2023-08-03 09:30:35
For the same journey, the price of train tickets often remains at least twice as expensive as that of plane tickets. Here is the conclusion of a new Greenpeace report. Explanations.
When planning your vacation, the comparison of prices between plane and train tickets often does not make sense. Aside from convinced environmentalists ready to pay more not to fly, the average person will turn to the cheapest solution: the plane. And this must happen very often despite the climate emergency. Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe estimates in a new report what “Train tickets are on average twice as expensive as plane tickets for the same journey”. Between Barcelona and London, the train will even return “up to 30 times more expensive”alerts the NGO.
The report looked at train and plane ticket prices over 9 days for 112 European routes. Result: for 79 journeys out of 112, the plane is cheaper than the train. “EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Volotea and other low cost airlines offer the lowest prices, and are in almost all cases cheaper than the train, can we read in the report. They often offer fares that are demonstrably lower than the actual costs. » In addition, some railway companies such as the SNCF do not put tickets on sale more than two or three months in advance. “An additional advantage for airlines that do not have these restrictions”note Greenpeace.
“How, with such differences, seriously ask the population to favor the train? », asks the NGO. In front of “unfair taxation for the benefit of airlines and against the tide of the fight against the climate crisis”, Greenpeace is calling for an end to tax exemptions enjoyed by airlines and airports, including exemption from the kerosene tax and VAT on international flights. And this, while railway companies pay energy taxes, VAT and railway tolls in most countries. “It is high time to make the train more affordable than the plane in Europe”asserts the NGO.
France, emblematic of this difference
You have probably experienced it in France, Greenpeace confirms a generality. In France, train tickets are on average 2.6 times more expensive than plane tickets. France is thus in third position among the countries where the price difference between the train and the plane is the highest, on a par with Belgium and behind the United Kingdom (4 times) and Spain (3.9 time).
To make the train more competitive than the plane, Greenpeace asks the French government to put an end to the tax advantages enjoyed by the airline sector and to increase the solidarity tax on tickets, in order to redirect the shortfall in the development of train. This shortfall linked to the tax advantages of the air sector in France is estimated at 4.7 billion euros per year by the association Transport & Environment.
Greenpeace also calls for the creation of a “climate ticket” to make the train accessible to all. This package, launched for example in Germany at €49 per month, would allow unlimited use of the train (excluding TGV) at an affordable price. This would also be an opportunity to relaunch national and cross-border night trains and to reinforce reduced fares on long-distance trains for people on low incomes.
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