in terms of frequency and speed.
● Paris, Marseille and Lyon are the only three cities abroad that can be
reached by a direct train from Barcelona, while Marseille is the only city
abroad that can be reached from Madrid. There are no international direct
trains to Valencia.
● Thanks to the ecient high-speed rail network in Spain and France, the
number of cities that could be reached by a direct train from Spain within
18 hours is high. This is the case for 22 out of 36 destinations from
Barcelona, 17 from Madrid and 16 from Valencia.
● This means that for Barcelona, only 23% of the destinations that could be
reached by a direct train, can be reached by an existing direct train. For
Madrid, this percentage is even lower at 18%, and 13% for Valencia.
● The two most obvious missing direct train connections are Madrid–Lisbon
and Madrid–Paris
52
, both of which are among the most used short-haul
flight routes for Spain. Madrid–Brussels, Barcelona–Amsterdam,
Barcelona–Milan and Barcelona–Geneva/Zurich could also be travelled in
less than 12 hours by train.
● While there are few direct train connections, there are direct flights from
Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia to all but one of the cities reached by train
within 18 hours (Cologne for Madrid and Bratislava for Barcelona and
Valencia). All Spanish cities are therefore much better connected by air than
by rail, which encourages people to fly rather than take the train.
● For all three Spanish cities, the connectivity by air to all 44 cities analysed
is well above the European average. Even for the smallest of the three
52
Renfe expects the Madrid–Paris connection to be ready by the end of 2024.
/CONNECTION FAILED 102
airports, Valencia, 75% of the cities analysed can be reached by direct
flights, while for Barcelona the figure is 84%, and 77% for Madrid. Most
destinations without direct flights are smaller cities in Central- & Southeast
Europe.
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Madrid
Barcelona
Valencia
Existing and potential direct train
connections to 44 cities <18h
17
22
16
Total number of existing direct train
connections
3
18%
5
23%
2
13%
Night trains only
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Day trains only
3
100%
5
100%
2
100%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections
below 18 hours
14
17
14
Below 12 hours
5
10
4
Direct flight connections on routes with
an existing or possible direct train
connection <18h
16
94%
21
95%
15
94%
Percentage of more direct flights than
direct trains
433%
320%
650%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
34
77%
37
84%
33
75%
Table 90b: Key data for the three largest Spanish cities
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Barcelona, Marseille, Valencia
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Brussels, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Paris
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Cologne,
Edinburgh, Hamburg, London, Milan,
Munich, Zurich
Table 91: Destination analysis for Madrid
/CONNECTION FAILED 103
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Valencia
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Brussels,
Cologne, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London,
Luxembourg, Milan, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Berlin, Bratislava, Hamburg, Munich,
Naples, Rome, Vienna
Table 92: Destination analysis for Barcelona
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Barcelona, Madrid
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Lisbon, Lyon, Marseille, Paris
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Brussels,
Cologne, Edinburgh, London,
Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Zurich
Table 93: Destination analysis for Valencia
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers
2023
Madrid–Paris
10h4m
Barcelona
9h40m
2,584,000
Madrid–London
13h59m
Barcelona, Paris
(Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
12h15m
2,575,000
Madrid–Lisbon
8h48m
Badajoz,
Entroncamento
8h40m
1,858,000
Madrid–Rome
26h
53
Barcelona, Valence,
17h45m
1,755,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 104
Chambéry- Challes-
les-Eaux, Milan, Rome
Madrid–Milan
16h30m
Barcelona, Valence,
Chambéry-
Challes-les-Eaux
14h5m
1,333,000
Madrid–Brussels
11h37m
Barcelona, Paris
(Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
11h10m
1,023,000
Barcelona–
London
11h11m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon / Nord)
9h40m
2,771,000
Barcelona–Rome
21h34m
Valence, Geneva,
Brig, MIlan
15h10m
1,488,000
Barcelona–
Amsterdam
