European high-speed rail tickets to compete with short-haul airline routes
2 July 2007Eurostar, Germany’s Deutsche Bahn AG and France’s SNCF joined Dutch, Austrian, Swiss and Belgian train companies to form a rail alliance, Railteam, that aims to make international train bookings far easier and simpler by building a single online reservation system.
They want to attract at least 25 million travelers by 2010 ” 10 million more than now ” taking a 5 percent chunk out of the short-haul airline market by promoting four-hour business trips and up to six-hour leisure journeys across western Europe.
They said rail travel can and will compete with low-fare airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet that have revolutionized European travel by encouraging people to fly more often and take weekend trips away.
source: International Herald Tribune
