How can we get more people on trains instead of planes?

I see a lot of people, usually from outside Europe, who have no experience of how train travel really works.

They sometimes expect it to operate like air travel: with a need to reserve far ahead for good prices, strict baggage limits, check in times etc. Train travel is better here, and doesn’t advertise the benefits well enough! (Also city centre locations, more personal space, views, productive time on-board).

But they also expect airline-style ease of ticketing, protected connections, certainty over schedules. And not being able to guarantee a seat, or seats together, is off-putting for a lot of travellers.

Train travel is worse here, and doesn’t really admit it.

So from Eurail’s point of view: advertise these benefits. Why a 2 hour flight is really 5 hours, and even if the train is 6 hours, it’s a much more pleasant 6 hours.

But also educate customers not to expect train schedules so far ahead, that most trains will probably run at the time they’re running this week, that they don’t need to plan and fix everything 6 months in advance.

The Eurail/ Interrail pass solves a lot of problems over ticketing, and sometimes means a missed connection is not the problem it would be with regular tickets. But the existence of compulsory/ optional/ not possible reservations makes it much more complex again, and I don’t know how to fix that one!

I would focus the communication about it mainly on the experience and comfort side of train travel. The usual intra-European flights to me have a comparable comfort level of a city bus. Cramped seats, very close to other people, slow boarding process, pushy vending tactics, airports hundreds of kms away from the actual destination.… Brrrrrrrr.

While (long distance) trains have plenty of space, comfortable seats, a bar/bistro car with a local flair, plenty of room for luggage, and in some trains dedicated carriages for children, pets, silence seekers,… Much more options than your average flight.

A lot of people I talk with are quite positive to try it, although they mostly think of a train as a commuting vehicle to work, very nice to skip traffic in big cities, but for the rest nothing special. Then I always explain that shouldn’t compare a short commute with international train travel in big comfy real long distance trains with a restaurant and bar and all the other features.

What also strikes me is how easily people get lost finding a route, a bit what  @ralderton says. Even my aunt, working in a travel Agency finds it difficult to propose people a train journey and gets lost in the ins and outs. It’s kinda niche and a there are a lot of different railway cultures, depending on the country. Booking a high-speed train between big cities is for most people doable, but more complex things… Difficult. Maybe a lot of travel agents just need a sort of extra education/formation option coming from Eurail?

I think you could convince a lot of “self searching” travelling people of people with a short explainer in a lot of languages (in video and text) with the basic ins and outs, a bit what the man in seat 61 does very elaborately on his website, but much more concise:

• It’s comfortable, it’s quick but you need to get the hang of it a bit. Once you grasp the basics, you navigate with ease and confidence through Europe.
• Use a good train route planner
• Don’t plan tight connections between two important trains
• Changing trains is not that bad, stretch your legs, grab a coffee, and do a mini-city hop for maxi pleasure
• Delays are not as problematic as they seem if you’re aware of some basic rights and railway logics
• City Centre to City Centre convenience
• Enjoy the scenery and random encounters
• ...

A lot of people once they try to get a bit more specific they quickly search on google maps, panic with the big amount of changes or don’t find something logical, they just click on the next available flight or go by car.

(Maybe we should we rename bahn.com in google trains?)

Picking up on one of Brendans points, making people more comfortable with connecting trains can help.

Doing it by plane - you can’t (or can’t easily) leave the airport and go visit the city for a few hours

Doing it by train - you can just walk out of the station, stroll around whatever city you are in for however long you want, and then stroll back to the station to get your connection.  Obviously you need to plan it, but it makes eminent sense on routes where there are hourly or other regular trains.  Just knowing that you don’t have to take the option with the 7 minute connection and taking the one with the 4 hour 7 minute connection and visit that museum/shop/pub you always wanted to visit but couldn’t justify an entire trip for . . . is a massive advantage of train travel.

Also, as mentioned above, the distinction between commuter and long distance travel could be spelled out.  Commuter travel is *never* going to be fun.  Apart from anything else, you are going to work.  But in general commuter travel is supposed to be A to B functional transport.  Long distance can be so much more in so many ways.  Bring back transeuropexpress as a brand for starters ;)

Why a 2 hour flight is really 5 hours, and even if the train is 6 hours, it’s a much more pleasant 6 hours.

When the world went from everyone getting the train between cities to flying a certain amount of familiarity disappeared.  For whatever reason a lot of people are nervous about what can often be the easiest possible route between two places and opt for the perceived comfort of a “direct” flight.  I use quotes because as above and as we all know, it’s direct to somewhere on the outskirts of where you want to be when you fly.

