VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - According to an analysis by the environmental organization Greenpeace, European cities are much better connected by air than by rail. With existing infrastructure alone, it would be possible to create 305 new direct train connections between cities in Europe, according to a new Greenpeace study.

Greenpeace compared train and air connections between 45 major European cities in Europe and analyzed the potential for better direct trains. According to the study, only 12 percent of all 990 routes between cities can be covered by direct trains. The number of direct flights is much higher.

There is a lack of direct train connections on well-traveled routes such as Paris-Rome, Madrid-Paris or London-Berlin. With more than one million passengers per year on each of these routes, they are among the most frequently used air routes in Europe. These three routes could be covered within 10 hours and 30 minutes by direct train, it was said.

Train travel takes time and is expensive

Currently, travelers could leave Paris by train at 8:00 a.m. and arrive in Copenhagen at 9:30 p.m. "But you have to change trains twice in Koln and Hamburg and risk missing your connecting train twice," said the authors. What's more, the price difference compared to air travel is immense. Only with a lot of luck would a train ticket cost less than 300 euros. At the same time, five airlines operate daily flights between Paris and Copenhagen. Prices there start at 14.99 euros.

Greenpeace is calling for a new EU rail strategy that prioritizes trains over flights and demands direct train connections between European cities. Tolls for trains should be reduced and a kerosene tax introduced to reduce air travel./mrd/DP/men