Thanks, Boss

Today's Wall Street Journal has favorable coverage of the various high speed rail initiatives throughout Europe, and considers such to be a viable alternative to air transport.

Wall Street Journal's site is subscription only, but maybe your boss is benevolent:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120528303456628989.html

Brief passage:

• To get to Europe, you still have to take a plane. But to get around, some savvy travelers are finding a much smoother -- and sometimes quicker -- ride on the train.
  
  Europe's high-speed rail operators are adding routes and cutting travel times between major cities. These four routes have undergone recent improvements.High-speed rail operators in Europe are ambitiously adding routes and cutting travel times, looking to snatch customers from the short-haul airline market. They are also adding perks, such as DVD and movie rentals and free newspapers. Plush high-speed trains are luring customers weary of the bare-bones service offered on the many discount airlines that have proliferated throughout Europe: Eurostar Group Ltd. trains (which run in the United Kingdom, France and Belgium) have 33 inches of leg room in coach, for example. Discount airline Ryanair has 30 inches of leg room -- and the seats don't recline.
  
  Spain, which is at the forefront of the rail boom, got high-speed service connecting Madrid and Barcelona last month. The journey was slashed by two hours: Now it takes just two hours, 35 minutes. Switzerland in January saw the opening of a $3.5 billion, 22-mile tunnel that passes through the Alps, cutting travel time by 45 to 75 minutes within the country and between Switzerland and Italy.
  
  In November, Eurostar reduced the travel time by 20 minutes on its popular London-to-Brussels and London-to-Paris routes. As of late January, there were more than 2,600 miles of high-speed lines under construction in Europe, including some 1,400 miles in Spain alone, plus an additional 5,300 miles planned, according to the International Union of Railways

Photo:
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/image ... 214133.jpg

An interesting article, thanks. The additional cost of taking the train is unfortunate though. Does anyone have a (simplified, if necessary) answer to why this is? Why is rail often more expensive than air? Even in Europe, where rail travel is popular, efficient and often well-subsidized, the discount airlines are still killing the trains in terms of price (at least on some of the routes mentioned in the article). Are passengers paying that much more (try twice as much on for size!) for free magazines and extra leg room?

either Gilberts link bypasses the subscription requirement , or its no longer subcriber only .

I think youll find the budget flights will quickly rise in price in the future , as carbon taxes and other eviromental measures kick in .

as for the cheap price now , well very little contribution to the cost of the airport capital costs etc would help . They genrally fly to secondary airports that are set up by local authorities to foster growth in the local area . a subsidy in other words .

I used to travel on occasion between Paris and Barcelona. To use Ryanair for that journey today would be very inexpensive if I planned ahead and used web booking, but my itinerary would be somewhat roundabout. First, the "Paris" flight departs from Beauvais which according to Ryanair . com

is located approximately 80 Km from the centre of Paris. There is no rail service from the airport but there is a bus service. Journey time is approximately 1 hour. Cost is €13.00.

and the "Barcelona" airport is in Girona

located just 18 Km from Girona city. Buses, operated by "Sagales", connect the airport to Girona. The bus journey takes approximately 20-25 minutes and costs €2.50 one way. The bus stop is located outside arrivals. Alternatively, there is a taxi rank outside arrivals. A taxi to Girona takes approximately 15-20 minutes and costs €20-25.

and it's still another 75 minute train ride from Girona city to Barcelona. So the alternative 9 hour train ride from Paris (Gare de Lyon) would probably still be my choice.

Another trip I've taken several times--Paris to Budapest--might, however, find me cramming into a discount airplane seat. The train ride used to be a long 22 hour journey (and believe me, if you've seen one state collective farm, you've seen 'em all). Today, with HSR as far as Munich, the journey time is down to about 16 hours, but a WizzAir flight is only 2:15 (again, from Beauvais). So the plane is probably the winner on that route.

I suspect the budget airlines pick up alot of the resort / holiday villa traffic to spain et al . Hence they probably dont want to go to the main city anyway , and so the lack of city center arrival doesnt bother them . There will always be room for these kind of operations , but hopefully the majority of traffic moves to rail .

I suspect the budget airlines pick up alot of the resort / holiday villa traffic to spain et al . Hence they probably dont want to go to the main city anyway , and so the lack of city center arrival doesnt bother them . There will always be room for these kind of operations , but hopefully the majority of traffic moves to rail .