By way of example . . . I remember an American (sounding) family checking in at Naples airport to fly to Venice or Verona.  The amount they paid for excess luggage (never mind the fare) would probably have paid for first class train tickets and a bottle or two of something fizzy along with a meal on the train.

The point is . . . not that they were silly people but that they probably wanted the perceived comfort offered by flying and were prepared to pay the price.  If they knew they could have walked into the train station, rocked up to the ticket desk, bought tickets and jumped on the next train I’m sure they would have.  The challenge is how to spread the good news.

• As other members mentioned, Most of the main train stations are located within the city centre and you don’t need to spend extra bucks on extra luggage or Airport to city centre transit buses. 
• Introducing new train routes or more connections between different cities.
• Also, introduce some offers or discounts on people who are in the age range of 29-35.
• Less train strikes (especially in Italy) in the last couple of months, there are so many strikes related to transport are happening. This issue needs to be addressed if possible and make it more affordable.

Lastly, Don’t need to worry about Turbulence 😅😅😅

It isn’t always quicker to travel by train. It is always more interesting and the views are better. This is possibly an extreme example, but when I visit the grandchildren I fly from Paris to Bangkok then get a bus, and that takes about 26 hours from home, including two hours on the train from home to CDG. I have done it by train, it was great fun but it takes quite a lot longer. More than two weeks. Plus the Trans Siberian is problematic at the moment, and it cost a lot in Visas. 

So, let's be realistic. If no very large inhospitable areas have to be crossed, (Oceans, everyone...) and mountains aren’t too much of a problem, then yes, train, of course. How to encourage people to use them? Mandatory seat reservations and dynamic pricing need to go on most trains. Yes, SNCF, I am looking at you. I don’t know in March if I want to go to Barcelona in November, so please don’t advertise ridiculous low fares to tempt me, but that sell out in April. Also, on your planner, how about admitting that it isn’t always essential to travel via two different stations in Paris, and admit that there are other routes. While you are at it, how about installing a few lifts at Montparnasse, and not making me walk halfway across Paris from the Metro. Or just admit that there is actually a bus from Gare du Nord. It’s not just France. U.K. small country with far too many train companies. Please at least have some of them run on time, and clean the trains a bit more often. And not expect me to spend hours working out who has the best connections and lowest fares. Oh, and RENFE please can you post your trains a bit sooner while you are at it? Plus while you are digging up Chamartin, how about a few more signs and maybe even some nice person with a buggy to move the crumblies who weren’t expecting a hike?

OK, rant over. I love trains. I have been riding them for travel and pleasure since the last days of steam. Please don’t try to turn them into aeroplanes with luggage checks and every seat a different price. I would prefer ten hours on a wooden seat to that (well, having done that, maybe not. Not every trip, anyway).  Please keep it possible for us to rock up at the station and travel. Did you know there is a rack railway in Greece? Crawling uphill since 1896. Beat that! 

I think that travelling by train can be very stressful when you travel with big luggage, kids or you are not in great shape.

Two examples:

Last Thursday, Basel SBB. The ICE was canceled between this station and Basel Bad Bf, as usual. You had only the S-Bahn, it was hopelessly overcrowded, some people couldn’t board.

Today, Lugano. The well known connection IC 2/21 - RE 80 to avoid EC reservation fees. The IC was 2 minutes late, only 2 minutes were available to change to another another platform. Some people try to run so as not to miss the train, but the stairs were overloaded.

Fortunately, the SBB delayed the departure of the RE 80 by a few minutes. There was no more free seats in first class, unless you went to the front or back of the train, not easy with heavy luggage.

Flights can be stressful too. May I suggest packing light? Can't do a lot about the children, though. At least in a train you can take them for a walk. 

As for your two minute connection, it looks as if you only had four minutes to start with? 

So, what could we do to make things better? 

I can live with these problems; I've been traveling by train for 50 years and I know that I can for example plan more time to change if I have a critical connection.

I'm especially thinking of people who are taking the train for the first time, and perhaps for the last time if the service offered doesn't meet their expectations. 

I'm always selling my stories of traintravel by emphasizing how much more experiences you get by travelling by train. You get a better realization of how distant a travel destination is, the landscapes you go through, and the experience goes beyond the destination only (also trainstops in cities and villages you weren't familiar with). Travelling by train can give so much more life-changing experiences and insights. 

Don’t partner with airlines, it does not make sense, it is the competition!

