Read the report
The ranking of rail operators was updated on the 20th of December to address a small number of inaccuracies in the data. The original press release remains unchanged. At the end of the press release, please find a list of the resulting corrections and their effect on individual companies, with a link to the updated ranking page. The text of the report was adapted accordingly.
The ranking, unveiled today by T&E, evaluates 27 European rail operators across eight criteria, including ticket prices, reliability, and onboard amenities. Trenitalia from Italy, SBB in Switzerland, and RegioJet from Czech Republic get the best grades. Trenitalia stands out for its travel experience, SBB is the most punctual operator in Europe and RegioJet has some of the most affordable tickets. In contrast, Avanti, GWR, and Eurostar's low scores highlight a significant gap between the quality of their service and their high fares. They rank in 19th, 22nd, and 27th positions, respectively.
Affordability, which accounts for 25% of the final score, is a key factor influencing passengers’ choice for long-distance rail travel. However, T&E’s analysis reveals that some of Europe’s major operators, like Deutsche Bahn (DB) and SNCF, are not among the most affordable. In fact, the three UK operators—Avanti, GWR, and Eurostar—are the most expensive.
Special fares and reductions, ease of booking and reliability are the other three key criteria as they enhance passenger experience and can encourage adoption of this low-carbon transport mode. Each of them is worth 15% of the ranking. Results show most operators have good offers for daily or seasonal travellers, but 21 fail to offer all their tickets 6 months in advance and only 11 of 27 operators achieve punctuality rates above 80%.
The three companies operating in the UK offer relatively good booking experiences. Eurostar offers their tickets in the UK up to 11 months in advance. GWR and Avanti offer their weekly tickets 6 and 3 months in advance and their weekend tickets 3 months and 11 weeks in advance respectively. Additionally, they all share their tickets with external platforms, another service assessed under booking experience, However, with the exception of GWR, they are weak in terms of reliability.
Pricing, limited traveller experience, and poor cycling policies contribute to UK operators lagging behind. However, Avanti and GWR lead in compensation, offering refunds for delays as short as 15 minutes—well beyond the UK’s legal minimum of 50% for delays over 30 minutes. EU operators could learn from their example.
Overall, the UK has a unique opportunity to rethink its offering all together given the ongoing process to renationalise its railways.
Victor Thévenet, rail policy manager at T&E, says: “Sky-high ticket prices are driving passengers away from trains. To unlock rail's full potential, tickets must be affordable. This is a shared responsibility between the industry and governments. Rail operators need to set customer-friendly fares, while governments make sure this happens. That's the ticket to making train travel accessible to all Europeans.”
To boost rail travel in Europe, international connections are crucial. The EU aims to increase passenger numbers through regulations that simplify cross-boarder trips and there is a significant potential to improve services via the Channel Tunnel. While current rail services between London and major EU cities (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam) exist, they don’t meet the needs of travellers.
Michael Solomon Williams for Campaign of Better Transport, adds: “With limited rail services and expensive tickets, it is little wonder that many UK travellers choose to fly to mainland Europe instead. Our international rail link barely scratches the surface of its original ambition. There is massive untapped potential for new and more affordable services, with opportunities for new operators and new destinations. The Government should produce an International Rail Strategy with targets to shift journeys from air to rail, and work to reduce rail tolls which are considerably higher than in other countries”.
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] Data comes from publicly available sources, mostly from annual reports of train companies and their websites and from governmental organisations. To analyse prices, more than 8,000 tickets were tracked. Rail operators were contacted to review the data collected and T&E gathered replies from five of them.
[2] McKinsey (2022). Boosting passenger preference for rail. Accessed: link.
ENDS
Corrections include:
- Ticket prices with discount cards were originally used for SBB. SBB has moved from 2nd position to 11th position.
- A PKP special fare for people with reduced mobility has now been included. PKP has moved from 13th position to 6th position.
- The NS reliability score has been increased after refining our calculations using new data source. NS’s final score has moved from 23rd position to 21st position.
- The Trenitalia reliability score has slightly decreased after refining our calculations using new data source. This has not affected Trenitalia’s position in the ranking.
- Some prices for the London-Milton Keynes route, which was one of the ten routes considered for Avanti West Coast, were corrected. This has not affected Avanti’s position in the ranking.
T&E is grateful for feedback received after publication of the ranking on the 9th of December 2024 and has updated affected data accordingly. See the revised publication here.