11h16m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon / Nord)
10h10m
1,464,000
Barcelona–Milan
13h24m
Valence, Geneva,
Brig
11h20m
1,367,000
Barcelona–Lisbon
13h21m
Madrid, Mérida,
Badajoz,
Entroncamento
11h20m
1,185,000
Barcelona–
Brussels
9h24m
Lyon
8h50m
920,000
Valencia–London
24h25m
54
Barcelona, Paris
13h
671,000
Valencia–Paris
11h13m
Barcelona
10h
602,000
Valencia–
Amsterdam
23h30m
55
Barcelona, Paris
(Gare de Lyon /
Nord), Brussels
15h
408,000
Valencia–Milan
24h38m
56
Barcelona, Narbon-
ne, Lyon, Geneva
14h20m
399,000
Valencia–
Brussels
13h38m
Barcelona,
Valence, Lyon
12h10m
303,000
Valencia–
Frankfurt
25h54m
Barcelona, Paris
(Gare de
Lyon/Est)
14h30m
251,000
Table 94: examples for missing direct train connections from/to the three largest
Spanish cities, including Top six flights each without direct train connection <18h
56
Stopover in Geneva required
55
Stopover in Paris or Brussels required
54
Stopover in Paris required
53
Stopover in Milan required
/CONNECTION FAILED 105
Sweden (Stockholm)
● Stockholm is poorly connected by direct trains. Only four cities analysed
can be reached by an existing direct train, while 12 cities could be reached
by a direct train within 18 hours. This is a direct train connectivity of only
one third.
● Only two cities analysed can be reached by a direct day train, Copenhagen
and Oslo, and two by a direct night train, Hamburg and Berlin.
● There is no direct train connection to two thirds of the cities that could be
reached by a direct night train within 18 hours. The most important
destinations without a direct night train connection include Amsterdam,
Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and Brussels, which are the Top five short-haul
flight routes from Stockholm without a direct train connection.
● All cities analysed that can or could be reached by train within 18 hours, can
be reached by a direct flight. There are 200% more direct flights than direct
trains to these destinations.
● 35 out of 44 cities analysed can be reached by direct flight. This is 80%,
while only 9% of these cities can be reached by a direct train.
Number
%
Existing and potential direct train connections to 44 cities <18h
12
Total number of existing direct train connections
4
33%
Night trains only
2
50%
D'Day trains only
2
50%
Both day and night trains
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below 18 hours
8
Below 12 hours
0
Direct flight connections on routes with an existing or possible
direct train connection <18h
12
100%
Percentage of more direct flights than direct trains
200%
Direct flights (44 other cities)
35
80%
Table 95: Key data for Stockholm
/CONNECTION FAILED 106
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Stockholm. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Sweden, while the
overall results for Europe can be found here.
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Copenhagen, Oslo
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Hamburg, Berlin
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
none
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne,
Luxembourg, Munich, Paris, Prague,
Warsaw
Table 96: Destination analysis for Stockholm
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated travel
time of a direct
night train
57
Flight
passengers,
2022
58
Stockholm–
Amsterdam
18h32m
Hamburg,
Osnabrück
17h15m
673,000
Stockholm– Paris
22h32m
Hamburg,
Cologne
18h
578,000
Stockholm–
Frankfurt
18h26m
Hamburg
14h50m
471,000
Stockholm–
Munich
19h6m
Hamburg
16h20m
418,000
Stockholm–
Brussels
20h1m
Hamburg,
Cologne
17h
235,000
Table 97: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Stockholm,
including Top five flights without direct train connection <18h
58
2023 data are not yet available for Sweden. Due to COVID restrictions, in 2022, air trac
in Sweden was between 20 and 40% lower than in normal years.
57
Some routes are possible with a high-speed night trains
/CONNECTION FAILED 107
Switzerland (Zurich, Geneva)
The results for Zurich and Geneva cannot be assessed together, since the existing
connectivity with direct train connections for Zurich is better than the European
average, while the train connectivity of Geneva is among the worst in Europe.
Vienna
59%
Munich
52%
Berlin
50%
Zurich
46%
Paris
45%
Milan
21%
Rome
17%
Geneva
14%
Table 98a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
Swiss cities compared to selected other cities
Findings for Zurich:
● Zurich is the city in Europe with the fourth highest number of direct train
connections, after Vienna, Munich and Berlin. 13 of the 44 routes between
Zurich and other European cities analysed are served by direct trains.
