How the UK’s lamentable railways compare to the rest of Europe

 

OPINION

By Nicky Gardner

How the UK’s lamentable railways compare to the rest of Europe

 

Germany's trains are less than punctual and Spain has just opened an expensive rail tunnel, but investment continues on the continent

 

December 26, 2023 6:00 am(Updated 6:02 am)

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/how-uk-railways-compare-europe-2820392

 

France is investing in new trains such as the TGV "InOui" that will come into service in 2025

 

In late November, passengers bound for Amsterdam were trapped for more than eight hours on a Eurostar train in Kent. The following week, travellers on one of Deutsche Bahn’s smart ICE trains were stranded in a tunnel in eastern Belgium. These delays, and similar tales of woe from train travellers across Europe, suggest that all is not well on the rails.

 

Across the European Union, there is huge investment in rail. In Spain, King Felipe VI cut ceremonial ribbons on a new high-speed line that tunnels under the rugged Cantabrian Mountains in November, slashing an hour off journey times – now less than three hours – between Madrid and Asturias on the Costa Verde. At almost 25km, the Pajares Base Tunnel on that new rail route is far longer than any tunnel being constructed on Britain’s HS2 route from London to the Midlands.

 

In Britain, things are different. New rail timetables this month have seen services axed. Liverpool loses hourly trains to Hull as part of a package of cuts that operator TransPennine Express coyly tell us will “deliver improved punctuality and reliability”. So a key Northern Powerhouse axis across England is now served by just one direct train each day and that short hop from Liverpool to Hull takes longer than the Eurostar journey from London to Brussels or Paris.

 

 

Great British Railways (GBR) has been trumpeted as a big step forward for British rail travellers, but the enabling legislation is unlikely to clear Parliament before the general election. And this month it was announced that GBR’s plans for a centralised booking system have been shelved.

 

New timetables have also been introduced across continental Europe this month, ushering in many new travel opportunities. From this month, you can snooze your way in sleeping car comfort on new overnight routes from Salzburg to both Warsaw and Brussels, from Berlin to both Aachen and Paris, from Krákow to Munich and from Dresden to Budapest.

 

Meanwhile, Eurostar trimmed its list of continental destinations during the pandemic, although there is the distant prospect of better rail connectivity between London and the continent as Eurotunnel’s parent company Getlink has announced plans to make it easier for new rail operators to run trains through the Channel Tunnel. This ushers in the possibility of direct trains from London to Germany and Switzerland in a few years.

 

Continental rail travellers don’t need to wait that long for new international links. This month’s new schedules introduced much improved daytime services across Scandinavia, from Oslo to Gothenburg with good onward connections to Copenhagen. “The train timetable from Copenhagen to Oslo has never looked so healthy,” remarked Mark Smith, the brain behind the legendary Seat 61 website, on his X (formerly Twitter) feed.

 

Extra trains are now offered on the busy Hamburg to Copenhagen route. Poland is better connected with a doubling of daytime services from Kraków to Berlin and a new direct daytime train from Wrocław to Vienna.

 

Deutsche Bahn this month launches regular non-stop services between the German capital and Bavaria, with the fastest trains taking just 2hrs 37mins for the 276-miles dash from Berlin Südkreuz to Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof.

 

Rail operators across Europe are chasing the business market with more high-speed connections, while also tempting new leisure travellers onto their trains. Germany, Austria, Portugal and Slovenia have all introduced network-wide bargain tickets designed to lure leisure travellers out of their cars and onto the rails. Tourist boards across Europe are keen to promote a wider rail offer for visitors, and new tour operators like London-based Byway Travel are showcasing rail-based holidays.

 

This month sees Poland’s premier ski resort at Zakopane reconnected into Europe’s rail network. After more than a year with no trains at all, Zakopane station reopened on 22 December with the fastest train to Warsaw taking under five hours.

 

Climate-conscious leisure travellers in the EU now tolerate much longer journeys by train as an alternative to flying. Swedish rail company Snälltåget has been running trips from Stockholm to Dresden’s famous Advent market – it is a journey by train of 19 hours from the Swedish capital to Dresden. I just wonder how many British travellers could match that Swedish tolerance of very long train journeys.

 

So is continental Europe getting it right when it comes to passenger rail? And is Britain really lagging behind?

 

It grieves me to say so, but unfortunately the answer is probably yes on both counts. Over the last three months, I have travelled on trains in nine EU countries with my fair share of cancellations and delays. Indeed, in Germany Deutsche Bahn’s punctuality dropped to a record low last month.

 

But I have never been left stranded and even on much-delayed trains in Czechia, Austria and Germany, I have enjoyed excellent meals in restaurant cars with friendly and welcoming staff. On one occasion in Germany where a train developed a fault, passengers were transferred to a clean and warm replacement service at the next major station.

 

That German resilience was not matched in Scotland in late November, when I travelled south from Aviemore on LNER’s normally excellent Highland Chieftain service. With coffee and bacon rolls served at Kingussie and fine scenery slipping by beyond the carriage window, all was going well until the rain set in as we dropped down into Glen Garry. What should have been a brief stop at Pitlochry extended to a dozen minutes and then came a breezy announcement over the intercom that our London-bound Azuma train, so full of interior creature comforts, didn’t have any functioning windscreen wipers.

 

“We’ll proceed slowly to Perth with the train manager sitting with the driver in the cab. Always good to have an extra pair of eyes in the rain,” ran the on-train announcement. In Perth, passengers from the nine-carriage Azuma were left to tussle for space on a cramped local ScotRail train which offered the next opportunity to continue south to Edinburgh. In truth, everyone was very courteous and there was a sense of camaraderie among the passengers. “Well, we all have to stand together in a crisis,” said the guy beside me. And, yes, it is a crisis because if it’s not windscreen wipers at Pitlochry then it’s cows on the line at Carstairs or a signal problem at Surbiton.

 

Britain’s long suffering rail travellers have had enough. So too have the many thousands of rail travellers across other parts of Europe whose journeys were disrupted by snowstorms this month. But there is a qualitative difference between a blizzard and defective windscreen wipers.

 

There is a lack of maintenance and investment in rail infrastructure in Britain, which means that small issues escalate. Above all, when things do go wrong – as happens everywhere from time to time – there is not the resilience on Britain’s beleaguered network to get things back on track.

 

Rail investment in Britain has slipped, while across the continent major projects are gathering pace. In France, Prime Minister Elisaberth Borne’s new deal for rail includes major investments in infrastructure and new trains to smooth the ride for overnight passengers and commuters.

 

Spain and Italy have both committed to major investments in rail as part of their climate action plans.

 

This does not mean that everything is uniformly rosy in continental rail travel. Late German trains are the butt of many jokes. But on the whole, I do have greater confidence in the capacity of continental operators to find some spare windscreen wipers. And to eventually get me to my destination, albeit sometimes rather late.

 

Nicky Gardner is co-author of Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide, now in its 17th edition.