Think Europe runs its railways better than Britain? Think again
It’s an old canard that railways work better on the Continent. But do they?
Glib generalisations have become even more suspect since most countries diluted the monopoly of a single national operator, such as SNCF in France, with private operators chosen by tender for a defined group of services.
And yes – when it comes to Britain’s trains, there’s certainly room for improvement, particularly for those whose lamentable services are most frequently on the receiving end of complaints. Take Avanti West Coast, for example – which sees only 60.2 per cent of its trains arrive within three minutes of their scheduled time, and who cancels 15.1 per cent of its trains a year; and CrossCountry, often censured for its chronic overcrowding, cancellations and lack of catering.
But that’s not the whole story: 85.1 per cent of UK trains arrive within three minutes of their purported arrival time (so say the latest across-the-board quarterly figures for UK rail), and 98.5 per cent arrive within 15 minutes – not bad at all, even by continental standards. In fact, according to the most recent survey by Transport Focus, 86 per cent of the UK’s rail passengers were satisfied with their last journey.
Comparing UK railways with those in Europe – and, indeed, Europe’s services against each other – is tricky, not least because of the usual nightmare of varying definitions, which plagues European statistics. A Swiss or Danish train can arrive two minutes 59 seconds after its official arrival time before it’s classified late, for example; while in most countries, it’s five minutes. To make matters worse, some countries record only arrival times at the train’s final destination, not punctual arrivals at each station along the way.
Is it even possible to judge Europe’s trains on a nation-by-nation basis? The nature of cross-border continental travel has long made the notion a flawed concept – never more so than now, as increasing numbers of national operators obtain licences to run trains beyond their borders. Spain’s Renfe, for example, is registered to operate in France and has extended services from Barcelona to Lyon, and from Madrid to Marseille, with an eye on Paris. Likewise, Italy’s Trenitalia operates in France and is planning services from Amsterdam to Paris and Berlin from 2027; while SNCF’s Ouigo subsidiary in Spain should be operating three routes from Madrid by December.
So, there you have it: at a sweeping overview, European rail metrics are tough to measure, tough to compare, and less nationally specific than ever before; while British passengers are, on the whole, apparently satisfied.
And yet, still we gaze across the Channel with a wistful sigh, and lament that our trains fall so far short of their continental counterparts. Clearly, this requires closer inspection. How does Europe run its railways, and do they really work better than ours?
Austria
With a punctuality rate of nearly 95 per cent, ÖBB ranked among the most reliable railway operators in Europe in 2023. Cross-party consensus on the economic, social and environmental value of rail has translated into stable investment, high-quality trains and good value fares and passes such as the KlimaTicket. Passenger numbers in 2023 were at a record high.
France
The pioneer of high-speed services in Europe, SNCF long resisted the competition many French people think necessary to spur improvements to its services, add capacity and sharpen prices. New entrants have now established rival services, and an agreement has been signed by start-up Proxima to buy 12 TGVs for services from Paris to cities in the west. These should help assuage one of the criticisms of SNCF, which is that TGV services are fully booked long before departure. French secondary and branch lines have had a notoriously bad level of service though some regions, such as Centre-Val de Loire, have reversed the decline in use.
Germany
The lame duck of Europe. Timekeeping on long-distance trains is shockingly bad: someone using a delayed train as an excuse for arriving late at a meeting was told that he knew the train would be late so should have caught an earlier one. In 2022, every third long-distance train was more than six minutes late, and it is not uncommon to see trains running up to two hours late with frequent missed connections. How has a once punctual railway come to this? Simply 20 years of inadequate investment in maintenance and capacity improvements to meet rising demand, exacerbated by strikes and severe weather damage.
Further delays are an inevitable part of playing catch-up as lines are closed for upgrading. Even the budget for this has been cut, leading a transport critic to describe Germany as “a developing country when it comes to rail policy, in terms of per capita investment…”.
Italy
Long-distance train competition has worked well for passengers in Italy. National operator Trenitalia’s three types of high-speed train are rivalled by Italo’s 26 EVO trains serving 54 cities; SNCF has announced an expansion of its TGV services from 2026; and seven corridors will have the added choice of an Arenaways service from the timetable change in December 2025. Recently announced funding of €180 billion over 10 years will accelerate modernisation and capacity improvements.
Netherlands
Punctuality on the dense Dutch network fell to 89.7 per cent (within five minutes) in 2023 because of engineering work and speed restrictions on high-speed lines, which was caused by concrete cracking on bridges. Staff shortages have meant short trains, causing overcrowding. The railway is a leading user of data analytics to inform preventive maintenance work on trains and track.
Spain
Spain is second only to China in the length of dedicated high-speed railway, with 3,973km. This focus has neglected suburban services, but up to €25 billion has been pledged by the government to improve them. National operator Renfe remains the high-speed market leader against rivals Iryo, part owned by Italy’s FS with 20 high-speed trains, and SNCF operating its low-cost Ouigo services with 14 double-decker TGVs. Punctuality is around 90 per cent overall but even better on high-speed routes. Competition has lowered fares by an average of 23.3 per cent across the three operators, generating a 29 per cent increase in ridership.
Sweden
Ageing track and signalling, poor train reliability and staff shortages are blamed for the fact that just 71 per cent of Sweden’s trains arrive on time. Delays and cancellations have undermined confidence in the administration, and the CEO of national railway SJ has admitted: “This is virtually a national meltdown. The people of Sweden really deserve a better railway.”
Switzerland
Unquestionably Europe’s finest railway and public transport system, co-ordinated to provide integrated services with high-quality trains and even dining-car facilities on some journeys as short as Bern–Zürich (one hour). Clockface departure times and information on trains about connecting buses and trams at the next stop make the system easy to use. Punctuality in 2023 was at 92.5 per cent (within three minutes), helping to drive per capita use of trains to the highest in Europe, at 2,430km a year.
So, there you have it. If there is an overriding conclusion, it’s that countries with cross-party consensus on the socio-economic value of rail transport do much better than those without it – railways require long-term strategic plans to create the confidence for investment by the supply chain and to lower costs. Comparison of rail infrastructure construction costs between countries suggests that Britain has much to learn from the Continent. Small wonder, when a plan to reopen the nine-mile branch to Portishead entails 17,912 pages on its environmental impact.
The move towards more devolved transport decision-making in Britain echoes similar successful initiatives in France and Poland, where the regions have invested in improvements and reopenings, producing often spectacular growth. Britain has never had a coherent transport strategy with goals for modal shift to provide not only better public transport, but also address other societal issues such as pollution, carbon, obesity, social inclusion and wellbeing.
So in future, when someone says that railways on the Continent are much better than those in Britain, you can tell them – it’s just an old canard.