Routes, rolling stock and high tech – worldwide rail is making the move to business class
From San Francisco to Stockholm, serious initiatives are underway to reshape the way you travel. Rapid rail is ascendant these days. Here’s a rundown of what’s happening now, where, and how it could affect you.
From Basin to Bay – The $64-billion California High-Speed Rail project is set to lay down some track soon, according to reports in The Orange County Register. The first 29-mile stretch of a line that’s being built to connect the Los Angeles Basin with the San Francisco Bay in under three hours should be done by 2019. It’s projected to take a decade after that to finish the high-speed line.
California voters and many Golden State politicians are behind the project, including Governor Jerry Brown. In 2008 voters approved $10 billion for the West Coast bullet train. CHSR planned to cover fully a fourth of the project’s capital costs with private money.
It’s a relatively short 348-air miles/381 ground miles via freeway between the two cities. The California bullet train aims to link Basin with Bay via a 220-mile-per-hour conveyance replete with lots of on-board business travel accoutrements.
Tantalizing Texas? – Over in Texas the landscape is different – literally and figuratively. Now optioning land for a 240-mile link between Dallas and Houston is Texas Central Railway. According to a company statement it “has reached option agreements on about 30 percent of the parcels needed” to construct the line. TCR intends to whisk passengers between the two cities, and do so in a mere 90 minutes. Texas Central CEO Carlos Aguilar says, “This [parcel optioning] is a significant step in the progress of the high-speed train and reflects the positive dialogue we have had with landowners along the route.”
However, the Houston Chronicle reports state house and senate lawmakers have introduced legislation to stop TCR cold. According to the construction industry website Construction DIVE, most of those legislators represent rural and suburban districts. That’s where opposition to the line is strongest. The publication says, “The proposed legislation includes measures that would interfere with eminent domain (land) acquisitions.” Some landowners contend Texas Central “could seize property via eminent domain for the benefit of private enterprise.”Political issues aside for a moment, the market is ripe in Texas for high-speed rail. Some 50,000 souls make the drive down Intestate 45 between Dallas and Houston every day. Right now that journey consumes some four hours. By 2035 projections are it will take seven. Meanwhile, Dallas Love Field to Houston Hobby remains a mainstay for Southwest. DAL – HOU is the airline’s original route.Topographically, Texas terrain is flat and forgiving; California’s is more complicated. But while the political climate in California is conducive to high-speed rail, the same can’t be said for Texas.
Acela Ascendant – What can be said for Amtrak’s Acela Express is that the high-speed rail link along the Northeast Corridor continues to build on its success. Consider: in FY2016 3,489,000 travelers frequented the service. Compare this to the 2,473,000 who did so in FY2002. “Acela Express has led a significant growth in revenue and market share in the Northeast,” says Amtrak spokeswoman Chelsea Kopta.
Amtrak understands Acela’s importance to business travelers on the corridor. It’s been 17 years now since Acela’s current rapier-like trainsets redefined ground transit time between Washington, DC, and New York City as well as New York City and Boston. The Boston-Washington transportation artery “carries a workforce contributing $50 billion annually to the national GDP,” according to US Senator Cory Booker (D, NJ).
Now new Acela rolling stock is poised to up the ante. Amtrak has contracted with Alstom to produce 28 next-generation high-speed trainsets for Acela Express. When they enter service 2021 they’ll provide more comfort, and more speed too: 160 miles per hour initially and 186 mph after future Northeast Corridor infrastructure improvements.
Here’s the rundown of what to expect from Acela Express 2.0:
• One-third more seats per trainset.
• A smoother ride, the better to work on your laptop or tablet. That ride is going to mellow out thanks to the way the new trainsets are designed and advanced track maintenance practices. Amtrak says the ride will be “comparable to international high-speed train service.”
• Improved WiFi access.
• Personal outlets, USB ports and adjustable reading lights at every seat.
• A better food service car with greater selection.
• A more comfortable interior.
• Accessibility that exceeds ADA requirements. This makes a decided difference, as this author recently discovered after a temporarily debilitating accident.
There’s more to Amtrak’s northeast operation, of course, than Acela Express. The final example of Amtrak’s City Sprinter locomotives (ACS-64s) just entered service on the Northeast and Keystone corridors. The benefit for business travelers, says the passenger rail company, is that delays are down 30 percent while on-time performance is up 25. Amenities don’t much matter when your train is running late.
Canadian Sunrise – The United States’ northeastern arterial railroad isn’t the only business-oriented link of importance in North America. Canada’s Quebec City-Windsor Corridor is critical. It served some 3,578,000 passengers in 2015, up from the 3,566,000 travelers in 2014. Rail is rapid and trains frequent: 457 weekly departures attuned to the needs of ground-bound business travelers. Consider, VIA Rail Canada makes the important Toronto – Ottawa 116 times each week.
