Leading railway stations in Europe 2023, based on passenger experience

In 2023, two of five of the best railway stations in Europe were located in Switzerland. Based on passenger experience, the best train station in Europe was the central station of Zürich, Switzerland with an index score of 102, where 123 points would be the maximum score. The train station in Bern ranked fourth, scoring 90 points.

Rail passenger traffic in Europe

In 2021, passengers traveled around 345 billion passenger kilometers on railways in Europe. Rail passenger traffic had been inching upwards between 2004 and 2019 but then dropped off in 2020. The travel restriction due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 48 percent drop in rail passenger-kilometer between 2019 and 2020. Rail passenger numbers rose slightly in 2021 but remained at a substantially lower level than pre-pandemic.

Main passenger rail companies in Europe

Based on passenger traffic, the leader of the rail passenger transport in Europe is the SNCF. The French national state-owned company recorded nearly 75 billion passenger kilometers in 2021, and it was followed by the German rail company Deutsche Bahn, with a passenger traffic of around 46 billion passenger kilometers during the same year.