According to a study of 27 European operators, Deutsche Bahn in Germany is among the least dependable, while Eurostar is the worst-performing rail service on the continent.

Europe's rail companies were rated in the research by the campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) based on criteria such ticket costs, timeliness, and refund policies. Only eleven operators were found to have timeliness ratings higher than 80%.

Eurostar denied the results. Deutsche Bahn chose not to respond.

Trains generate less greenhouse gas than cars and aeroplanes, but on many routes, driving is more dependable for commuters and flying is more affordable for vacationers. Protesters urged governments to support them, claiming the results demonstrated that all rail companies could perform better.

Victor Thévenet, a rail expert at T&E and lead author of the report, said people wanted to travel by train but “many are stopped from doing so because the price is too high, especially for families, or because it’s not reliable”.

T&E rated the companies on eight criteria covering cost and quality, giving more weight to factors that passengers said were important, such as ticket prices and special fares. Lesser factors such as bicycle policies and night train offerings contributed 5% each to the overall score.

Italy’s Trenitalia scored highest in the ranking, with an average of 7.7 out of 10, followed by Switzerland’s SBB, the Czech Republic’s RegioJet, Austria’s ÖBB and France’s SNCF. At the bottom of the list were Eurostar, Greece’s Hellenic Train and France’s Ouigo.

The UK was commended in the report for compensating passengers for delays, although the high cost of its tickets was questioned. It was discovered that the UK is home to all or part of the three priciest rail firms in Europe. According to the survey, when comparing routes of similar length, Eurostar, which operates flights from London to Paris and Brussels, costs almost double the average price per km in Europe.

According to Eurostar, it has reopened a facility to purchase last-minute tickets at a reduced cost and revised its booking process and cycling policy since the data was gathered. It claimed that because it preferred to give clients a choice in the form of compensation they got, it did not automatically issue reimbursements for delays.

“We are confident that if this report were redone again, the scores would be higher,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve had a record number of passengers travel with us this year and we expect that figure to grow as we continue to invest in our service.”

Thévenet attributed the high scores for Trenitalia to more than a decade of competition with Italo on Italy’s high-speed network, which has pushed both operators to provide a better service. He also praised Switzerland’s investments in its rail infrastructure, which helped SBB to offer the most punctual service.

Europe has an extensive rail network, but passengers are often frustrated when travelling across countries because of the fragmented ticketing system. The European Commission plans to propose a simplified system next year to let customers buy a single ticket that maintains their rights in the event of a delay.

“It is possible to build and run rail services that offer cheap, popular, low-carbon travel to meet the needs of most people,” said , a transport researcher at the University of Leeds who was not involved in the study. “Many of our European neighbours are already doing this, although there is also room for improvement as the report shows.”

Train tickets in Europe cost about twice as much as plane tickets for the same routes, a Greenpeace report found last year, with “outrageous” tax breaks encouraging people to heat the planet as they head off on holiday.

Transport experts say better railways will not stop the biggest source of plane pollution, which is long-haul flights. A study Morgan co-authored last month found that more than 40% of plane trips from UK airports had a rail alternative but those journeys made up only 14% of the country’s aviation emissions.

“The problem is that while rail can be a good solution for lots of people and trips, it doesn’t make a massive difference to emissions,” he said. “The small number of people making the very long trips are responsible for most of the emissions.”