Greenpeace: Railway Connectivity of Zagreb with the Rest of Europe is Catastrophic

European cities are still much better connected by air than by rail, according to the latest research ‘Connection Failed’ published by Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe. People are encouraged to fly instead of taking the train, despite the harmful impact of air traffic on the planet, states Greenpeace’s press release, and the purpose of the research was to determine existing and potential direct railway connections and compare them with the number of direct flights on the same routes.

Greenpeace analyzed 990 routes between 45 major European cities, of which only 12 percent have a direct train connection, while 69 percent have a direct flight. Thus, there are almost six times more direct flights than direct railway lines between major cities across Europe.

Direct Night Train from Zagreb to Only Two European Cities

Zagreb is very poorly connected by cross-border direct railway lines. There is a direct train connection to only four analyzed cities, although it would be possible to reach 26 of them with a direct journey of less than 18 hours. This means that the direct railway connectivity of Zagreb is only 15 percent. A direct night train can only travel to two analyzed cities, München and Zürich. In comparison, direct air routes from Zagreb can reach 25 out of 45 analyzed European cities, which means that there are 350 percent more direct air routes than rail routes from the Croatian capital.

A direct train also runs to Budapest and Ljubljana, but these two lines are not frequent. There is only one pair of trains daily to Budapest and three to Ljubljana.

There is no direct railway connection to 85 percent of the cities that could be reached directly within 18 hours. The two most obvious missed opportunities for travel under 12 hours are direct lines to Belgrade and Vienna.

Currently, no passenger train crosses the Croatian-Serbian border. Currently, traveling to Belgrade requires a transfer in Budapest, Novi Sad, or Subotica, taking almost 28 hours by train, while a direct line would take only six hours. Similarly, there is a lack of an important night train line from Zagreb to Frankfurt. This is the busiest short air route from Zagreb that has no direct alternative for train travel, followed by routes to Amsterdam, Paris, and London.

Necessary Investments in Infrastructure

Europe currently also has 350 percent more direct flights than direct trains to destinations that could be reached by train in less than 18 hours (18 hours is currently the maximum travel time of a direct night train in Europe). With the existing railway infrastructure, Zagreb has the potential for another 22 direct connections, and with moderate investments in European railway infrastructure that would allow an average speed of 80 km/h on all routes, eight additional cities could be connected in the future with direct lines to/from Zagreb.

Direct trains offer significant advantages over routes with transfers, such as convenience, reliability, and often lower prices, and they also encourage people to use a sustainable mode of travel instead of one based on fossil fuels. However, no analyzed city fully utilizes its potential for direct connectivity. Even Vienna, a city with 17 lines, or the most direct railway connections in Europe, has direct lines on only 58 percent of possible routes.

Greenpeace calls on the EU and national governments to support the development of direct railway services by investing in infrastructure, improving cooperation between railway companies, and establishing direct connections where they are not yet commercially viable.

– Europe has been rolling out the ‘red carpet’ for air traffic that is harmful to the climate for years and showering it with tax breaks, while trains and railway infrastructure have been neglected. Today, we face huge deficiencies in our railway network and significant untapped potential for direct railway connectivity, mainly due to wrong priorities in the allocation of mobility funds. It is time for European governments and the EU to correct this imbalance by improving the connectivity and comfort of trains and eliminating unfair privileges for the aviation industry. Europeans deserve access to clean, efficient, comfortable, and affordable public transport, good for them and the planet – emphasized Herwig Schuster, mobility expert at Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe.