While there’s nothing faster than air travel pointtopoint, it seems there’s nothing slower than airports to grind those time savings to a halt. The congested roadways, shopping mallsized terminals, the interminable lines to check in and pass through security, and baggage claim delays upon arrival all accumulate to make what should be a quick trip a very slow affair. Now with heightened security at Europe’s airports, the increasing delays are driving more European travellers to seek alternatives to flying.
GoEuro, the threeyearold search engine for comparing and booking rail, coach and flight travel across Europe, has studied ten major intraEurope travel routes and has found that – when including wait time and airport transits – rail travel can get travellers to their destination faster.
From Brussels to London, for example, rail travel is three hours and 18 minutes faster than flying after new security measures were put in place after the Brussels attacks.
Travellers can also save around an hour by choosing to travel by rail if they are travelling between Barcelona and Madrid; Madrid and Sevilla; Rome and Milan; and Dusseldorf and Amsterdam.
From
To
Duration Train
Duration Flight Incl.
Time
waits & transits
difference
1
Brussels
Paris
1:22:00
5:30:00
4:08:00
2
Brussels
London
2:18:00
5:36:00
3:18:00
3
Brussels
Amsterdam
1:50:00
5:05:00
3:15:00
4
Brussels
Lyon
3:29:00
5:50:00
2:21:00
5
Brussels
Frankfurt
3:05:00
5:15:00
2:10:00
6
London
Paris
2:16:00
3:57:00
1:41:00
7
Barcelona
Madrid
2:30:00
3:35:00
1:05:00
8
Madrid
Sevilla
2:20:00
3:25:00
1:05:00
9
Rome
Milan
2:51:00
3:50:00
0:59:00
10 Dusseldorf
Amsterdam
2:13:00
3:10:00
0:57:00
Naren Shaam, CEO and founder of GoEuro said,
“Many travellers throughout Europe will choose to fly between destinations as, on paper, flight times always appear the quickest mode of transport. It is not until you take into consideration wait time at the airport that rail travel can be more time effective.”
GoEuro covers rail, coach and air travel in 11 countries and offers passengers the best possible transport options and combinations based on price, duration, and convenience – all in the user’s native language and currency.
Travellers may use GoEuro to plan trips in a single search to more than 30,000 destinations all over Europe, not just to major cities and airports like many sites.
For more information about GoEuro, visit GoEuro.co.uk.