RAILTEAM is now on tracks!

A major step forward has been achieved with the agreement in Berlin, on June 14th, between the major European railways – German, Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss and French. This alliance between the main high-speed services operating in Europe (Thalys, ICE, Eurostar, Lyria, TGV...) will offer travellers top quality service on Europe’s high-speed network. RAILTEAM is similar in concept to alliances set up by the major airlines.

Types of services which will be offered by mid-2007 include:

• Facilitating tickets, rates and platform changes at “hubs” such as Brussels, Frankfurt or Charles de Gaulle airport
• Harmonising rates, on-board services, in-station services to increase awareness of high-speed services
• Access to top notch services – waiting rooms, internet access
• Combining passenger loyalty schemes and determining passenger rights
• Combining marketing and communication activities to encourage usages of high-speed services in Europe

The alliance will be headed up by a top level committee with 4 working groups to implement plans. Guillaume Pepy, CEO of the French Railways, commenting on this new alliance said “Our ambition is to bring high-speed Europe to customers. By combining German and French services, we have a large network and top level quality service on offer. We aim to be the rail alternative for customers looking for an alternative to the airline offer.”

Comments

[DSL High Speed Internet Access]

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[Ole Hastrup Jensen]

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[from hidden europe magazine]

We used to be able to book through tickets between major Europe cities without any problem. Not so long ago, we could book a ticket from Prague to Dublin or Stockholm to Madrid. It was only in May 2007 that through ticketing to Britain (using cross-channel ferries) was barred. Railteam seems to offer the prospect of regaining that possibility - but only, it would seem, with very high speed trains. Might there not still be a place for those of us who prefer not to travel at 250 km/h?
Nicky Gardner & Susanne Kries
editors / hidden europe magazine

[Rail Europe]

As mentioned in the last post, the service will go live in 2009. More details will be communicated in the coming months, we'll update this blog as soon as we have more information.

[Mike Kearney]

It would have been helpful to say exactly when the service starts, how to book and costs.

[Claus Kopp]

I am a teacher who frequently takes children aged from 12 - 18 from UK to Germany or Austria. I am also very concerned about the environmental damage I am doing if I am responsibible for 50 people to fly within Europe. I would very much like to use high-speed rail services for all these European journeys. I took 45 people from Stratford upon Avon, UK, to Wuppertal, Germany recently and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the journey. More important still, the young people from my school (Alcester Grammar School, B49 5ED, Warwickshire, UK) enjoyed in the vast majority of cases their first long distance train journey and as a result would be more likely to consider this type of journey in their future lives. I would now like to take a party of 16 people from the UK (e.g. Birmingham) to Schruns in Austria on 19th January 2008 and return on 26th January 2008. Zurich would be the nearest hub to our final destination. Initail research suggests that the total cost per person for this journey would be in excess of £300. Yet last year I did the same journey flying from Stansted to Friedrichshafen and continued on by train for a cost of approximately £100. Obviously I would have to repeat last year's journey arrangements unless I can find a rail journey that at least challenges the air/rail option in economic terms.
I was delighted to hear about railteam's formation and that part of the brief is to challenge low-cost airlines. I am very keen to use rail services and to introduce young people (future customers) to the possibility of rail travel. I am hoping that railteam will include more economical fares for groups of young people as part of its pricing structure.
Is there anyone out there who could give me good advice on accessing fares for school groups using high-speed rail links across Europe. I am prepared to pay a little more than for equivalent grotty flights, but not 300% more.
Any ideas? Please contact me at clauskopp@hotmail.com or at Alcester Grammar School on 01789762494.

Looking forward to some replies

Claus Kopp