Rail and air battle

“This week high-speed railways in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland joined with existing international services, such as the cross-channel Eurostar and the Paris-Brussels Thalys, to form Railteam, a new marketing alliance. The aim by the end of next year is to have one website that will allow travellers to view timetables and prices and, with one or two clicks, book tickets from one end of Europe to another.” -The Economist, June 05 , 2007

An old battle field, a new battle.

It is a good time to attack, from the railroad’s operators perspective. They just have to emphasize what is already happening: traffic jams, traffic stress, crowded airports, long queues and security checks, climate changes and pollution levels. After all what they’re offering is much “greener” than any air company can ever hope to be.

Just take a minute and picture this:

You’re traveling across Europe sitting confortably at your computer, online, talking on your cell phone, having the ability to walk about and eat in an appropriate dining car, not strapped in a seat, not having to worry about air gaps or your luggage. And if all this is done at an acceptable speed ( Railteam’s aim is to increase high-speed passengers from 15m a year today to 25m by 2010.), why not?

I personally hope the high-speed railroad operators will overcome political, technical and economic issues (from the cost perspective it is a much more expensive business than the airlines or road travel ) and that this competition will grow stronger. Why? Beacuse, I, the consumer, am the first to gain!

The complete and professionals story.