Traveling from Paris to Rome, Berlin, London or Milan by train will always cost more than flying. And such cases are far from rare. According to a study conducted by Greenpeace Europe and published on Thursday, August 21, nearly 60% of the 100 European routes compared were cheaper by plane than by train – even though trains emit far less carbon dioxide. Prices for each route were analyzed over nine different days, across three booking periods: a few days before departure, one month before and three months before.

Some routes revealed particularly stark price gaps. For example, the Barcelona-London journey can cost up to 26 times more by train than by plane on the same date: €389 versus €14.99 for tickets booked one month in advance. However, the same trip emits 47 times more carbon by air than by rail, according to the calculator from the Agence de la transition écologique (France's environmental transition agency). "The gap in prices pushes consumers to fly – which is much more polluting – instead of taking the train," argued Herwig Schuster, lead author of the report and transport campaigner at Greenpeace.

You have 76.46% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.