Rail
northern France before 2016, but these approvals are essential for realising services to London,” says a spokesman. But cooperation with Eurostar has been strengthened, with through ticketing now available to Aachen, Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich, with convenient connections in Brussels. Capita’s Raj Sachdave says: “Four hours is the tipping point beyond which business travellers won’t choose rail. But the mind- set of the business traveller begins when opening the front door, and how long it will take to reach the final destination. Amsterdam will attract some business travellers from London, but not from Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds.” Amadeus is participating in an EU-
Amsterdam Central Station INTO EUROPE
LONG AWAITED IMPROVEMENTS to Eurostar start coming on-stream in 2014, its 20th anniversary year. Meanwhile, a lot of work is going on in the background to introduce a pan-European reservations system linked to the global distribution systems (GDSs), but achieving that is still many years off. Eurostar dominates the London-Paris/
Brussels business market, but onboard facilities have fallen behind major British train operators, such as Virgin and East Coast. A total refresh of its existing trains and a fleet of ten new trains are part of a £700 million investment, with the first refurbished train expected in service this year. It promises extra comfort, free wifi throughout, power and USB sockets at every seat, and an “infotainment” portal. The ten new trains are technically
capable of operating beyond France and Belgium, and Eurostar has announced that Amsterdam will be its first new business destination from December 2016. Services will run via Brussels, stopping at Antwerp,
82
Operated Railways to be allowed to bid for the franchise. But the re-privatisation is going ahead, and Labour is highlighting the anomaly whereby state-owned foreign rail operators are allowed to bid, but a state-owned British operator cannot.
The shortlisted bidders are
First Group, the Stagecoach/ Virgin Trains partnership which already runs the West Coast route, and a partnership between French Railways-owned Keolis and minority partner Eurostar. The new franchise is due to
Rotterdam and Schiphol airport. With only two trains daily in each direction, whether the four-hour journey time will appeal to the business market is open to question. But London-Amsterdam is the busiest aviation route in Europe with three million passengers a year, so there is plenty for Eurostar to chip away at. German operator Deutsche Bahn announced plans for direct trains to Cologne (four hours) and Frankfurt (five hours), plus Amsterdam, a few years ago, but technical issues have delayed the launch. “We do not expect approval to run the new trains in Belgium and
led project to develop a pan-European booking system to integrate all kinds of transport, but, in the meantime, online access to rail within Europe is improving. Many corporates place their European rail bookings through a specialist agency, such as Rail Europe, which has now been re-branded
Voyages-sncf.com to reflect its ownership by French state-owned rail operator, SNCF. Yves Tyrode, director general of the
Europe-wide operation, says: “TMCs can book through our website, a dedicated trade call centre, and the GDS. However, the strongest growth is through our web-based business and it offers varied distribution solutions, including Print at Home and Ticket on Departure. The system that drives it provides access to both SNCF’s French domestic inventory as well other joint ventures across the continent, such as TGV Lyria, TGV France-Spain and Thalys. “We also have connections to the private
Eurostar terminal, St Pancras, London
start in February 2015 and will probably run for at least eight years, during which time a new fleet of trains will be delivered.
EXPENSIVE OPTION Reducing first class or introducing an intermediate ‘premium economy’ or ‘business class’ could be part of franchise bids, but Capita’s Raj Sachdave says that reconfiguring trains is an expensive option, especially when franchises have several years to run. “More operators are looking at corporate fares, which
Italian operator NTV’s Italo services, and to Renfe, the Spanish operator. I look forward to a pan-European rail booking system linked to GDS, but we are a long way off seeing this sort of system launched.”
are bought in standard class but allow automatic upgrade to first class, as with East Coast’s existing Scottish Executive fare,” he says. “This does not break company travel policy and enables train operators to control load factors in first class.” As the largest travel
management company selling rail travel, Capita can now negotiate deals exclusively for its customers. A case in point is a new agreement to offer Virgin Traveller loyalty club membership to first class
travellers on Virgin Trains, previously only available when booking through the Virgin Trains website. East Coast’s Rewards scheme can also be used by Capita customers. Places for People is one of the first organisations to adopt the Virgin loyalty scheme. Procurement manager Lisa Gallacher says: “We value tools that help us to ensure our travellers stick to our travel policy and use our chosen agency, giving us a better view of where and why our employees
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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