Rail Europe

Discover the Mont Saint Michel, « Wonder of the western world », with Rail Europe

Rail Europe and SNCF (French National Railways) celebrate their way the 13th centenary anniversary of the Mont Saint Michel by offering easier booking and shorter journeys to this outstanding monument classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. The trip to the
Mont Saint Michel consists in a TGV trip between Paris and Rennes and a bus section between Rennes and the Mont Saint Michel. When booking with Rail Europe, travellers arrive at the feet of this impressive landmark after a fast, comfortable and scenic trip. And as of July, 5th, the journey time is reduced to 3h30 from Paris!

During its long history, the Mont Saint Michel has been renowned both for its spiritual and religious significance as well as its historical and architectural interest. With more than 3 million visitors each year, the Mont Saint Michel is one of the 3 most visited places in France. The abbey and its surroundings will be alive with cultural events to celebrate its foundation, including exhibitions, concerts and pilgrimages throughout 2008 and 2009. So don’t miss this commemoration while in Europe and jump at the chance of the Paris – Mont Saint Michel connection.

Be sure to get your ticket during this busy period by booking it now through the wide Rail Europe network. List of Rail Europe’s travel agents in your country is to be found on www.raileurope.fr/wheretobuy.

Rail Europe achieves record results in 2007

Rail Europe published their 2007 results, and it appeared to be another excellent year... Numbers speak for themselves: with sales of 120 millions € up by 14% vs 2006, Rail Europe realized its best year ever. In other terms, more than 1,4 million travellers experienced Rail Europe’s services and expertise!!!

“We are very proud of these excellent results which reinforce Rail Europe’s position as the leader of European Rail distribution worldwide” says Pierre-Stéphane Austi, CEO of Rail Europe. “2007 was a strategic year for us, we implemented a lot of new, technical innovations and the numerous improvements of the European Rail network as well as the emergence of rail as an eco-friendly option of travel created a lot of interest for our products. The commitment of our teams and partners worldwide was of course instrumental in transforming these elements into success”.

2007 was indeed an intense year for Rail Europe with, to quote but a few
• Web services implementation in Korea, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil, China, Taiwan and many other markets, enabling now more than 18 000 additional travel agents to access Euronet, Rail Europe’s unique online reservation system, with direct connection to the European rail carrier’s inventories
• Rail Europe's further geographic expansion, with the accreditation of 20 new General Sales Agents, on traditional as well as on new territories. Rail Europe is now present in 46 countries
• The launch on 2 new consumer web sites in Japan (www.raileurope.jp, in Japanese) and in South Africa (www.raileurope.co.za), which follow the successful launch of Rail Europe’s consumer website in Australia, www.raileurope.com.au, in 2006. These sites are a prelude to several new ones, planned in 2008, for India, South America, Israel and South East Asia.
• The opening of Rail Europe’s Australian representative office in Sydney, in December 2007. With this opening, Rail Europe has now its ownoffices in its 5 biggest markets (Japan, South Korea, India, South America and Australia), with industry professionals, able to both animate the market and the distribution network, with a local touch.

The launch of the French High Speed Line in the East of France ("TGV East") on 10th June, the Rugby World Cup in France, the opening of the first High Speed Line in the UK ("HS1") and Eurostar’s move from Waterloo International to the beautiful St Pancras International station were emblematic European happenings in 2007 reminding, if need be, that train travel is definitely the best way to travel in Europe!

To learn more about Rail Europe, its products and its distribution network, click on www.raileurope.fr