It’s time to salute a cool and speedy form of travel with a light carbon footprint. Rail travel is booming, and Rail Europe, the 80-year-strong global distributor of all European rail, continues to strengthen its position as the No.1 global provider of European train tickets.
On Wednesday night, at Sydney’s French cuisine and live jazz venue, Hubert, travel industry notables and media gained insights into train travel developments. The setting was a French soiree hosted by Rail Europe and partners, set against a backdrop of some of France’s most beautiful hotels.
Guests learned about the growth trajectory of Rail Europe. They were briefed on latest Eurostar developments and on e-voyageurs SNCF (the digital arm of parent company SNCF – the French national railway company) for which Rail Europe is the international powerhouse.
Rail Europe, owned by SNCF and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), is the largest distributor of European rail products in the world. Its historic market is North America. Rail Europe has set a EUR 500 million target to be reached within the next two years and it has announced the rollout of its new global strategy in technology, a platform called Easy Rail Access (ERA).
A dedicated B2B tool that improves user experience, ERA enables the business to be more agile, facilitating innovation and driving sustained market growth.
A one-stop-shop that provides instant access to real-time European railway inventories, the ERA platform offers agents world-class web-user experience via intuitive booking tools and simplified agent processes. A state-of-the-art technology that is scalable with a highly resilient architecture, ERA can be accessed via any web browser.
Agents can also be confident that tickets can be processed swiftly and easily; and an international team is on hand, not only to help with any queries, but also continuously evolve and improve the service and offers.
Rail Europe’s General Manager Business APAC, Richard Leonard, said the company’s priority was to remain ahead of the game in delivering intuitive and tailored services that addressed or even pre-empted the ever-changing travel landscape, and met the needs of agents, tour operators and travellers.
“More than two-thirds of Rail Europe’s business is driven by B2B sales, i.e. via agents and tour operator networks,” Leonard said.
“By investing in cutting-edge technology, our priority is to deliver unrivalled user experience, instant access to real-time inventories and high-quality customer support to our agents.”
Train travel across Europe generates over EUR 800 million and Rail Europe foresees the opportunity to grow sales to EUR 1.5 billion by 2028. Rail Europe considers it imperative to ensure the company’s technology caters to the demands of high growth markets such as Australia, China, Brazil, India and the USA.
In 2018, the company enjoyed an annual turnover of EUR 335 million, which is set to reach EUR 400 million in 2019 (12% YOY growth). Rail Europe Australia and New Zealand has enjoyed 10% YTD sales growth.
In Australia and New Zealand, Rail Europe’s Great Train Journeys portfolio continues to expand with new offerings and packages being curated and added to meet increasing demand. To complement train tickets, passes and journeys, agents are reminded that a wide range of sightseeing tours, travel experiences and even transfer services are also available via Rail Europe.
Headquartered in Paris, Rail Europe Asia Pacific runs offices in Melbourne, Auckland, Seoul and Tokyo, with the wider network operating in New York, Chicago, Buenos Aires, London and Mumbai.
IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS, Eurostar’s UK-based indirect sales and distribution manager, Paul Brindley, reminded his audience on Wednesday that it’s almost 25 years since Eurostar’s first trains left London’s Waterloo station and changed cross-Channel travel forever. The first service ran in 1995.
Brindley said that Australia was the biggest international market for Eurostar outside Europe, after the US.
He said about 75% of business was repeat, showing how popular the service had become.
No-one knew what Brexit was going to be or what it would bring, Brindley said, but whatever eventuated, Eurostar was ready for it.
Throughout Europe, a phenomenal renaissance in rail travel is taking place. Earlier this year, Dutch airline KLM made headlines by asking potential passengers whether they had considered taking a train instead. See: Airline tells passengers: ‘Why not catch a train instead?’
In other European rail news:
- Swiss Federal Railways has noted a 26% rise year-on-year in people using night trains to and from Switzerland in the first quarter of 2019.
- In Scandinavia, rail traffic is increasing while flight bookings are declining.
- The management of SNCF, SNCB and Patina Rail LLP (a consortium comprising Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Hermes Infrastructure) have presented the Green Speed project to their boards which proposes combining Eurostar and Thalys, the Franco-Belgian high speed rail operator, to create the foundations of a sustainable European high-speed rail travel company.
Written by Peter Needham
.jpg){kind=tracking}