Greenpeace: 80% of Austrian Short-haul EU Flights are Substitutable by Train
According to a Greenpeace report, 80 percent of Austria's short-haul flights can be replaced by rail travel. For 53 percent of all top-30 short-haul flights within the EU, there are direct overnight train connections, the report states.
Air pollution: Greenpeace calls for rail alternatives to short-haul flights in Europe. / Picture: © Wikipedia / Marcela
Greenpeace is calling for a ban on easily substitutable flights.
Based on the excellent rail connections available in Austria, Greenpeace is calling for a ban on all domestic flights as well as flights from Vienna to Prague, Budapest and Munich due to the fast daytime trains.
In addition, Greenpeace calls for the discontinuation of connections with very good night train services, including Vienna to Warsaw, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Venice, Hamburg and Frankfurt.
Flights to Frankfurt should also become a thing of the past from Linz and Salzburg.
If all short-haul flights to and from Austria were replaced by train connections, approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2 could be saved per year. This is equivalent to the entire CO2 emissions of Burgenland. Replacing all flights for which there is a direct train connection would still save 600,000 tons of CO2.
The report "Rail alternatives to short-haul flights", compiled by OBC-Transeuropa on behalf of Greenpeace, also took a closer look at the most important 30 Austrian flight connections within the EU as well as the few domestic flights.
Austria's most-used connection is Vienna-Frankfurt, with around 2.2 million passengers (base: 2019).
Twelve Austrian connections are also among the top 150 in the EU.
With the exception of the connection to Athens, there is an alternative by train for all Austrian flights studied.
The average journey time by train is 10:38 hours.
The longest train connection is that to Sofia with 29:38 hours, the shortest surveyed in the report are Graz with 2:28 hours and Prague with 3:57 hours.
Not included in the report - as it is not in the top 30 - is the shortest train connection abroad, namely Vienna-Budapest with 2:34 hours.
The average train distance is 916 km, and the average travel speed is 100 km/h.
The fastest is the connection from Vienna to Hanover with 169 km/h, the slowest is that to Sofia with 56 km/h.
Despite a direct overnight train connection from Vienna, the connection to Bucharest is only marginally faster at 57 km/h.
Direct night trains are available as an alternative for 53% of the top 30 flight routes within the EU.
Train connections are even better for Austria's twelve most frequently used EU domestic flight connections.
For ten of these, there is currently a direct train connection. These are, in each case from Vienna, and ranked by passenger numbers: Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris (from December 22), Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Bucharest, Milan, Rome and Munich.
Only to Stuttgart and Barcelona is there currently no direct train connection.
As there are day trains in under six hours for a further 10% of flight connections (Graz-Munich, Vienna-Prague and Frankfurt-Salzburg; Vienna-Munich and Vienna-Innsbruck were included in night trains), there is already an excellent alternative train connection in Austria overall for 63% of all Top30 flights.
In addition, for another 17% of flights there is a night train connection with only one change and under 16 hours total travel time.
This means that for 80% of all Top30 flights within the EU, there is a good alternative train connection.
The remaining 20% are accounted for by the following flights, each from Vienna: Athens, Sofia, Stockholm, Barcelona and Nice.
If all short-haul flights to and from Austria were replaced by train connections, approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2 could be saved per year. This corresponds to the total CO2 emissions of Burgenland. Replacing all flights for which there is a direct train connection would still save 600,000 tons of CO2.