EU countries are investing in railways with better and faster connections in line with the trend towards flight-free travel to reduce carbon emissions.
According to cnn.com, night trains have gone from the verge of extinction to a continent-wide resurgence, spearheaded by Austrian carrier ÖBB, with new, private companies springing up to offer more options.
In Italy, the flowering of high-speed rail travel is said by some commentators to have contributed to the demise of Alitalia (October 2021), as travellers got more accustomed to the efficiency, comfort and time savings of rail travel. According to CNN, more than 65% of travellers between Rome and Milan now take the train. The rail trip takes under three hours, the stations are near the city centre and passengers can arrive and step on to the train right up to the moment that the doors close two minutes before departure. Plus, there is no waiting for luggage.
In France and Spain too, low-cost, high-speed trains are being rolled out.
World Travel Rail and Cruise specialist, Penny McAslin, told Travel News that clients, especially corporate clients, were opting to travel by train rather than flying, more than before COVID.
McAslin said while her rail travel bookings were currently sitting at 80% of 2019 levels, tickets were selling out. “I have been selling trains for nearly 27 years and this is the first time in my career that trains are selling out – even now for October/November, which isn’t high season.”
She has found the most popular rail services to be Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, Germany ICE, Spain AVE and Ouigo, Trenitalia, NTV Italo and UK trains.
“I am getting a lot of requests for Scandinavia too and Eastern Europe,” she added.
McAslin said for most high-speed carriers and overnight trains, fares were yield-managed and advance-purchase fares were available if done far ahead when the booking horizon opened.
Here are some of the latest European routes being booked:
- Vienna to Paris with Nightjet
- Genoa to Naples with NTV Italo
- Milan to Paris with Frecciarossa
- Amsterdam to Zurich with Nightjet
- Madrid to Alicante and Valencia with Ouigo (starting October 2022)
- Barcelona to Madrid with Iryo (starting November 2022)
- Ljubljana to Budapest with Hungarian Railways
- Stockholm to Hamburg with SJ EuroNight
- Zurich to Rome with Nightjet (starting December 2022)
