SNCF comes fifth in European ranking of best train companies

Eurostar did not fare quite so well

SNCF was praised for its “very good passenger experience, an attractive refund policy, and its night train offer”
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French rail company SNCF has been ranked fifth in a new ranking of 27 major European train firms, which has compared companies for the quality-price value they offer.

The ranking from NGO T&E (Transport & Environment) was published on December 9, and considered eight criteria, including:

  • Price

  • Reliability

  • Passenger experience

The ranking is aiming to show company best practices, inspire other companies to take note of the high-ranked firms, and encourage governments to implement more favourable train policies.

SNCF was praised for its “very good passenger experience, an attractive refund policy, and its night train offer”, said Victor Thévenet, T&E's rail policy manager, reported by FranceInfo. Yet, SNCF lost points for its “high fares [and] problems with reliability, cancellations and delays”.

Italian company Trenitalia came top of the list, with one of the best quality-price ratios and best passenger experience. It scored highly in almost every category, except on its bike carrying policies. 

  • Swiss operator SBB came in second place (due to punctuality and booking experience)

  • Czechian service RegioJet in third (due to affordability and traveller experience)

  • Austrian company ÖBB in fourth (due to booking experience and night train offer)

Eurostar came in 27th place, while SNCF’s low-cost TGV service Ouigo came in 25th, ahead of Greek company Hellenic Trains in 26th.

Eurostar scored low due to its cost, which the NGO found to be twice as high as the European average, without a guarantee of excellent service. It also scored low for its bike policy.

‘Operators and the EU must improve reliability’

Overall, the NGO’s report was relatively damning in its assessment of rail companies in Europe. 

It said: “The findings highlight that overall, rail services in Europe fall short of expectations and that expensive ticket prices don’t necessarily translate to higher quality of services. Operators, Member States and the European Commission must improve reliability.”

Mr Thévenet cited “sky-high ticket prices” as the main factor “driving passengers away from trains”, and called for more affordable fares. 

“This is a shared responsibility between the industry and governments,” he said. “Rail operators need to set customer-friendly fares, while Member States and the EU should ensure fair competition and lower rail tolls. That's the ticket to making train travel accessible to all Europeans.”

‘Single digital booking’

The ranking also serves to add momentum to the current European conversation on the need to standardise and link rail services across the bloc. 

EU Commission President von der Leyen “recently committed to proposing a new Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation that would allow travellers to easily book tickets across countries and operators without the fear of missing connections”, said T&E. 

The EU is also working on a forthcoming budget, and future review of the transport infrastructure funding scheme the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Mr Thévenet said: “The EU has opened a window of opportunity to finally mandate that train companies share their tickets with booking platforms to enable cross-border booking in just one click…It is now time for the Commission to show these are not empty promises.”

He said that the EU was also working on rolling out a standard European command and control system (ERTMS), in a bid to improve train punctuality, capacity, reliability, and ease of use.