A new European law now prohibits flights for any distances shorter than 1,000 kilometres or on routes where the train journey takes six hours or less. Following massive investments in rail infrastructure over the past decade, all major European cities are now seamlessly connected by high-speed lines. Consequently, flights are no longer necessary between most cities on the continent. The shift has been fueled by a historic reallocation of funds: all former coal subsidies have been redirected into the public transport system. This has made rail travel incredibly affordable for everyone, democratizing mobility in a way we never saw before.<\/p>\n
Looking back at 2026, the contrast is stark. Back then, visiting my parents in Valencia required a grueling 30-hour ordeal involving a chaotic mix of buses and trains. Today, the journey is a different experience entirely. I board a sleek night train in Hamburg and settle into a comfortable bunk bed. Within minutes, I drift off to sleep, unaware of the 1,800 kilometers passing beneath us. I wake up refreshed in Barcelona, just 11 hours later. After a quick stop for an oat milk cappuccino \u2014 which is now the default option at every station caf\u00e9\u2014 I transfer to a fast train heading south to Valencia. By the time I arrive at my parents’ doorstep, I have been traveling for only 16 hours total. I am well-rested, energized, and ready to head straight to the beach.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the subsidies, my entire trip from Hamburg to Valencia cost just \u20ac42. Compared to the \u20ac300 for a flight, it\u2019s no surprise that my train was fully booked. During my journey, I struck up a conversation with fellow passengers in the sleeper car. One person admitted that they used to fly frequently and were initially skeptical when the EU passed the new aviation ban. However, they were quickly won over once they experienced the new night train systems firsthand. They told me that it’s far less stressful than the airport hustle and way more comfortable than squeezing into tiny airplane seats. One woman shared a similar story from the corporate world. She introduced benefits for employees who chose the train for business meetings and her company is now a flight-free company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new European law now prohibits flights for any distances shorter than 1,000 kilometres or on routes where the train journey takes six hours or less. Following massive investments in rail infrastructure over the past decade, all major European cities are now seamlessly connected by high-speed lines. Consequently, flights are no longer necessary between mostContinue reading “Desired Climate Futures: Green travel in Europe”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-desired-climate-futures-2026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4626,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions\/4626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uncertain2degrees.blogs.uni-hamburg.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}