European Air and Road Congestion Makes the Case for Trains

For a more relaxed, more satisfying European trip, take the train.

When I began going to Europe shortly Noah got off the Ark, Europeans traveled by train. So did legions of Eurailpass-equipped American students. To Europeans, flying from one country to another seemed prohibitively expensive. Autobahn, autoroute, autostrada and other freeway construction was ongoing and networks were incomplete, and while there were not yet high-speed trains rail travel, which was already in steep decline in the US, was frequent and reliable.

Now, along with the adoption of American junk-food chains, more and more Europeans have acquired our plane-addiction and our auto-addiction. Traffic is appalling around major cities and to popular weekend and holiday destinations such as the Mediterranean beaches in summer and the Alpine region in winter. And, as Elizabeth Rosenthal noted in a piece called "Congestion and Other Terminal Illnesses" in the New York Times, "While passenger numbers have skyrocketed in the last decade, airports have expanded in a makeshift fashion, leaving travelers to hike longer distances...Add to the fact that air traffic and security procedures have grown exponentially, and bad airport experiences seem to far outnumber the good."

She related her own experience, stuck on the tarmac for an hour after landing in Rome, recalling, "After the 50-minute flight, we waited an hour to get off the plane and would wait another hour standing around a dirty carousel before receiving our luggage." Let's do the math: However long it took to reach her departure airport from wherever she was and then one hour clearing security and to board the plane. Her 50-minute flight was followed by that hour on the tarmac before deplaning and another hour waiting for luggage to arrive. Then, she still had to get from the airport to wherever she was going. Even without the travel time to and from two airports, she was en route for four unpleasant hours. If her plane's departure had been delayed, her journey would have taken even longer.

Rosenthal's interviews with other frequent travelers about airports they particularly detest are enlightening, and so is her reference to Skytrax, which reviews and ranks airports and airlines. In this evaluation system that is still under development, world airports are rated from five to one star (plus unranked). Here are the top 15, only three of which are in Europe:

5 Star Airports

Hong Kong International
Seoul Incheon
Singapore Changi Airport

4 Star Airports

Amsterdam Schiphol
KLIA Kuala Lumpur
Sydney
Zurich

3 Star Airports

Abu Dhabi Int'l Airport
Bahrain Int'l Airport
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport
Doha International
Dubai International
Johannesburg Int'l Airport
Kuwait Int'l Airport
Madrid Barajas

Bottom line in my opinion is that it is stilk better to take