Overview
- A Transport & Environment report finds almost half of rail options that match the EU’s busiest flight routes are hard or impossible to buy as a single ticket on major rail sites.
- The study says 20% of the 30 top aviation city pairs are impossible to book end to end on national platforms and another 27% are only partly bookable.
- More than half of journeys longer than 900 km cannot be made as one booking, with Barcelona to Paris not sold end to end on Renfe cited as a clear example.
- The report adds that booking an international train takes 70% longer than booking a flight and that 61% of long‑distance rail users have skipped trips because the process is a hassle.
- The European Commission plans a single digital booking and ticketing law to let people buy one ticket on one platform with full trip rights, as talks with the Parliament and member states decide access rules and data‑sharing.