● Zurich is also the city in Europe with the fourth highest number of night
train connections. Nineof the 44 routes between Zurich and the other
European cities analysed are served by night trains, three of them are
served by both a direct day and a direct night train.
● Despite belonging to the cities with the most direct train connections, even
on routes to/from Zurich the untapped potential for direct trains is
considerable: Direct trains are oered on only 46% of the 28 routes
between Zurich and other European cities which could be travelled by a
direct train with a maximum journey time of 18 hours, using the existing
tracks.
● Thus, 54% – 15 out of 28 – of the routes between Zurich and other cities
/CONNECTION FAILED 108
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including Zurich, and some other cities of national relevance including Geneva as
the second largest Swiss city. The purpose of the research was to identify existing and
potential direct rail connections, and to compare them with the number of direct flights
on the same routes. The following section summarises the results for Switzerland, while
the overall results for Europe can be found here.
are not currently served by a direct train (with a journey time of less than
18hours), although they could be by using the existing tracks.
● While 46% of the routes between Zurich and other major European cities
which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct train,
89% – 25 out of the 28 routes, all except Bratislava, Lyon and Valencia – are
served by direct flight.
● Thus, Zurich is still far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people
to fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Zurich under 12 hours is
London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from Zurich
without a direct train alternative, followed by Barcelona and Rome.
● The most important missing night train destinations are Madrid and
Belgrade, both are in the top five short-haul flights from Zurich without a
direct train alternative.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, 4 additional cities in the
Balkan region could be served by a direct train from Zurich in the future.
Findings for Geneva:
● Despite hosting the UN´s second largest oce making the city one of the
largest conference centres in Europe, Geneva is very poorly connected to
other countries by direct trains.
● Only four out of 45 routes between Geneva and other European cities
analysed are served by direct trains, Lyon, Milan, Paris, and Zurich.
● 29 cities could be reached from Geneva with a direct train within 18 hours.
This means that there are direct train connections on only 14% of routes
which could be served by a direct train.
● While there are many destinations which are served by night train from
Zurich, there is not a single night train to and from Geneva.
● The untapped potential for direct train connections is very high: Direct
trains are not oered on 86% of the 29 routes between Geneva and other
European cities which could be travelled by a direct train with a maximum
journey time of 18 hours, using the existing tracks.
● While only 14% of the routes between Geneva and other major European
cities which could be travelled by train within 18 hours are served by direct
train, 76% – 22 out of the 29 routes – are served by direct flight. The
number of direct flights is extremely high considering the relatively small
size of the city and the proximity to the large Zurich Airport.
● Thus, Geneva is far better connected by air than rail, encouraging people to
fly instead of taking the train.
● The most important missing train connection from Geneva under 12 hours is
London, which is by far the most used short-haul flight route from Geneva
without a direct train alternative, followed by Amsterdam and Barcelona.
The shortest missing direct train connection is Marseille, which could be
just a four hour trip. Also a direct train connection to Germany would be
very important.
/CONNECTION FAILED 109
● The most important missing night train destination is Lisbon, which is in the
top five short-haul flights from Geneva without a direct train alternative.
● With moderate investment in Europe´s rail infrastructure, allowing an
average speed of 80 km/h on all train routes, Belgrade could also be served
by a direct train from Geneva in the future.
Number
%
Number
%
Zurich
Geneva
Existing and potential direct train
connections to 44 cities <18h
28
29
Total number of existing direct train
connections
13
46%
4
14%
Night trains only
6
46%
0
0%
Day trains only
4
31%
4
100%
Both day and night trains
3
23%
0
0%
Total missing direct train connections below
18 hours
15
25
Below 12 hours
10
18
Additional future possible direct train
connections <18h, with investments
4
1
Direct flight connections on routes with an
existing or possible direct train connection
<18h
25
89%
22
76%
Percentage of more direct flights than
direct trains
92%
450%
Direct flights to 44/45 cities
40/44
91%
30/45
68%
Table 98b: Key data for Zurich and Geneva
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Bratislava, Milan, Munich, Paris
59
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest,
Ljubljana, Prague, Zagreb
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Cologne, Hamburg, Vienna
59
Due to the chosen methodology, the Zurich to Geneva route is not included in the results
for Zurich.
