While the EU proposals to reduce carbon emissions from transport by 60% over the next 40 years could be considered ambitious (EU could ground short-haul flights in favour of high-speed rail, 18 April), it's true that travellers are starting to see rail as a genuine alternative to some short-haul flights, principally because of its environmental benefits. But if we are to truly embrace this "intermodality" and witness rail compete with short-haul air routes, we have to match the expectations and experiences travellers have at airports and bring the railway station into the modern age. However, it's not as easy as just building new stations, trains or even routes.
We also need to make it easier for passengers to book their travel across the different modes seamlessly, giving them access to full fares and timetables for both air and rail at travel decision time, making through-ticket sales and interoperability with different railways and airlines a painless process. Unbelievably, this is not commonplace at the moment – but it could and should be. Technology has the potential to transform the travel experience and help the industry to streamline its services so that travellers can have a seamless journey, however they choose to travel. This can be achieved through a combination of the right technology and access to the right travel content – through a global distribution system that is already used across the travel and tourism industry.
The main barrier is that there is no open access for rail to this distribution network (access to full fares and timetables). This needs to be executed in co-operation with a European standard to ensure the traveller benefits from a total trip experience and the railways (and airlines) start to capture new business from other modes of transport. In fact, the disruption to the whole of Europe during the ash cloud fallout last year was an example of how this really needs to be made law.
Diane Bouzebiba
Head of Amadeus Rail, Amadeus IT SA