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.
