Germany and France To Reduce Domestic Flights To Push People To Take Trains Instead

Germany is attempting to reduce the environmental impact of domestic travel by replacing some domestic flights with trains. The German Aviation Association and Deutsche Bahn just signed an agreement to offer more high-speed rail connections on routes currently only served by short-haul flights. The goal is for more than 20 percent of plane passengers to instead choose to travel by train, cutting a sixth of CO2 emissions generated by the country’s domestic air travel, The Associated Press reports.

In Germany, domestic flights are used mainly by business travelers and tourists catching connecting flights from a major airport. The country’s already efficient high-speed rail would now become even more integral to Germany’s transportation network.

Germany’s hope to encourage train travel follows a similar move by France, which earlier this month passed a bill banning short-haul domestic flights where train alternatives exist. The rule applies to all flight routes paralleled by a train journey that takes under two-and-a-half hours.