The European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) has ranked European rail services through their ticket prices, service quality and overall performance as rated by customers.
Italian operator Trenitalia, Swiss operator SBB and Czech company RegioJet come out on top of a new ranking of rail operators, while Eurostar ranks last.
The findings highlight that overall, rail services in Europe fall short of expectations and that expensive ticket prices don’t necessarily translate to higher quality of services.
T&E stated that operators, member states and the European Commission must improve reliability, affordability and booking experience in line with customer expectations.
To analyse prices, more than 8,000 tickets were tracked against 27 rail operators across eight criteria, including ticket prices, reliability and onboard amenities.
Key findings included:
- Only 11 of 27 operators achieve punctuality rates above 80%
- Trenitalia, SBB, and RegioJet were rated the highest
- Trenitalia was rated highest for its travel experience
- SBB was the most punctual operator in Europe
- RegioJet had the most affordable tickets.
- Eurostar’s low ranking reflects its steep prices and poor reliability score
Overall, the results underline the need for industry-wide reforms to elevate Europe’s rail services. Further analysis by T&E from the final ranking shows that higher prices don’t guarantee better service.
The report also found that ÖBB and Trenitalia offer some of the best price-to-quality ratios in Europe, while Eurostar and Avanti charge high fares but deliver subpar services.
Deutsche Bahn (DB), SNCF and Eurostar rank poorly in pricing, which accounts for 25% of the final score.
Rail policy manager at T&E Victor Thévenet said: “Sky-high ticket prices are driving passengers away from trains. To unlock rail’s full potential, we must make tickets more affordable. This is a shared responsibility between the industry and governments.
“Rail operators need to set customer-friendly fares, while Member States and the EU should ensure fair competition and lower rail tolls. That’s the ticket to making train travel accessible to all Europeans.”
“The EU has opened a window of opportunity to finally mandate that train companies share their tickets with booking platforms to enable cross-border booking in just one click.
“Together with the roll-out of the European standard for command and control system ERTMS, which will increase train capacity and punctuality, these regulations have the potential to make rail more reliable and easier to use.”
