Air France looking into launch of high-speed rail service

An interesting story from across the pond on the shift in transportation.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/ ... e-Rail.php

The equity analyst quoted in the article states that a (1) significant savings could result, (2) there could be improved customer service with rail and (3) the administrative hassles (which are probably more of a problem in the US) that come with air travel are lessened by taking high-speed rail.

A couple of noteworthy quotes:

"Energy accounts for about 40 percent of an airline's total costs, against only around 10-15 percent for rail."

"...short haul flights are going to become redundant over the next five to ten years."

This is not a new idea. Various airlines have been using Thalys for some time to eliminate flights between Paris and Brussels and even Koeln. Lufthansa have been using trains in Germany on various internal routes.

There are now rumours that even the British government is softening on building high speed routes to the north to eliminate internal flights - instead of enlarging Heathrow.

Amtrak Forum Moderator's Note:

Moved to the Worldwide Railfan forum.

do Virgin trains and virgin air share any marketing / reservations resources ? Or are they run as seperate companies entirely .
If the railroad tracks are already there , then its probably quite a cheap way for an airline to expand its service base , or reduce its number of short haul flights .

David Benton wrote:do Virgin trains and virgin air share any marketing / reservations resources ? Or are they run as seperate companies entirely .
If the railroad tracks are already there , then its probably quite a cheap way for an airline to expand its service base , or reduce its number of short haul flights .

It's just a brand name. In fact half the company is owned by Stagecoach, one of the bus companies that became train operators. Also they lost the Cross country franchise. No, I don't think there is any integration. For one thing there is still no Inter City station at Heathrow. Virgin trains did run one train a day from Gatwick to the north but they lost the franchise.

I know that Lufthansa did have some carriages on DB trains with their own ticketing. The surprise is that the Americans think it is a new idea.

The first TGV from Paris to Lyon eliminated most of the flights between those cities. As SNCF and Air Inter were both state owned that didn't matter.

i remember those luftsansa trains in my railroad books form the early eighties . Stagecoach run alot of the commuter bus services here .
I think contiental in america uses some trains on the nec to connect to its hubs , so the idea is not new there either , just to the media , who seem to be discovering trains are practical , which is good .

i remember those luftsansa trains in my railroad books form the early eighties . Stagecoach run alot of the commuter bus services here .
I think contiental in america uses some trains on the nec to connect to its hubs , so the idea is not new there either , just to the media , who seem to be discovering trains are practical , which is good .