EU Rail Booking Flaws Jeopardize Climate Targets

Booking barriers are limiting rail’s ability to compete with short-haul flights on some of the European Union’s busiest cross-border corridors , according to a new assessment by the Transport & Environment (T&E) think tank. The group said that for nearly half of the EU’s most heavily used international flight routes, buying a train ticket is either highly complicated or not feasible through normal online channels.

It described the current setup as a “stone age” booking system that makes it harder for travelers to choose lower-emission rail options even as climate concerns grow.

T&E reviewed 30 of the EU’s most frequented international air routes and found repeated gaps in end-to-end rail ticketing. On 20% of the routes examined, passengers could not purchase a ticket that covered the full rail journey in a single booking. A further 27% of routes could be booked only through one train operator, limiting consumer choice and making price and schedule comparisons more difficult.

The report highlighted specific examples where online rail booking does not match the demand seen in aviation. It said routes such as Barcelona-Milan and Lisbon-Madrid could not be booked through any rail operator’s website. By contrast, other major links—including Paris-Rome and Amsterdam-Milan—were available online but only via a single operator, according to the findings.

T&E attributed much of the fragmentation to how incumbent rail companies handle competing services. The report said that on 86% of routes where competition exists, the dominant operator does not sell tickets for rival operators. It also found that on 59% of routes, alternative services are not displayed at all, which can prevent travelers from even seeing viable rail options when planning cross-border trips.

These frictions matter for transport emissions and for market competition because they can tilt demand toward flights when rail is harder to book. T&E linked the problem to aviation emissions rising at a time when the industry is targeting a major expansion in demand, with passenger traffic expected to double by 2050. The report’s central claim is that booking complexity is a structural obstacle to shifting travelers from planes to trains on routes where rail could be a practical substitute.

EU policymakers are preparing a response. The European Commission is expected to address cross-border rail booking and passenger rights through a single ticketing package on May 13, with the stated aim of making international rail travel simpler and strengthening consumer protections. The scope and effectiveness of the package, including how it would change operator behavior and improve access to full-journey tickets, remains an open question until details are published.