Train travel has received a more important role in Europe in recent years. Policy makers and consumers have oriented toward train travel as a means of reducing carbon emissions. While we at the Consumer Choice Center stand for choice and technology neutrality, we want to use the rise of interest in long distance train travel as an opportunity to show which railway stations in Europe are the most convenient for travelers.

Inspired by its sister index, the European Consumer Airport Index, we looked at Europe’s 50 largest railway stations and ranked them in terms of passengers experience, ranked according to a mix of factors ranging from how crowded platforms are and accessibility to the number of destinations and cleanliness. 

This is the First Annual Edition of the European Railway Station Index, seeking to rank Europe’s most passenger-friendly railway stations. We reached out to Europe’s Top 50 railway stations and asked for relevant data, but also found data on the stations’ websites, online statistics, and conducted our own research to collect all necessary information. 

Research Note: We strive to improve the quality of the underlying data of this index year by year and aim to refine its methodology moving forward. We sometimes faced contradictory information and indicators measured differently by different railway stations and companies (e.g. number of destinations). We ask the readers of this index to acknowledge the difficulties working with heterogeneous data and caution users of this index to be aware of the underlying data complications.

Overall Passenger Experience Index (includes the above-mentioned indicators but also adds availability of ride-hailing services, competition of train companies, on-site restaurants and shopping, number of international destinations, quality of signage, average strike days, existence of first class lounges, and convenience accessing the platforms).