Mind the Gap. Europe's Rail Operators: A comparative ranking.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Transport and Environment - https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/pricey-tickets-poor-service-rail-ranking-exposes-the-best-and-worst-in-europe quoting from the backing report https://www.transportenvironment.org/uploads/files/Embargo-lifted-09122024-European-Ranking-of-Rail-operators-REPORT-2.pdf

Mind the Gap. Europe's Rail Operators: A comparative ranking.

A high performing rail system is one of the cornerstones of the zero emission mobility system, yet rail services in Europe fall short of expectations. According to the EU^» (European Union - about), only 59% of Europeans are satisfied with rail punctuality and reliability.

To drive improvements in the sector and inform policy changes at both national and European levels, T&E has developed the most comprehensive ranking of European rail operator services to date. The ranking evaluates 27 operators across eight key criteria, including ticket prices, punctuality, and onboard amenities. The analysis focuses on medium and long-distance domestic connections, except for the assessment of night trains and companies operating primarily on international routes.

The main findings of the ranking are the following:

* Expensive rail tickets don't equal high quality
Our analysis shows that ticket prices do not correlate with higher service quality. While ÖBB and Trenitalia offer a strong price-to-quality ratio, operators like Eurostar charge nearly twice the European average price per kilometre, yet fail to deliver better services.

* European Rail Operators struggle with reliability
The reliability of major rail operators in Europe remains disappointing. Of the 25 operators with punctuality data, only 11 (44%) achieve a rate above 80%. Furthermore, one-third of operators do not publicly share their train cancellation data.

* Trenitaliaranks first, Eurostar last
Italy's primary rail operator, Trenitalia, ranks highest in our overall assessment, while Eurostar is at the bottom. Trenitalia scores well in several major criteria except for cycling specifically. In contrast, Eurostar faces challenges with ticket pricing and reliability, which are the most heavily weighted factors in the overall score.

[didcotdean]

Some of the price data used in this study has been challenged by Simon Calder, who has apparently ploughed through some of the backing data.

As the linked report says: "Victor Thévenet, the rail policy manager and author of the report, told me: “Data collection was carried out in August for September ticket sales. At the time of data gathering, we found prices [for the London-Milton Keynes trip] ranged from £15 to £74.”

Yet the the maximum you can pay for a standard class fare is according to Avanti West Coast is an Anytime single between Euston to Milton Keynes for £24.20. (All operator fare is £24.80.)

This may only be a single example and relates to Avanti but it puts a question mark over it as to how the data was gathered.

[eXPassenger]

The other issue on fares is the government policy on subsidies.

[didcotdean]

I have had a quick look through the raw data for the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

I couldn't see any real funnies such as fares above the theoretical maximum. However, this did show up that all the journeys have a start point of London, which may or may not be representative.There are a variety of shorter ones such as Reading, Didcot, & Oxford, and some longer ones such as Bristol, Cardiff, & Plymouth. Using the capital or a single major city as the sole starting point has not been followed for all of the operators studied though.

It is all done on single fares which can be distorting what people really pay for routes where a return is only a little more than a single and which most people would buy especially where no advances are made available. This is a common issue that arises in international fare comparisons and being a singular UK^▸ (United Kingdom) wrinkle rarely gets specifically accounted for.