/CONNECTION FAILED 110
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Birmingham, Brussels,
Edinburgh, London, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Marseille, Naples, Rome
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Belgrade, Copenhagen, Madrid,
Valencia, Warsaw
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje
Table 99: Destination analysis for Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection
Lyon, Milan, Paris, Zurich
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin,
Birmingham, Bratislava, Brussels,
Cologne, Edinburgh, Hamburg, London,
Luxembourg, Madrid, Marseille, Munich,
Naples, Rome, Valencia, Vienna
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Budapest, Copenhagen, Lisbon,
Ljubljana, Prague, Warsaw, Zagreb
Additional destinations after
infrastructure investment (<1,500 km)
Belgrade
Table 100: Destination analysis for Geneva
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
Zurich–London
7h56m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
7h
1,639,000
Zurich–
Barcelona
11h9m
Geneva, Lyon
9h50m
673,000
Zurich–Madrid
13h8m
Geneva, Lyon,
Barcelona
12h30m
648,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 111
Zurich–Rome
8h2m
Milan
7h20m
448,000
Zurich–Belgrade
27h3m
60
Budapest, Zuglo,
Szeged, Subotica,
Novi Sad
18h
436,000
Zurich–Brussels
6h10m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
6h
290,000
Geneva–London
8h1m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
6h
2,171,000
Geneva–Lisbon
1d11h
Lyon, Barcelona,
Madrid, Merida,
Badajoz,
Abrantes
17h
691,000
Geneva–
Amsterdam
7h15m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
7h
590,000
Geneva–
Barcelona
7h9m
Lyon
7h
514,000
Geneva–Madrid
10h15m
Lyon, Barcelona
9h45m
507,000
Geneva–
Marseille
4h14m
Lyon
4h
419,000
(to Nice)
Geneva–Munich
6h22m
Zurich
6h20m
197,000
Geneva–Vienna
10h50m
Zurich
10h40m
169,000
Table 101: examples for missing direct train connections from/to Zurich and
Geneva, including Top 5 flights each without direct train connection <18h
UK (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester)
In this report, Greenpeace analysed rail and air connections between 45 major European
cities including London, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and some other cities of national
relevance including Manchester as the 3rd largest metropolitan region in the UK. The
purpose of the research was to identify existing and potential direct rail connections,
and to compare them with the number of direct flights on the same routes. The
following section summarises the results for the UK, while the overall results for Europe
can be found here.
60
Stopover in Szeged or Subotica required
/CONNECTION FAILED 112
Vienna
59%
Munich
52%
Berlin
50%
Brussels
39%
London
19%
Manchester
14%
Edinburgh
12%
Birmingham
9%
Table 102a: Percentage of available direct trains (ratio to possible direct trains) for
UK cities compared to selected other cities
The UK is poorly connected to other countries by direct trains. The only
threedirect train lines are from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
● There is not a single international train to any other UK city than London.
Originally, the Eurostar network was designed and built in a way that cities
such as Manchester could be directly connected with continental Europe by
train, but such connections never were implemented.
● There is currently no single night train running from or to the UK, while
there are several domestic night train routes.
● Unlike international rail services, all UK cities analysed are well served by
direct trains, both in terms of frequency and speed.
● Thanks to the ecient high-speed rail network in the UK and all
North-West European countries, the number of cities that could be reached
by a direct train from the UK within 18 hours is high. Out of 44 other cities
analysed, 27 of them could be reached from London with a train within
18hours. The number for potential direct train routes declines from South
to North, but even from Edinburgh, 17 cities could be reached by train within
18hours including Madrid and Milan.
● This means that for London, only 19% of the destinations that could be
reached by a direct train, can be reached by an existing direct train. For
Manchester, this percentage is even lower at 14%, 12% for Edinburgh and 9%
for Birmingham.
