Overview
- Réseau Action Climat, which published its report Tuesday, says only 9 of the 31 busiest air routes from France have a direct train, 18 demand at least one change, and 4 are not realistically doable in a day by rail.
- SNCF Connect, the dominant French ticket app with roughly 85% market share, fails to show many viable international itineraries that mix operators, with 11 of 18 studied connecting routes never appearing and only one always visible.
- The group warns that missed international connections often leave travelers paying full price for a new ticket or a hotel because protections rarely cover trips that span multiple companies.
- Price also weighs against rail, with long European journeys costing about twice as much as flights on average, and identical cross-border trains sometimes priced far lower on partner sites than on SNCF Connect.
- The report urges fair display and sale of all operators’ tickets on SNCF Connect and broader passenger rights, as France’s Senate already backed a plan on April 16 to require the app to sell rivals’ tickets by 2028, while some services like the Paris–Berlin night train were revived by a private operator on March 26.