Barcelona-London by train: 2500 percent more Analysis: Train travel is still usually more expensive than flights
Train or plane? Customers have a choice, at least for journeys of up to 1500 kilometers. Greenpeace has compared the prices and is demanding changes.
21.08.2025, 06:29
21.08.2025, 06:53
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- According to an analysis by the environmental organization Greenpeace, air travel is still cheaper than train travel on most cross-border routes.
- The reasons for this include offers from low-cost airlines and tax advantages in air travel: kerosene is not taxed and international flight tickets are not subject to VAT.
- Only on 29 routes - mainly in Central and Eastern Europe - was rail travel cheaper.
- Take Barcelona-London, for example: a plane ticket costs 15 euros, a train ticket 389 euros.
According to an analysis by the environmental organization Greenpeace, air travel is still cheaper than train travel on most cross-border routes. The analysis examined 142 connections in 31 countries.
According to Greenpeace, flights were cheaper than trains on 54 percent of the 109 cross-border routes. The reasons for this include offers from low-cost airlines and tax advantages in air travel. Kerosene is not taxed and international flight tickets are not subject to VAT.
Only on 29 routes - mainly in Central and Eastern Europe - was rail cheaper. In countries such as France, Spain and the UK, trains were more expensive on up to 95 percent of the routes examined. Greenpeace cited the Barcelona-London route as an example: a flight ticket costs 15 euros, a train ticket 389 euros.
Luggage transportation not taken into account
The organization also pointed out that, on average, flights cause five times more CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer than train travel. Night trains can hardly compete with air travel; there is not a single connection from Geneva, for example, while there are several night trains from Zurich to other countries. Greenpeace called for an end to tax privileges for air travel and a standardized Europe-wide booking system for train travel.
The analysis did not take into account the costs of luggage transportation, as the news agency DPA wrote. While there is usually no extra charge for rail travel, direct airlines only allow one small piece of hand luggage per passenger free of charge on their flights. This results in a price advantage for rail travel, at least for journeys with longer layovers. The more favorable conditions for taking children on the train were also not included in the evaluation.
Compared to the previous study from 2023, the Europe-wide price comparison has shifted in favor of rail travel. Of the 111 comparable routes, 41% were now cheaper by train than by plane. Two years earlier, the figure was only 27 percent.
