The oil crisis triggered by the war in Iran has threatened flight disruption this summer, with many holidaygoers now considering train travel instead — or even a mix of both.

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But is it worth it? Europe in Motion looked at price differences on some of the continent’s routes.

Specifically, we looked at direct trains with the lowest price and with a reasonable journey length — meaning that the time difference between the cheapest and most expensive option doesn’t exceed one hour per trip.

Additionally, the departure time must allow passengers to reach the station from the city without using a car, meaning that public transport must be operating.

Train vs plane: What’s most convenient on similar routes?

British trains remain eye-waterlingly expensive. On the London-Edinburgh route, which typically takes between four and 4 1/2 hours, tickets (€153) can cost up to three times more than a one-hour and 20-minute low-cost flight (€53) in the same period.

The average price per kilometre is also roughly double that of other European routes of similar length.

Italy comes in second by a wide margin, based on the route between its two biggest cities, Rome and Milan – usually a three-hour journey by high-speed rail.

Here, train and plane tickets tend to level out, with flights sometimes edging slightly higher than trains (€93 vs 127), especially at the weekend.

Third-placed Germany offers a reasonable €0.15 per kilometre on the Berlin-Munich route, which typically lasts a little more than four hours.

If booking around a month in advance, trains are still slightly cheaper than planes (€91vs €137).

For those who aren’t in a rush, France seems even better value. On the Paris-Bordeaux route (around two hours and 15 minutes), we’re looking at €0.14 per kilometre — while flying over the same weekend might cost at least three times as much.

Prices look competitive on other major routes too, like Paris-Lyon or Paris-Marseille, thanks to strong competition on the rail network from private operators like Ouigo or Trenitalia.

That said, timing does matter. Prices can swing, and booking further ahead doesn’t always mean cheaper fares. The same Paris-Bordeaux route, booked three months in advance, can end up costing €50 more.

Madrid-Barcelona (three hours and 15 minutes) looks like the standout deal of them all, with a cost per kilometre of just €0.13. Fly over the same period and expect to pay more than double.

Greece also has competitive prices on the north-south Thessaloniki-Athens route, coming at €69 for a 500km-long journey lasting a little more than five hours.

How easy is it to travel and move around by train in Europe?

For those wondering how effective it is to move around Europe by train, we can look to Eurostat’s latest report on European transport for the answer — and yes, train travel is relatively easy.

Railway density on the continent is roughly 58 km of railways every 1,000 square kilometres.

Moving around is particularly easy in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, the European countries with the most extensive networks in Europe, with more than 100 km of railway per 100,000 square kilometres

Germany is also one of the countries where the network grew most in the past decade, up 6 km per 1,000 km² of land area.

Norway, Greece, and Finland, on the other hand, rank at the bottom with fewer than 20 kilometres. Hence, it may not be a surprise that Greece is the EU nation that travels the least by train, covering only about 70 km a year, domestically.

Which European citizens use trains the most?

In the EU, 95% of that traffic takes place on domestic railways.

The beating heart of the rail network lies on a central-western axis, as Austrian, Hungarian and French passengers rack up the most kilometres, between 1,400 and 1,500, according to Eurostat.

The average EU citizen travels around 1,000 km per year. The total kilometres travelled reach 443 billion. If you were to cover that distance in space, you could take 500 round-trips between Earth and Jupiter.

UK data is not included in the Eurostat report, but the average is very similar to the EU’s. Nevertheless, rail traffic there is mostly concentrated in London and the south east, according to the Office of Rail and Road 2025 data.

MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi is being sued by a Miami-based event promoter who says the soccer icon violated terms of a $7 million contract by missing an exhibition match last year.

Vid Music Group filed the lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract against Messi and the Argentine Football Association in Miami-Dade circuit court last month, according to court records.

Messi and the AFA didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Considered one of the greatest soccer players ever, Messi appears with both his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and Argentina’s national team, and fans routinely pay much higher prices for the chance to see him play.

According to the lawsuit, Vid signed a deal with the AFA last summer for exclusive rights to organize and promote Argentina’s friendlies last October against Venezuela and Puerto Rico in exchange for ticket, broadcast and sponsorship revenue. Vid claims that Messi was supposed to play for at least 30 minutes in each match, unless he was injured.

The 38-year-old Messi watched Argentina’s 1-0 win against Venezuela on Oct. 10 from a suite at South Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, Messi scored two goals in Inter Miami’s 4-0 MLS win over Atlanta. That match was important to Inter Miami, since it gave them home-field advantage for Round 1 of the playoffs.

Then, on Oct. 14, Messi played in Argentina’s 6-0 win over Puerto Rico. That game was originally supposed to take place in Chicago, but low ticket sales in the city where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were making more than 1,000 arrests led organizers to move the game to Florida. AFA blamed the immigration crackdowns when the smaller venue in Fort Lauderdale didn’t sell out, even after ticket prices were reduced to $25 each.

Vid hasn’t specified damages they’re seeking in the lawsuit, but they claim they lost millions between Messi failing to appear in one game and low ticket sales at the other.

Ukraine’s allies pledged a massive new military aid package Wednesday, including 120,000 drones from the U.K., after Russia launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles in fresh overnight strikes.

The commitments came as Kyiv warned of escalating Russian bombardments and urgently pressed for more air defenses.

Russia launched 324 drones and three ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, part of a broader surge in aerial assaults, according to Reuters.

Russian strikes hit more than a half a dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line on Tuesday and Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

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Between November and March alone, Moscow fired roughly 27,000 Shahed-type drones, nearly 600 cruise missiles and 462 ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

“Every day we need air defense missiles — every day Russia continues its strikes,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.

The latest attacks struck multiple regions behind the front lines, killing an 8-year-old boy in the central Cherkasy region and injuring a woman in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian officials.

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The war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has now stretched beyond three years.

Defense leaders from about 50 countries met virtually Wednesday to coordinate military aid and boost weapons production and especially air defense systems.

The session was led by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and British Defense Secretary John Healey, with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also present. The United States was represented by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.

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Several countries also announced new contributions to Ukraine. Germany and Ukraine agreed on a 4 billion euro ($4.7 billion) defense package, while Norway pledged 9 billion euros (about $10.6 billion) in assistance.

The Netherlands said it will spend 248 million euros ($293 million) to produce drones for Ukraine. The United Kingdom pledged 120,000 drones.

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Russia pushed back on the expanded support, warning that European efforts to boost drone production for Ukraine risk deepening their involvement in the conflict.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the decision by European countries to supply drones to Ukraine was leading to an escalation of the military-political situation and a “creeping transformation” into Ukraine’s strategic support base, TASS reported.