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reenpeace Central and Eastern Europe has analysed 990 routes between 45 major European cities, and found that just 114 routes (12%) are served by direct train connections. There are another 305 routes (31%) where a direct connection would be possible using existing tracks, but the route is unserved. 

Commencing direct daytime services or night trains up to a maximum journey time of 18 hours on the 305 currently unserved routes would be relatively straightforward and would more than triple the number of direct rail connections available between major European cities, according to the new research.

The analysis also finds almost six times as many direct flight connections between the cities in the analysis as direct train connections. 69% of the 990 total routes are served by direct flights, demonstrating that Europe’s transport infrastructure still encourages people to fly rather than take the train despite aviation’s far more damaging environmental impacts.