● There are many important missing direct train connections. The easiest one
to introduce is probably London–Cologne since this route is already served
by the Eurostar network. Many routes from London belong to Europe's most
used short-haul flight routes but do not have a direct train connection. With
respect to passenger numbers, very important missing train destinations are
Madrid, Milan, Rome, Copenhagen, Berlin and Zurich. Except Copenhagen, all
these cities can be reached by train in less or just a bit more than 12 hours.
● While there are so few direct train connections, there are direct flights from
London to all cities reachable by train within 18 hours (except to
Birmingham that is too close for a flight). Also from Edinburgh, there are
/CONNECTION FAILED 113
direct flights to all cities reachable by train within 18 hours, except to
Luxembourg. Even from the smaller Birmingham and Manchester Airports
the connectivity with polluting flights is much better than with trains. There
are 13 direct flights from Birmingham, and 16 from Manchester, to cities that
could be reached by train within 18 hours.
● All UK cities analysed are therefore much better connected by air than by
rail, which encourages people to fly rather than take the train.
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
London
Birmingham
Edinburgh
Manchester
Existing and potential
direct train connections
to 44/45 cities <18h
27/44
23/44
17/44
21/45
Total number of existing
direct train connections
5
19%
2
9%
2
12%
3
14%
Night trains only
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Day trains only
4
80%
2
100%
1
50%
3
100%
Both day and night trains
1
20%
0
0%
1
50%
0
0%
Total missing direct train
connections below 18
hours
22
21
15
18
Below 12 hours
10
12
9
12
Direct flight connections
on routes with an existing
or possible direct train
connection <18h
26
96%
13
57%
16
94%
16
76%
Percentage of more direct
flights than direct trains
420%
550%
700%
433%
Direct flights to 44 cities
(45 for Manchester)
42
95%
23
52%
32
73%
26
59%
Table 102b: Key data for the UK cities analysed
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Amsterdam, Birmingham, Brussels,
Paris
61
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
61
Due to the chosen methodology, the routes to Manchester are not included in the results
of the other cities.
/CONNECTION FAILED 114
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
Edinburgh
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Barcelona, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Milan,
Munich, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen,
Ljubljana, Madrid, Naples, Prague,
Rome, Valencia, Vienna, Warsaw,
Zagreb
Table 103: Destination analysis for London
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Edinburgh, London
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin,
Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Munich,
Paris, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Bratislava, Copenhagen, Madrid, Milan,
Prague, Rome, Valencia, Vienna,
Warsaw
Table 104: Destination analysis for Birmingham
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Birmingham
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
London
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels,
Cologne, Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille,
Paris, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Berlin, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Munich,
Valencia
Table 105: Destination analysis for Edinburgh
/CONNECTION FAILED 115
Destinations with an existing direct day
train connection (only)
Birmingham, Edinburgh, London
Destinations with an existing direct
night train connection (only)
none
Destinations with existing direct day
and night train connections
none
Missing direct trains connections <12h
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin,
Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg,
Luxembourg, Lyon, Marseille, Munich,
Paris, Zurich
Missing direct trains connections
12–18h
Madrid, Milan, Prague, Rome, Valencia,
Vienna
Table 106: Destination analysis for Manchester
Route
Current travel
time by train,
best possible
connection
Transfers
Estimated
travel time
of a direct
train
Flight
passengers,
2023
London–Madrid
13h59m
Paris
(Nord/Gare de
Lyon),
Barcelona
12h15m
2,575,000
London–Milan
11h25m
Paris
(Nord/Gare de
Lyon), Geneva
10h20m
2,709,000
London–Rome
15h52m
Paris
(Nord/Gare de
Lyon), Zurich,
Milan
13h10m
2,079,000
London–
Copenhagen
15h31m
Brussels,
Cologne,
Hamburg
12h50m
1,823,000
London–Cologne
4h11m
Brussels
4h
504,000
London–Lyon
5h30m
Paris (Gare de
Lyon/Nord)
5h
619,000
Birmingham–
Barcelona
13h40m
London, Paris
(Nord/Gare de
Lyon)
11h30m
250,000
/CONNECTION FAILED 116
Edinburgh–Paris
8h28m
London
(KingsCross/
StPancras)
7h30m
513,000
Manchester–
Berlin
12h27m
London,
Brussels,
Cologne
11h15m
235,000
Table 107: examples for missing direct train connections from/to the UK cities
analysed
Ukraine (Kyiv)
● Despite the ongoing war, there are still direct night train connections to four
other cities analysed: Budapest, Chisinau (Moldova), Warsaw, and Vienna.
