Rail travel
BOXCAR BLUES
Rail is such a vital part of any managed travel programme but has it shot itself in the foot, with fare
hikes, capacity constraints, product inconsistencies and certain fare level shortages? Mark Harris investigates
passengers – up 14 million year on year, according to the Office of Rail Regulation. The future looks rosy too. The Association of Train Operating Companies predicts that UK rail journeys will rise by three per cent per annum over the next 20 years. The trend in business travel is similar.
R
ATOC reports that the number of first class journeys hit a ten-year high of 11 million in 2012 while corporate booking platform Evolvi reports that it fulfilled 5.5 million transactions through over 200 travel management companies. Train operators are sharpening up their
products for business travellers too. Improved on-board catering, compli- mentary wifi, and even the development of premium economy products are all good examples, yet the feeling remains that the rail industry should be doing more to win over corporates. Annual fare rises, poor availability of
advance tickets and a much-ridiculed franchise system are all examples of an industry occasionally prone to shooting itself in its collective foot. The McNulty Report of 2011 claimed
that £190million in annual savings could be made if the rail industry embraces
ail usage hit record levels in 2012. In the last three months of the year, Britain’s trains carried over 385 million
innovation. But while travel buyers and suppliers agree that innovation is the key to the sector’s future success, the speed at which that innovation happens is far from being quick enough.
One step beyond To accommodate growing demand, Network Rail has announced a £37.5billion upgrade for Britain’s railways that will provide an extra 170,000 seats at peak times by 2020. The plan envisages 225 million more
passengers a year and 355,000 more trains by 2019. It aims to provide 20 per cent more seats on trains into central London during the morning rush hour and 32 per cent more into large cities in England and Wales. Planned projects include the electrifi-
cation of the Great Western and Midland main lines, station improvements at Birmingham New Street and Reading, and the reopening 31 miles of railway lines in Scotland. To pay for it, the cost of some annual season tickets could rise by £1,000 as passengers face at least six more years of above RPI increases as government’s annual rail subsidy falls from £4.5billion to £2.6billion. Network Rail's chief executive, Sir
David Higgins, says that the rail industry
has entered an era of trade-offs. "Increasingly, we have to balance the need to build more infrastructure, run trains on time and cut costs. In many areas, choices will need to be made," Higgins warns.
Can’t buy me love There are four principal barriers to greater corporate use of rail: shortage of capacity at peak times; the institutional- ised attitudes of an industry that, in part, still regards passengers as ‘self-loading freight’; an inflexible fares structure; and the lack of cohesion between operators, products and systems. Tony Berry of HRG believes that the
issue of capacity is now being addressed. “We’re seeing more ticketing options, platform enhancements and upgrades across all major stations. Within London, the impact is already being felt. It’s easier to move around and gate entry systems accommodate an increasing number of travellers. Overall it’s a more pleasant experience,” he says. When it comes to booking systems,
Chris Reynolds of 3SixtyGlobal, says, “Corporate buyers want the same booking, billing and data processes for rail as they already have for air. This is partly due to the distribution systems being totally separate, and attempts
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THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 31
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