Do you remember the first Covid lockdown in 2020, when the skies were clear of planes and birdsong could be heard more clearly? Global carbon emissions from air travel fell dramatically by 60%, as many international flights were grounded.
Although this change was short-lived, reductions in air travel persisted and the after-effects are still being felt. Flight delays and mass cancellations affected one in three British travellers this summer. You may have been one of them.
Short-haul flights are a major (avoidable) source of global pollution, so making changes to the way we travel is crucial.
Towards a single European rail area
Meanwhile, the European Commission has started to build long-term plans for increasing faster, cheaper train travel across Europe, to attract passengers away from airlines and reduce carbon emissions. The aim is to double high-speed rail traffic by 2030 and triple it by 2050. An ambitious EU-funded initiative, Shift2Rail (S2R), aims to establish a single European rail area, as part of a trans-European transport network, which will increase cross-border mobility.
Major countries in Europe are introducing their own initiatives. In April 2020, France banned short-haul internal flights where the same journey could easily be made by train in under two and a half hours. Last year, Austria replaced flights between Vienna and Salzburg by boosting the number of trains.
Germany introduced a €9 train pass over the summer, covering unlimited use of local and regional trains between June and August. The pass was hugely popular, leading to 52 million train tickets being issued. Surveys indicated that one in five travellers were encouraged to switch to train from car journeys for the first time. Similarly, Spain has just introduced free train travel on short and medium journeys from September to December, aimed predominantly at reducing commuters’ use of cars.
The UK introduced a more modest version of these initiatives earlier this year, with off-peak tickets reduced by 50% on selected journeys between April and May. But unions criticised the scheme for not doing anything to help commuters and called for the UK to follow Spain’s example, especially with ever-rising train fares and increased fuel costs.
Interrail is not just for the young
Late summer, the two of us embarked on long train trips across Europe, using Interrail passes, one of the few European programmes in which UK residents can still take part. Available to anyone over 12 years-old in paper or mobile app forms, it gives the pass-holder access to flexible train travel in 33 countries. You can hop on and off local trains with just the pass, but need to book seat reservations on high speed routes for as little as €10 for any train in Italy and less in Germany.
The Interrail experience illustrates how train travel might win converts from the air, keeping prices lower and ticketing simpler. And the journey itself becomes part of the holiday.
Viv headed for Italy…
I bought a senior Interrail pass (there are several options – mine was valid for any four days of travel over a month for €220) and travelled with a friend to Calabria, in southern Italy. We had done this successfully three years before and on both occasions used the invaluable Man in Seat 61 to plan the journey.
This site presents enticing rail routes to Italy: “Breakfast in London, lunch in Paris, tea in the Alps, dinner in Turin or Milan” – which is what we did. The only disappointment was that the lovely little restaurant at Gare de Lyon where we ate three years ago had been replaced by a fast-food outlet: presumably a casualty of the pandemic.
We took an early Eurostar, crossed Paris and caught a mid-morning TGV to Milan with French company SNCF, breaking the journey overnight in Turin. The beautiful Paris to Milan route takes just over seven hours and is a favourite choice of train-holiday company Great Rail Journeys, as one of their reps explained in the coffee queue. The train passes villages and vineyards in eastern France to Lyon before climbing through the Alps, with breathtaking mountain views. Stopping overnight in Turin, with dinner at a traditional, family-run trattoria, was definitely worth it.
The next morning, we caught Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa (red arrow) to Paola, a wonderful journey which passes through Florence, Rome and Naples, and for much of its nine-hour journey follows the coast to the southernmost tip of Italy. One of its impressive features is regular announcements in Italian and English (and also on-screen in Chinese). On the return journey, this was invaluable when there was a short delay, and compared favourably with the usual lack of information on British trains.
The whole journey was comfortable and competitively priced compared to equivalent flights – and without the hassle of airport queues, delays and cancellations.
Rick’s German odyssey
It was a long-held ambition to visit the place of my birth, so when I learnt Interrail was halving the price of its month-long travel deals (to £338), I was in. I needed some help from the Man in Seat 61 to sort out my initial seat reservations – essential to do this in advance – then I was good to go.
After being impressed with the quick and easy check-in at St Pancras International, the first stop on my three-week journey was Cologne. In Germany, all I needed each travel day was to choose the time and destination in my app. A barcode registered the journey, so onboard ticket checks were easy.
I visited my birthplace (Rinteln, a picturesque town beside the River Weser) then Berlin and on to Freiberg and the Black Forest. My German odyssey ended in Munich, where for the first time I needed to book a seat (price €5.90) to continue my journey through the Brenner Pass and into Italy. A short delightful stop at Verona and then, like Viv, to Turin. You can travel to Paris from there, but I opted for a stopover in Lyon. A warning: book well in advance; this relatively short leg can cost as much as €103.
It took just two hours from Lyon to Paris (243 miles, equivalent to London to Newcastle). The short run from Gare de Lyon to Gard du Nord can apparently be done in 10 minutes; mine was longer. It was also crowded, so a pre-booked taxi is an option. At Gard du Nord, a 50-minute check-in, then back in time for an early evening train home.
Overall, a positive Interrailing experience. In fact, I’m planning my next trip! Definitely the best way to travel.
