When traveling to European city destinations, the more climate-friendly train is often more expensive than the plane.

According to a price comparison by Greenpeace, train travel is more expensive than air travel on 66 of 142 European routes examined. This corresponds to a share of 46.5 percent, the environmental organization further reports.

According to the study, the more climate-damaging aircraft has the edge in terms of price, especially on the 109 cross-border routes. Flying is cheaper in 54 percent of cases.

Including the 33 domestic flights examined, 46.5 percent of routes are more expensive. No clear statement can be made regarding the remaining 7 percent.

Greenpeace: Rail must always be cheaper

Greenpeace is calling for higher taxes on air travel and tax breaks for rail passengers. "It's unfair that longer journeys by train are so expensive, while flights are massively subsidized through tax exemptions and tax breaks," says transport expert Lena Donat. "Traveling by train is climate-friendly, so it must always be cheaper than flying."

For the study, the respective one-way ticket prices for 142 city connections with a maximum distance of 1,500 kilometers were compared at nine booking points. Subscription benefits, such as those offered through frequent flyer programs or rail cards, were excluded. The organization assumes that the fare is an important criterion for consumers when choosing a mode of transport.

The analysis did not include the costs of baggage transport. While there are usually no extra charges for this on rail journeys, direct airlines only allow one small piece of hand luggage per passenger free of charge. At least for journeys with longer layovers, this results in a price advantage for rail. The more favorable conditions for transporting children on trains were also not included in the evaluation.

Cheaper travel within Germany by train

Of the 31 routes that touch Germany, train travel is cheaper on 15 routes (48 percent). The two domestic German connections included in this, Hamburg-Munich and Stuttgart-Berlin, are always cheaper to travel by rail than by plane.

International train connections to and from Germany are more expensive, especially towards Western Europe, and flying is often cheaper. Train journeys to Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Belgium, on the other hand, are almost always cheaper than flying.

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 percent were now cheaper to travel by rail than by plane. Two years earlier, the figure was only 27 percent. Donat describes this development as a glimmer of hope.