BRUSSELS — The organization that issued a report in December ranking Europe’s major rail operators has revised its findings, to the significant detriment of Switzerland’s federal rail company, SBB.
Corrections on SBB’s ticket prices led to the company dropping to 11th in the rankings of 27 companies by clean-transportation advocacy group Transport and Environment, from its second-place standing in the original report [see “Italy’s Trenitalia best …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 24, 2024]. Now in second behind Italy’s Trenitalia is Czech-based RegioJet, while Austria’s ÖBB is third.
The companies were ranked in eight areas, with low ticket pricing playing a major role in the final positions. Some 40% of the rankings was determined by the two pricing categories — ticket prices (25%) and special fares and reductions (15%). Notes with the corrected version of the press release on the rankings say that SBB’s ranking was originally calculated using ticket prices with discount cards rather than base pricing, which dropped it to 25th in the pricing category. A correction regarding discount fares for Poland’s PKP moved it from 13th to sixth, while adjusted on-time performance figures moved Netherlands’ NS from 23rd to 21st.
SBB remains ranked first in reliability and booking experience, but those two categories are each weighed to account for just 15% of the final ranking.
The revised full report is available here.
So a cut-rate, cut-service company can look better on paper than one that produces highly reliable service at a slightly higher price. Sounds like a fat-ass capitalist’s dream.