Over the last ten years and before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, air transport in Europe has grown spectacularly, much faster than rail transport. Air transport has risen from 377 billion pkm (passenger kilometres) in 2010 to 586 billion pkm in 2019, an average annual growth rate of +5.5%. Rail transport, on the other hand, grew at a more modest rate, from 358 billion pkm to 421 billion pkm, representing average annual growth of +1.8%.
This difference has increased further between 2014 and 2019, due to the rise of low-cost airlines and the popularity of leisure travel, particularly in the intra-EU segment.
Why rail travel will become the norm
1. rail travel will be encouraged by our policies to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG)
The EU aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, and to reach a net zero level by 2050. The transfer of more passenger transport from air to rail could potentially play an important role in achieving this objective in the short to medium term, as rail transport is much more environmentally friendly than air transport.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), rail transport is 12 times more energy efficient than air transport . On average, passenger air transport emits 160 gCO2 per pkm, whereas passenger rail transport only emits 33 gCO2 per pkm (excluding infrastructure-related emissions).
With a high proportion of electrified track (57% of the EU rail network in 2020) and a growing share of renewable energies in the electricity mix (38% of EU production in 2020), rail's environmental footprint should decrease further over the next decade.
Given its potential to reduce CO2 emissions, EU policy should increasingly favour rail transport.
EU targets for the transport sector
2 The majority of European flights are short and medium-haul.
Given the growing demand from passengers for greener transport solutions and the nature of European flights (mostly short and medium-haul), there is still so much potential for rail transport. In 2019, almost 25% of European flights were under 500 kilometres, and around 70% were under 1,500 kilometres. The shorter the distance, the greater the likelihood that rail can replace air travel because of its competitiveness in terms of journey time.
Research generally suggests that rail can offer a competitive alternative to flights on routes where the train journey takes less than six hours, especially if it is a direct connection and avoids passengers having to change trains to complete the journey. This potentially covers a significant proportion of flights.
3. Rail rivals the advantages of aviation
Although passengers are increasingly considering the impact of their journey on CO2 emissions, the main factors taken into account by consumers when planning a trip are still price and time. As a result, most passengers will only turn to rail if they perceive it to be relatively more affordable, faster or more reliable than air travel.
Rail still has many challenges:
đź’° Price : the tax playing field between air and rail is not yet level (72% of Europeans are in favour of a carbon tax on flights).
đź•› Time: the rail system is developing more and more (new networks, TGV,...) but today flights are still often faster.
👤 Booking and reliability : the train ticket booking system is still too complex. There is still a lot of UX work to be done on the booking systems. Via a platform and European coordination perhaps?
In short, trains are bound to become an increasingly important part of our travel habits. That's why, as a travel agency, we've decided to give priority to this mode of transport. This week we had the chance to discuss this with Fabian Pirard, founder of railtrip - a specialist in train travel.
DiscoveRent aims to include more and more services to help its participants opt for train travel.
Read more:
Eurostat (2022) Railway passenger transport statistics - quarterly and annual data, https://ec.europa.eu/. European commission. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Railway_passenger_transport_statistics_-_quarterly_and_annual_data (Accessed: January 17, 2023).
Rico Luman, D.G. (2022) From plane to train: Europe is pushing climate-friendly travel , ING Think . ING Think. Available at: https://think.ing.com/articles/from-plane-to-train-europe-is-pushing-climate-friendly-travel#a4 (Accessed: January 17, 2023).
