When travelling between European cities, rail often trumps air on price and comfort, says Alex McWhirter
Until a new generation of high-speed trains can access the heart of Europe, most UK-based business people will take to the skies when heading overseas. That’s because, although Eurostar can whisk travellers to Brussels and Paris in a couple of hours, there are a host of ticketing and technical problems that prevent trains running beyond these two capitals (see “Action stations”, businesstraveller.com/archive/2011/february-2011).
It means that through-journeys from London to the likes of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich or Milan involve time-wasting changes. Sometimes, as in the case of Paris, connecting passengers will have to trek across town between the city’s various termini.
Another drawback is that Eurostar remains London-centric. That is fine for those people living within easy reach of St Pancras International or the park-and-ride facility at Ebbsfleet International in Kent. But these stations are of little use if you are based in the West Country, the north of England, Scotland or Wales.
So canny travellers from the London area or the regions who need to visit several points within mainland Europe and Scandinavia take the plane for speed, then switch to the train for local trips.
Certainly, first class rail within Europe can work out significantly cheaper than economy class air (see table). Other advantages of taking the train include less onerous check-in procedures, no need for baggage checking and an immediate exit when you arrive at your destination. You do need to be a reasonably confident traveller, and it helps to have a smattering of European languages, but the rewards are there for the adventurous.
Flights within mainland Europe are expensive partly because the national airlines face little or no competition from budget carriers and partly because the big airlines are more interested in operating short flights for connecting passengers than catering to the needs of end-to-end passengers. Look at how much KLM charges for the 170km Brussels-Amsterdam hop – as much as £528 – or what Swiss charges for its 22km flight over the Alps between Zurich and Milan – up to £495.
Travelling by train is “an effective, more relaxing way to conduct business”, claims Michael Birtles, managing director of European Rail, a specialist London-based train ticket agency. “It’s a natural choice in the case of Germany because of that country’s reputation for efficiency,” he says.
Silver Rail, a US firm developing a consumer rail booking site, also argues that it’s a far better way to travel, with several advantages.
“Besides city-centre to city-centre convenience, you can walk around the train during the trip and it’s a healthier environment than having to suffer the pressure changes on flights. You can conduct meetings on board and use computers and mobile phones. Often wifi is available too,” says Aaron Gowell, Silver Rail’s
co-founder and chief executive.
Train services across Europe have improved markedly over the past decade. Rolling stock has been renewed and services accelerated thanks to new high-speed lines. Marketing and reservations, always typically weak points in the rail industry, are improving as the networks strive to modernise.
Gowell says: “Business travellers are moving to high-speed rail when the journey falls below four hours. When it falls below 3.5 hours then it becomes a preferred mode of transport over air. Look at the situation in Spain – rail held 10 per cent of the Madrid-Barcelona [rail-air] market in 2004 when the journey took 4.5 hours, but now that a high-speed line has opened, cutting the journey time to 2.5 hours, rail’s share has increased to 60 per cent.”
So travelling by train is set to become more popular as services are improved. But to realise its full potential, Gowell notes, “it has to face the challenge of making it easier [for consumers] to buy tickets both online and efficiently”.
France has its famous high-speed TGVs, which radiate from Paris in all directions, with the latest service, TGV Est Européen, linking Paris to Germany via Strasbourg. Germany has both high-speed ICEs and fast conventional trains running both on domestic routes and internationally, such as Munich-Vienna or Berlin-Warsaw.
Spain has high-speed services over the popular Madrid-Barcelona corridor, while Italy’s fast trains include the newish Eurostar Italia services (no connection with our cross-Channel Eurostar), which link the main northern cities of Turin, Milan and Venice with Rome in the south via Pisa, Bologna and Florence.
If you seek a spectacular journey, then look no further than Swiss Rail’s Pendolino tilting trains, which depart Geneva and Zurich for Milan (meandering a path through the Alps) several times a day. Most, if not all, long-distance trains over these routes feature onboard meal or snack services.
Even Russia need no longer be overlooked when it comes to fast trains. Executives seeking a different travel experience over the popular Moscow-St Petersburg corridor can opt for the recently introduced fast Sapsan trains – a German-built version of the ICE – which cover the trip in under four hours with facilities you would expect to find in the West. Contrast that to the slow and uncomfortable trains in Soviet times.
But it is the frequent high-speed Thalys trains linking Paris with Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Cologne that are especially useful to UK travellers, covering, as they do, key business destinations. Thalys trains were among the first to overcome technical difficulties with signalling and electrical supply, which enabled them to link France, Germany and the Benelux countries. The trains themselves are derived from the TGV family of trains and operate at high speed on both older and newer high-speed lines. Thalys has virtually eliminated Paris-Brussels air competition thanks to its 82-minute journey time and 25 trains a day. Paris-Amsterdam takes three hours 18 minutes (ten trains daily), while Paris-Cologne takes three hours 14 minutes (five trains daily).
The network points to the future with a smart website (thalys.com) enabling passengers to make ticketless and mobile phone booking online. Internet is free in first class and chargeable in standard. Meals are served free in first class, while standard class passengers can access the buffet car, which also sells public transportation tickets for Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels, so no wasting of time or fumbling for coins on arrival.
Another Thalys selling point is “Le Salon”, a meeting room accommodating up to four people travelling first class. Typical prices (covering all passengers) are €600 for Paris-Brussels or €444 for Brussels-Amsterdam. Tickets allow changes, and passengers are provided with the full first class service. It’s been a long time coming, but rail is starting to get there.
