Train or plane for summer vacation? When booking, many travelers come across the same observation: the train ticket often costs much more than the flight. And sometimes the gap is frankly difficult to swallow.
A few weeks before the big departures, price comparison sites are already running at full speed. And for those who were thinking of betting on the train this summer, some research quickly gives you a cold sweat. A study published by Greenpeace shows that, on more than one in two journeys analyzed, traveling by train is more expensive than taking a plane. The NGO compared 142 connections, looking only at journeys that were feasible during the day or at night. Result: in 54% of cases, the plane remains cheaper.
Sometimes the price difference seems completely absurd. Greenpeace cites in particular a Barcelona-London journey booked one month before departure: 389 euros by train compared to 14.99 euros by plane. At this price, the train ticket costs more than certain weeks of rental with friends in the middle of August. And this is not an isolated case. For many French people planning their vacation, the choice often ends up being a matter of wallet. When a round trip exceeds 250 euros by train while a low-cost flight appears to be less than 40 euros, it’s difficult to pretend not to see the difference. Especially when you still have to add hotels, restaurants and the famous “little extras” which always blow up the planned budget.
The subject mainly concerns travel across Europe, where travel between large cities increases in summer. And in this area, France stands out as one of the countries where the train is the least competitive with the plane. According to Greenpeace, “95% of all routes were more expensive by train at least 6 days out of 9”. Concretely, a French traveler who wants to reach Barcelona, Milan, Amsterdam or Berlin has a good chance of paying more by choosing rail.
The railway companies explain these high prices by network costs. Trains must pay significant tolls to operate on national infrastructure. François Guénard, railway sector specialist at Roland Berger, recalls that “Railway infrastructure is very expensive to maintain”. Added to this are energy costs and certain taxes. Result: even when the lines already exist and the trains run well, tickets remain high.
Night trains, often presented as a good solution for long distances, do not escape the problem. Greenpeace even believes that they are “generally more expensive” than low cost flights. And you still have to manage to find an available place in the middle of summer.
