Eurostar is officially the worst railway operator in Europe

A study by think tank Transport and Environment (T&E) has evaluated almost 30 railway operators in Europe, choosing Eurostar as the worst operator overall. 

Exactly 27 companies were analysed by Transport and Environment. The organisation looked at different criteria: ticket prices, special fares & reductions, reliability, booking experience, compensation policy, traveller experience, night train development and cycling policy. By giving each operator a score out of 10 for all different points of comparison, the think tank was able to put together an overall ranking.

In that ranking, Eurostar came out all the way at the bottom. Not only is it almost the most expensive railway operator in Europe, its reliability isn’t great (4.6/10) and its cycling policy is inexistent (0/10), given that bikes aren’t allowed on the train.

Eurostar however disputes the outcome of the study, saying it has made changes on several levels since the time of the data collection. “We are confident that if this report were redone again, the scores would be higher,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve had a record number of passengers travel with us this year and we expect that figure to grow as we continue to invest in our service.”

Overall, Italy’s Trenitalia scored best in the ranking, averaging 7.7 out of 10. Switzerland’s SBB, the Czech Republic’s RegioJet, Austria’s ÖBB and France’s SNCF completed the top 5. At the other side of the list were Eurostar, followed by Greece’s Hellenic Train and France’s Ouigo.

“A performing rail system is one of the cornerstones of the zero-emission mobility system. Rail climate potential can be maximised if train operators improve their services and the EU and Member States support them with incentives and regulations. Overall rail operators do not deliver satisfactory services. But differences between them show that strong improvements are possible. The sector has not managed to sort things out on its own, which is why policy change is urgently needed”, T&E states in its report.

When looking at the different criteria, it is interesting to note that some railway operators’ quality widely varied per case. Flixtrain, Ouigo and RegioJet had the best ticket prices, while the SBB, SNCB and Renfe scored best in terms of reliability. SNCF, Trenitalia and DB have the best comfort & travel experience, while SNCB came out all the way at the bottom of that list.