Don’t fly, take the train! – They take climate protection very seriously in France

According to the new rule, it is no longer possible to travel by plane from Paris to Nantes, Lyon or Bordeaux – BBC News greenfo.hu Many people criticized the decision. One of the leaders of the professional organization that brings together European airlines said the ban would have minimal impact on carbon dioxide emissions. According to Laurent Doncel, governments must develop real and concrete solutions to solve the problem.

According to the BBC, members of the national climate organization set up by French President Emmanuel Macron originally wanted stricter rules, they would have capped train journeys at four hours. The government later reduced this to two and a half hours due to protests from some French regions and the Air France-KLM group.

Will prices go up?

What could be the consequence of all this? For example, other airlines’ prices may rise to make up for lost revenue. At the same time, climate advocates do not consider the hour limit strict enough.
With these considerations in mind, French consumer protection group UFC-Que Choisir demanded a reinstatement of the four-hour limit, as well as assurances that the French railway company would not raise ticket prices or lower the level of service in response to the law.
The debate about trains rather than planes has generally become more active lately as there are domestic flights, i.e. the size of the country makes this necessary, but the distances are not so great that it is feasible for business people to do it only by plane. (And, of course, for tourists, too.)

Swedes also vote for the train

In the USA this is not discussed seriously, as it is more about flying across a continent where no one would take a train for half a day or a full day than to fly, but in Sweden the topic has been on the agenda for years.

Here, climate advocates have been running a vigorous information campaign for a long time so that people prefer to use the advanced train network, including early arrival, check-in of personal belongings and baggage, return home from the airport, the passenger is there at the time. Train travel has been championed in travel magazines for years, not only by environmentalists, but also by the magazine editors themselves.