|
|
|
|
US business travelers love to
travel by train while abroad
25 April, 2007
More and more business travelers from
the United States are using the train
during trips overseas, especially the
high-speed rail service in Europe,
China and Japan.
However, these very same US travelers
do not favor taking the train in the
United States except along the
Northeast Corridor, according to an
article in the International Herald
Tribune.
Most US travelers declare that trains
in Europe “run like a clock; they are
nice and clean and fast and the rail
employees are very helpful to the
Americans.”
In contrast to the stress and
confusion of airline travel, rail
trips can be both efficient and
relaxing, travelers attest. The rail
passengers also have the chance of
mingling and talking with fellow
passengers while viewing scenery
through the windows.
Bill Connors, chief operating officer
of the National Business Travel
Association, a US trade group, say
that, more than ever, virtually all
the big global companies use trains
worldwide. This is because, he adds,
the train takes a lot of hassle out of
going to airports.
Railways offer services that make it
easier for a travelers to do business
while moving from one city to another.
Fabrice Morel, chief executive of Rail
Europe, a marketing group, says
Europe’s first-class cars on most
high-speed routes are geared to cater
to corporate travelers, complete with
trays for laptops, open or private
tables for small meetings, and Wi-Fi.
Speed is one of the major attractions
for train travel. The trains of
France’s famous Train ŕ Grande Vitesse
(TGV) run at 180 miles per hour (290
kilometres per hour). That is about as
fast as a commercial airliner on
takeoff.
Europe’s expanding high-speed network
is redefining short-haul travel,
according to Guillaume Pepy, chief
executive of the National Society of
French Railroads, the French rail
system. Recently, a TGV train set a
speed record at 357 miles per hour on
test tracks.
The French rail system plans to launch
high-speed service in June 2007
between Paris and Frankfurt that will
cut travel time by nearly half on
tracks used both by French TGVs and
Germany’s fast Inter-City Express.
In China, new magnetic-levitation
train shuttles between Pudong
International Airport in Shanghai and
Shanghai’s downtown area, at about 240
miles per hour during the eight-minute
trip. A high-speed line between
Beijing and Shanghai is scheduled to
open in 2010.
For trips between Tokyo and Osaka,
Japan’s business capital, corporate
travelers have been, for years, able
to book a seat on one of the many
Shinkansen ‘bullet trains’ that travel
at 180 mph.
In 2007 itself, South Korea is
introducing its own bullet trains on
the Seoul- Busan business route.
An estimated 4.5 million American
business travelers visit Western
Europe each year, according to Rail
Europe. Many of these travelers
say they use airlines for longer hops,
for instance, from Paris to Warsaw,
and trains for distances of up to 200
miles.
The Eurostars, which connect London
with Paris and Brussels under the
English Channel, are widely considered
to be the premier business trains in
Europe. Last year, Eurostars carried
nearly eight million passengers.
|
|
|
