Low-carbon, more comfortable: why your next European journey should be by train, not plane

Whether you choose not to fly for environmental reasons or you just love trains, many wonderful rail journeys across Europe are out there just waiting to be enjoyed. Travelling by train can be a slower, low-carbon alternative to emission-heavy flights; you just need to be willing to plan your train trip ahead of time. Ideally, you do not want to be in a hurry, as travelling by rail and road is usually slower than flying, and destinations more than about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away almost always take longer to reach. The journey itself, however, often makes up for the lost time, as it becomes a part of your holiday experience. Plus, if you are travelling for business, you can work more effectively on a train than on a plane. If you want to put your rail trip together by yourself, the online journey planner Rome2Rio shows the many ways – from flights to trains – that you can travel between two locations. Otherwise, head to a specialist rail travel agency. Either way, you will find numerous options depending on where you set out from. If you start from Germany, four changes in two days will get you to the Algarve in Portugal. Alternatively, if you would like to visit the Swedish capital, Stockholm, it is a straightforward overnight trip on the sleeper train from Berlin. A huge range of options lies open to you, although you may find that time and money are key factors in your planning. Prices depend on many factors, including when you book. You can find limited European saver fares offered by German operator Deutsche Bahn, where early reservations will save you money. One inexpensive way to travel across Europe is with Interrail. The company offers a scheme that allows for travel on participating railway companies on a single rail pass. However, the scheme is only available to European citizens and residents. For those who do not qualify, there is the Eurail. “If you book early enough, there are some very interesting fares where you can even travel first class for very little money,” says Wolfgang Strasdas, a German travel researcher who has published a travel guide on greener travel in Europe. If you want to travel in comfort, treating yourself to a sleeping cabin on an overnight train means you may pay considerably more for a journey than its equivalent flight. Unfortunately, travelling by train often costs more than flying, which Strasdas slams as a scandal “that the environmentally friendly way is more expensive than the option that is harmful to the environment”. He would like to see the prices for means of transport reflect the real costs in terms of climate and the environment. “Then we would have the situation as it should be, that travelling by train is always cheaper than flying.” The main argument in favour of rail travel is climate protection. Flying is the most climate-damaging form of transport, says the German Environment Agency. Although air travel is virtually essential for many travellers because of the long distances involved, trains and buses are environmentally friendly alternatives within Germany and Europe. Strasdas has researched different ways of travelling from Germany to 22 European destinations and compared them in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the traveller and the travel time. He looked at alternatives to flights, primarily train journeys, and found many exciting routes available to more distant countries – for example, to Norway, Spain or the Balkans. Some trips featured ferry crossings, local and long-distance buses through cities or across the countryside, and fast, sleeper and regional trains across the continent’s railways. Bear in mind that transport links can change, so it is always best to check before you go that any connections have not been altered. Time-wise, destinations that are only a few hundred kilometres away can often be competitive in terms of travel time when compared with air travel. That is mainly because of the extra time you spend at the airports when checking in and for security checks, plus travelling to and from airports. The longer the distance, the longer the extra journey time by rail compared to flying. Take the Algarve: while you might fly from Germany to Faro, which takes some eight hours if you add airport waiting times, it takes around 36 hours by rail, says Strasdas. Unsurprisingly, trains and long-distance buses are way ahead of flying from a climate point of view. For a trip from Frankfurt to Faro, the flight produces 60 times more carbon dioxide than the train journey per passenger. In the longer term, Europe’s long-haul sleeper train revival is set for a further boost with the planned roll-out of overnight services connecting over 20 destinations across the continent from a new service, Nox, launching in 2027. The Berlin-based start-up plans to provide rooms on board for one or two people for “the price of a flight” to offer an alternative to short-haul air travel.

Low-carbon, more comfortable: why your next European journey should be by train, not plane

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}While often slower, train journeys tend to be more comfortable, greener and more interesting – they just take a bit of extra planning

While often slower, train journeys tend to be more comfortable, greener and more interesting – they just take a bit of extra planning