To be honest most people still fly because it is cheaper compared to trains. Interrail does not really have a plan to visit only one country (2 travel days) that competes with cheap airlines. One thing most people forget  is that the plane ticket is only part of the cost (same with the travel time). You also need a shuttle to the airport or parking, and the same when you arrive. I think this is mostly marketing? The base price of an interrail pass (especially for adults) still scares most people. It would help if there was some kind of discount pass for those on a budget. Maybe put some cost and time comparisons with flying on the homepage.

Maybe an example where you eat during your changeover vs airport/airline meals to educate people that a one hour changeover around meal time can actually be pretty chill.
You have the one country passes but only the German pass includes in- or outbound journeys with the ICE which is unclear.

Missing connections is the biggest fear of inexperienced train travellers, this is especially a problem in Belgium or the Netherlands where the train planner sometimes gives impossible change times when you have luggage (only 5 minutes). People see 4 changes and they think “Nevermind”. Also those new to the NS don’t know that there will be a next train in a few minutes so it’s not a big deal. A suggestion for new users to set the changeover time higher (maybe even during the onboarding wizard) or something that says in the planner how long they have to wait for the next train if they miss it could help. Maybe a reassuring message. You could also show next train information like the track and new arrival time, to give confidence that they won’t have issues when they miss a connection. (Or the other way around if they will)

Something like:

Next train + 20 minutes

Train name    Track     Time

Hello,

We’ve recently updated our webpage:  https://www.eurovoyages.net/europe-by-train to assist travelers planning to explore Europe by train.

The page serves as a concise pocket guide, featuring curated itineraries, scenic routes, and numerous internal links related to several travel resources and our rail-tracker utilities.

Best,
Vijay

 

Hi everyone, first post here in this community, I’m a long train travel admirer, and only recently started switching to actual train advocate.

I think the real issue here is transparency and accountability. The energy we use when we take planes is very rarely shown to us in easily understandable terms, and even if it is, the metrics most people keep using are cost and time, which our society keeps on making a priority over sustainability.

Imho the obvious solution is raising awareness, pushing for a change in how society understands transport: My partner has an industry job, and the idea of traveling by train when they have to do moves around Europe is not even considered: then they claim they are sustainable because they use X% of wind energy.

We should start taking into consideration the real cost of flying and not just the monetary cost of airlines.

And policy makers should totally be pushing for taxing properly energy usage, not only at a home scale, but also business (including airlines).

To the mention of ​@Eurail Community Moderator , I would ask what sort of leverage is a platform like Eurail/Interrail having with train companies across Europe? Is it easy to promote changes in how they provide access to their service with things like the new Plus Pass? Or is it something that is not negotiated with them?

Hi ​@Acre, great question! We totally agree that raising awareness and making train travel simpler are key to getting more people on board.

Our goal at Interrail is really to promote travelling by train as a sustainable and fun way to see Europe. We don’t set railway policies ourselves, but we do work closely with our partners to make things smoother for travellers. The new Plus Pass is part of that, it’s meant to make things like mandatory reservations a bit easier so more people choose trains over planes.

What do you think would help most people make that switch?

I like what SNCF have been doing with really highlighting the carbon intensity differences between flying, driving and high speed trains. Take a look at their ticket machine and poster advertising. It’s good - adopt it. 
 

Elsehwere I suggested a comparison tool for “ticket by ticket” rail versus “Interrrail + reservations”. If you extend that to add air  it gets interesting. Especially if you add both “lowest cost air” and “fully flexible air” (making clear that only the latter is like Interrail).
Really emphasise and include the extra costs of air - checkin time, luggage collection time, extra costs for assigned seats and luggage, ground transport to cities, etc.

For train, as others have said above, emphasise the inherent flexibility, the chill, the centre to centre factors, very low carbon, etc. 

Where and why would you want to team with airlines? Tough one. From a sustainability perspective it pains me.  

I can see the benefit of cross-promotion for Eurail for visitors from other continents who are anyway going to have to fly in and out of Europe. In that case you and the airline could offer combined offers that include flights into and out of hubs with train station (eg Paris CDG, Schipol, etc) with rail doing all the “inside Europe” lifting. There is a net benefit to the customer (a better/different/new experience) and to the environment (no internal flights). 

Interrail with flights at start and/or end seems to be a thing anyway. 

You could make a sustainable offer with a “try one way by train” offer when flights are being booked - but why would airlines agree to do that promotion?

That’s a great point for the comparison tool ​@Andrew Bissell ! Especially if it shows the real costs and time of air travel versus Interrail, including things like luggage fees and airport transfers.

Partnering with airlines is tricky, but for visitors flying into Europe, combining flights with a Eurail journey could be a great way to make travel more sustainable overall.