THERE would be very few in the rail industry unfamiliar with the name Jason Tarabo, and now back in Australian where it all began, Jason has joined the team at Australian owned and operated rail service provider, International Rail, in the newly created position of head of product, marketing and innovation.
Mr Tarabo confesses to always having a slight obsession with rail thus began his 17-year long career in the industry that has taken him across the world. He began at Rail Plus (R.I.P) and moved on as the market manager in Australia and NZ for Eurostar. Following this, the opportunity came up to pack his bags and move to Paris as the global trainer for Rail Europe. Over ten years Tarabo held various positions including operations manager for Asia Pacific before joining the commercial team as regional manager for the Middle East and then Southeast Asia.
Owner and managing director of International Rail Jonathan Hume said that with the recent over-whelming interest in rail, it was essential to create a role to meet the demand from the trade and the market across a range of aspects within the company.
“We want to take the company to another level and with Jason taking care of these essential areas; I’ll be focusing on a number of new opportunities both in Australia and internationally”.
International Rail celebrates its 18-year anniversary this year and is poised to enter a new phase of the company’s evolution. Together with Mr Tarabo’s experience and passion for all things rail, the company is positioned to capitalise on the huge growth occurring around the world in rail product.
Mr Tarabo said, ” International Rail has been a long-standing respected part of the rail community for many years. They remain the only full-service rail wholesaler that offer local service to an agent, something that is sorely lacking throughout the trade. With the expansion into New Zealand, and potentially other markets, I am super excited to be a long for the journey”.
“During my time I have hosted over 30 fam trips, mostly in and around Switzerland, and visited agents in every continent of the world outside of Antarctica. I challenge anyone to a global train quiz!”.
He added, “It has been well documented that rail is booming, new routes and companies seem to be popping up every week. The industry and consumers are banging on about how green it is and that’s great, but it’s also just a more fun way to travel.
“There is no high-speed rail in Australia, so it’s exciting to experience something unavailable at home. Plus, Australian travellers spend hours on a plane to reach their destination, the last thing they want to do is stay in an airport and get back on a plane when there are better options available. My top tip, remember any journey under 4.5 hours is going to be quicker than flying, when you factor in transfers, luggage collection, check in times etc”.