These trains provide the best means of travel for individuals needing to visit
family and friends or for essential reasons between Kyiv and other
countries, since there are no flights available.
● Despite the diering track gauges between Ukraine and EU countries,
passengers do not need to change trains.
ANNEX 2: TIPS FOR CONSUMERS HOW TO
BUY A TICKET
Organising a cross-border rail journey is often not as easy as finding and buying a
plane ticket. While there are plenty of flight platforms that can show you the best
and cheapest connections in seconds, direct you to the right booking systems and
allow you to complete the whole booking process in minutes, finding the best train
connections and buying the best and cheapest tickets often requires a lot of
experience and even then a lot of time.
Step 1: Find your possible train connections
All the timetables provided by public railway companies work dierently. As there
is no single train information system, passengers need to check the timetables of
the public railway companies. The best timetable systems currently available are
on the websites of the German and Austrian railways, bahn.de and
fahrplan.oebb.at. These two systems cover most European countries and include
most private train operators (although some are missing from all systems).
/CONNECTION FAILED 117
Step 2: Finding out if you can buy one ticket for the trip
Unfortunately, it is often needed to buy separate tickets for the legs of the trip.
This is especially true if private train operators are involved, or if the trip involves
more than two countries. With one ticket from one ticket seller for the full trip,
you have better passenger rights.
So how to find it out?
● Always start with the railway company of the country where your trip is
starting (e.g if you travel from Germany to Spain, then look at DB website
first).
● If this railway company does not sell you the ticket for the full trip, try with
the railway companies you will use during your journey. ATTENTION: Ensure
that the ticket bought from another country is accepted in your departure
country (e.g. this can be a problem in Italy or Poland on some trains!).
Step 3: Buying the ticket
If you can secure a ticket for the entire trip, it’s still worth checking if purchasing
separate tickets for each leg is more economical. Keep in mind that passenger
rights are more limited with separate tickets, so we only recommend this option if
the savings are significant and the connections are secure, avoiding tight transfer
times.
Regardless, it’s advisable to compare prices from dierent railway companies. For
instance, German railways often oer cheaper tickets than French railways for
routes between Germany and France.
Additionally, be aware that dierent tickets come with varying rules for changes
and cancellations. The cheapest tickets with most railway companies typically
cannot be changed or cancelled. Therefore, consider the risks before opting for
this fare category.
ANNEX 3: TABLES WITH TRAIN AND FLIGHT
CONNECTIONS
The full dataset can be found online.
/CONNECTION FAILED 118
ANNEX 4: ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIMES FOR
TRAIN SECTIONS CURRENTLY OUT OF USE
There is currently no passenger train trac on these routes. Therefore, historical
data was used for the estimation of potential train travel times:
Zagreb
Belgrade
6h15m
https://rail.cc/train/belgrade-to-zagreb
Belgrade
Sarajevo
6h
https://balkaninsight.com/2009/12/14/sarajevo-belgrade-tr
ain-back-on-track/
Zagreb
Sarajevo
5h40m
https://www.hiddeneurope.eu/the-magazine/issues/hidden
-europe-47/slow-train-to-sarajevo/
Belgrade
Skopje
8h
https://rail.cc/night-train/belgrade-thessaloniki-b335/416
https://www.seat61.com/Serbia.htm
Athens
Belgrade
15h30m
https://www.eurail.com/en/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/train
s-europe/night-trains/hellas-express
Athens
Sofia
12h30m
https://rail.cc/train/athens-to-sofia
Belgrade
Sofia
11h30
https://rail.cc/serbia-train
Bucharest
Sofia
9h31m
https://www.raileurope.com/en/destinations/bucharest-so
fia-train
Timișoara
Belgrad
4h
https://minoritynomad.com/how-to-get-from-timisoara-r
omania-to-belgrade-serbia-by-train/
Table 108: Historic travel times
ANNEX 5: FULL METHODOLOGY
● The 45 cities analysed for the report were chosen as follows:
a) The capital cities of all European countries, except island states (except
the UK), the five tiniest states, Russia, Belarus and the Caucasus region
(Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia). For Switzerland, Zurich was analysed instead
of Bern.
