Italy, Switzerland, Austria and France are all well served by their national rail operators. This was the conclusion of a new report by the EU think-tank Transport & Environment which has created a ranking for European rail operators based on ticket prices, reliability and customer experience.
The overall ranking took into account; ticket prices, special fares and reductions, reliability, booking experience, compensation policies, traveller experience, night trains and cycling policy. However the ranking was heavily weighted towards ticket prices.
It places Italy's Trenitalia in first place, followed by Switzerland's SBB, RegioJet from Czechia, Austria's ÖBB and France's SNCF. At the other end of the ranking Eurostar was judged to be the 'worst rail operator', below Greece's Hellenic trains.
Trenitalia was highly rated for both ticket prices and special fares while the Swiss service scored the highest for reliability and France's SNCF took a perfect 10 for passenger experience.
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Overall, the report concluded: "We assessed rail operators based on eight criteria, finding that rail services in Europe are not satisfactory.
"However, differences between operators indicate that substantial improvements are possible. The sector has not managed to resolve these issues independently, highlighting the need for policy and regulatory intervention.
"Ticket prices are directly affected by each Member State's VAT rate and the track access charges (rail tolls) set by infrastructure managers, while reliability depends on both operator performance and the quality of rail tracks.
The report also breaks down the data based on price versus reliability, so that customers can decide which to prioritise - although one of the overall conclusions is that paying a higher price doesn't necessarily correlate to a more reliable train.
Prices
"Our analysis shows that ticket prices do not correlate with higher service quality," concluded the report.
The overall cheapest operator was Germany's new budget operator FlixTrain - part of the FlixBus budget service group, although the report noted that it is the only operator not to offer discounts to students or senior. It was followed by Ouigo - the French train operator SNCF's budget service, and Czech operator RegioJet.
Reliability
It's a cliché that Swiss trains run like clockwork, but a true one - according to this report, which ranks the Swiss operator ranked top for overall reliability.
SBB was followed by the Belgian national operator SNCB, Spain's Renfe, the Dutch NS and Trenitalia. The report also noted that Trenitalia is notably more punctual than Italo, which uses the same rail network.
"The reliability of major rail operators in Europe remains disappointing. Of the 25 operators with punctuality data, only 11 achieve a rate above 80 percent," it said.
Germany's Deutsche Bahn, the largest train operator in Europe and which is struggling with an aging network, was 25th in reliability and 16th overall.
"The reliability of major rail operators in Europe remains disappointing. Of the 25 operators with punctuality data, only 11 achieve a rate above 80 percent," it said.
Comfort
For those interested in onboard comfort, France's SNCF provided the best traveller experience, followed by Trenitalia, Deutche Bahn, Sweden's SJ and Spain's Renfe. This was based on factors including on-board catering, wi-fi, comfortable seats and plug points.
When it came to France's SNCF in general the French operator scored well due to a "very good passenger experience, an interesting refund policy and its offer of night trains," Victor Thévenet from the T&E thinktank told French newspaper Le Parisien.
But Thévenet added that there are still areas for improvement, as its fares remain high and “there are still problems with reliability, cancellations and delays, while the cycling policy is not at all advantageous”.
SNCF's low-cost, high-speed Ouigo services were judged separately to France's operator for the sake of the study. SNCF data on pricing and reliability only includes the long-distance TGV Inoui and Intercité services, not the local TER trains.
Eurostar and the UK
Overall the worst rated rail operator was the Eurostar - although as noted the rating is heavily weighted towards ticket prices with Eurostar incurring larger running costs than domestic rail networks.
Eurostar scored poorly on ticket prices and also lost marks due to not running a night train service and not offering access for bikes. When it comes to reliability the service scored 4.6 out of 10, with the passenger experience rated as 7.6 out of 10.
The report concludes: "Eurostar tickets are nearly double the price of other European operators offering long-distance high-speed journeys of similar length. These elevated fares cannot be attributed solely to costs associated with the Channel Tunnel [as the comparison also includes Eurostar's Paris-Brussels and Paris-Amsterdam services].
"We show that three of the most expensive rail operators in Europe are those totally or partially in the UK [Avanti West Coast, GWR and Eurostar).
"While further research would be required, it's fair to say that the UK rail system (high infrastructure costs and private monopolies) has a responsibility in this result."
For its part Eurostar disputed the findings of the study, telling the Guardian newspaper that it had updated its booking experience, cycling policy and a system for buying cheaper last-minute tickets.
"We are confident if this report were redone, the scores would be higher," the company said.
You can read the full report here.
Do you agree with the ranking? Share your experiences of European rail travel in the comments section below
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