Travelling with Deutsche Bahn means comfort but delays, according to a new ranking by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E). Meanwhile, FlixTrain came out on top for affordability.

Ranking of European rail operators in 2024

T&E is Europe’s leading organisation advocating for clean transport and energy, “one of the cornerstones of the zero-emission mobility system”. 

To determine which rail operators in Europe best serve passengers, the organisation has compared 27 rail operators across the following eight categories; ticket prices, special fares and reductions, reliability, booking experience, compensation policy, customer / traveller experience, night trains and cycling policy.

The different criteria were weighted according to how important passengers consider each to be, with ticket prices contributing 25 percent to the final score, but night train development and cycling policies counting only 5 percent each. 

Trenitalia, the primary train operator of Italy, was named the best rail operator in Europe, with SBB in Switzerland, Czech company RegioJet, ÖBB Austria and SNCF France rounding out the top five.

The ranking’s accompanying report highlighted best practices, encouraging train providers to learn from each other and improve services. “We advocate for policy change that will help European rail maximise its climate potential,” the report read.

Deutsche Bahn ranked unusually positively by T&E

A combination of funding-starved infrastructure and consequent chronic delays has crumbled Deutsche Bahn’s national reputation in recent years and disruption during the Euros saw myths of German punctuality debunked across the continent.

In the overall ranking, these problems saw Deutsche Bahn placed below average, with a score of 5,9 out of 10. The national rail service also faltered in the reliability category, dropping to second-worst with a score of just 2,5. What’s worse, Deutsche Bahn didn’t even score well when it comes to compensating passengers for unreliable and disrupted services, with 5,8 out of 10. 

However, the two categories of “booking experience” and “customer / traveller experience” saw Deutsche Bahn rise in the ranks. T&E scored the national rail service second-best with 9,6 out of 10 for booking experience. “Travelling by rail should be as convenient as driving a car or booking a flight. To attract more passengers to rail, the booking experience must be efficient, flexible and user friendly,” the report said.

For “customer / traveller experience”, which includes access to the internet, plug sockets, onboard restaurants and train speed, Deutsche Bahn was named the third-best in Europe, with a score of 8,7 for traveller experience. 

Germany’s FlixTrain performs best in Europe for affordability

While Deutsche Bahn dominates the train-related headlines in Germany, the country’s smaller, budget rail operator, FlixTrain, outperformed the national rail service in the reliability and compensation policy categories.

The company, which is based in Munich and only began operations in 2018, came fourth overall for booking experience and was named the best train operator in Europe for affordability. In April 2024, FlixTrain announced the largest expansion in its short history and increased the number of services between German cities by 40 percent.

Analysis from the report found that Flixtrain’s fares for Berlin to Hamburg are 5,5 times lower than DB's, and pointed out that across the board “price indexes do not correlate with scores for criteria other than pricing”, i.e. more expensive tickets do not mean higher quality train services.

Some of the most expensive operators (Eurostar, Avanti West Coast and Great Western Railway), were not those with the highest scores in other categories. CD rail and RegioJet, both operating in Czechia offered both affordable prices and relatively high scores. 

For more information about the study and to see the full ranking, visit the T&E website.

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