b) all other cities with more than one million inhabitants in these countries
(namely Barcelona, Birmingham, Cologne, Hamburg, Istanbul, Milan and
Munich), except Kharkiv.
c) the second and third largest cities of the five most populated countries
analysed, unless already included in b. (Edinburgh, Lyon, Marseille, Naples,
Valencia)
d) Two more cities, Helsinki and Tirana, were excluded from all further
analysis after an initial research, since both cities currently do not have
potential train connections within 18 hours.
/CONNECTION FAILED 119
● Additionally, eight other important cities such as Geneva or Frankfurt/Main
were analysed for their connectivity with the 45 other cities, and included in
the national sections of the report only. These cities were not considered in
the overall results and for the score of the other cities in the main part.
● The analysis only considers routes which can be travelled with an existing
direct train OR which could be travelled with a (non-existing) direct train in
not more than 18 hours on the existing track infrastructure. The 18 hours
were chosen as the usual maximum travel time of night trains, though there
are some night trains running longer than 18 hours.
62
The assessment, if a
route can be travelled within 18 hours, was made as follows:
a) For routes which currently can be travelled by train including at least one
transfer: Total travel time with the quickest available
63
trains including
seasonal trains MINUS transfer time(s), MINUS waiting times higher than
30minutes for night trains.
b) For routes which currently cannot be travelled by train although usable
tracks exist, historic travel times were used.
● The analysis also distinguishes between train journeys of less than 12 hours
and between 12 and 18 hours. 12 hours is the usual maximum time for day
trains, while trains over 12 hours are typically night trains.
64
● A route which is served with only one direct connection arriving or departing
between 1:30 am and 5 am was not counted as a direct connection.
65
● The analysis was made during March and June 2024.
● The analysis is only including regular train and flight connections which run
at least once a week in both directions. Charter trains and flights were not
considered.
● Pure seasonal connections up to four months were not considered.
Connections which are starting later in 2024 are included, if they appear in
the corresponding timetable, and if they do not show seasonal
characteristics.
66
● For London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Warsaw, Oslo and Stockholm, all airports
“belonging” to one city were considered. Airport codes are not documented
in the analysis. Also all railway stations “belonging” to one city were
considered, including railway stations at airports even though they may be
out of the city territory.
66
For example, the direct flight from Lyon to Budapest starting in August and lasting until
the end of the available flight schedule (End of October) was counted.
65
Example: the night train from Split to Vienna and Bratislava stops in Zagreb at 1:49 a.m.
As there is no other direct train available, the routes from Zagreb to Vienna and Bratislava
have not been included in the direct train statistics.
64
The same methodology was used for the 12-hour analysis as for the 18-hour analysis. The
same caveat cannot be excluded here, with the consequence that some train connections
may be counted in the '12-18h' category, even though faster connections are possible.
63
There is no database available showing the quickest possible travel times. The
researchers chose random days to look for the quickest possible connection. It is therefore
possible that for a very few routes quicker connections on other days were missed out.
The number of “potential direct train connections” could therefore be slightly higher, but
not smaller.
62
Such as Vienna–Kyiv, Sicily–Milan, Stockholm–Kiruna–Narvik
/CONNECTION FAILED 120
● Actual train connections and travel times were mainly obtained from
fahrplan.oebb.at and bahn.de.
● Flight connections were obtained from airport websites, checkfelix.com and
websites of large airlines.
● Flight passenger numbers were taken from the EUROSTAT database, data
for the most recent full year available. For cities with more airports, the
data was accumulated. Please note that there are often slight dierences in
reporting between countries on the same routes.
● All other sources are indicated in the respective sections.
/CONNECTION FAILED 121
