A new report by environmental campaign group Greenpeace says that air travel within Europe is up to 30 times cheaper than traveling by more sustainable trains.
There is Europe problem with integrated universal ticket system. There is lots of lobbing against it mainly from France, Italy, Spain. Then there would be some accountability for late trains, connections made… They just don’t want to do it.
Political will isn’t there for this. Main issue is that all companies operate independently or nationally. There are rare cases where it somewhat works. I can take train to Vienna or Berlin from here and it is pretty much painless experience.
There is Europe problem with integrated universal ticket system. There is lots of lobbing against it mainly from France, Italy, Spain
I’m not sure whether a common ticket is a good idea, but I also don’t see why this needs to be a barrier. Other than Portugal and the UK, which need to connect through those countries, no other countries in Europe need France, Spain, or Italy onboard to agree to a common system. You just can’t travel in those countries with it.
EDIT: Well, okay, and Andorra and Monaco and Vatican City.
More than accountability is likely prices. Train in Italy is much more expensive than switzerland or Germany. A single ticket would force them to lower prices
There is Europe problem with integrated universal ticket system. There is lots of lobbing against it mainly from France, Italy, Spain. Then there would be some accountability for late trains, connections made… They just don’t want to do it.
Yeah…sad to hear that. I did it before a few years ago, really nice experience. Sad to see it go.
Political will isn’t there for this. Main issue is that all companies operate independently or nationally. There are rare cases where it somewhat works. I can take train to Vienna or Berlin from here and it is pretty much painless experience.
I’m not sure whether a common ticket is a good idea, but I also don’t see why this needs to be a barrier. Other than Portugal and the UK, which need to connect through those countries, no other countries in Europe need France, Spain, or Italy onboard to agree to a common system. You just can’t travel in those countries with it.
EDIT: Well, okay, and Andorra and Monaco and Vatican City.
More than accountability is likely prices. Train in Italy is much more expensive than switzerland or Germany. A single ticket would force them to lower prices
I couldn’t reply to kbin comment but this outlines lots of issues with train network in Europe.
https://www.investigate-europe.eu/en/2021/european-governments-are-holding-back-on-railway-passenger-rights/
It is little bit outdated now EU wants to make it more feasible by 2026.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/130/rail-transport