VIA Rail has a clear-cut business bent. The railroad’s Business Class offers hot towel service, snacks, refreshments and a full bar. There’s a choice of hot or cold meals for lunch or dinner. Those meals offer a glass of wine to wind down the day. Seats are fitted with power outlets and designed ergonomically with lovely lumbar support. VIA Rail’s new business class seat also opens up sight lines to the windows, the better to enjoy those vaunted Canadian sunsets.
Back at the station, productivity boosting Business Lounges are located at seven stations along the corridor: Québec City, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, London, Dorval and Kingston.
High-Tech HighlightsBooking air is a relatively easy process. Do it from your app, via a TMC or pick up the phone. Often, air and ground booking are integrated. What’s been slow to develop is a way to look at, and book, rail. Now, a number of players are emerging.
One of the most innovative is UK-based SilverRail. It works with such major players as Trainline, Rome2rio, National Rail Enquiries, Stagecoach and Transport for Greater Manchester. The company provides the digital infrastructure that empowers travelers to search, plan and book global rail. SilverRail enjoys a major presence in the United States too. It just extended its relationship with Egencia, Expedia’s business travel brand.
Egencia employs SilverRail technology to book Amtrak, whose bookings via Egencia grew by double digits last year. In a move to render the process seamless and more content inclusive, Egencia just rolled out a redesigned connection that lets its customers access features and information on Amtrak.com: e-ticketing, corporate rates, amenities, and the like.
Both SilverRail and Egencia are bullish about growth. Ann Taylor, who is SilverRail’s global travel management and account development director, believes there’s been a decided shift toward rail of late. “We’re increasingly seeing that when journey time is less than three and a half hours, rail is the preferred choice over air.”
Other companies recognize the ascendance of global rail too. Sabre is in the process of further integrating rail into its virtual cards. Those cards “generate unique card numbers for each travel event.” Traditionally, virtual cards have been used to pay for hotels. “Today our expansion into rail applies to Amtrak reservations,” says Neil Fyfe, Sabre’s vice president virtual payments. “But there are plans to extend Sabre Virtual Payments for European rail.”
Enter Seamless MobilityDespite the current global political climate, this remains an increasingly interdependent planet – and that means travel, a significant slice of which will be via rail. “Business travelers want simplicity when booking a rail trip,” says Mirja Sickel, head of sales and marketing for Amadeus rail and ground travel.
To make this a reality Sickel explains rail needs to up its game on several counts. For one thing, she says, “In order for rail to become an integral part of the travel industry, it needs to start integrating rail travel into travel agencies’ standard tools and processes.”
Another factor she cites is the need for “rail to be where the traveler is.” In this multi-channel and multi-device travel world, such an approach is critical to improving the rail customer’s experience.
And finally, train travel needs a standardized global approach for all railways. “To be able to help deliver a true end-to-end experience and increase the visibility to all travelers, rail needs to break down borders,” not only building collaboration among rail operators – but also with other travel players.
Rail can take you from city center to city center. That’s one of its strong points. But it can’t take you door-to-door. You need limos, Ubers, Lyfts rental cars and taxis to do that.
“SilverRail is working on solutions to manage the complexity multimodal journeys,” says Jessica Flowers, the company’s marketing manager. The idea here, she says, is to let travelers plan, buy and travel across all modes of transport using real-time information – all via “a single interface, a single transaction and a single ‘ticket.’”
Such is the vision. The reality on the ground however is something else at this precise moment.
“Taking a trip across a city today – whether for your daily commute, a business trip or a vacation – is often complicated, frustrating and time-consuming, with travelers having to deal with overcrowding, congestion and disruption,” SilverRail says.
“The situation is rendered worse because the ground transport system is fragmented. Separate parts of the system don’t talk with each other, or to their customers,” says SilverRail. As a result, travelers don’t know what’s happening. That’s where the concept of seamless mobility comes into play. It can de-stress the situation by taking much of the institutional friction out of travel. The idea, according to SilverRail, hinges on “enabling you to book your whole journey from door to door using a single app or letting you know that your train has been canceled,” prompting you to switch to another mode of transportation.
Utopian stuff? Don’t tell the Swedes that. SilverRail says it’s already working with Swedish rail networks, buses, taxis and other metro transit providers to fashion a central data repository, one that helps customers plan, book and travel “seamlessly.” Working with SilverRail’s software systems are upwards of 90 carriers and suppliers as well as 60-plus agents. “They can offer their customers one ticket to many destinations in one transaction.” says Flowers.
“Solving rail problems is cool,” she adds. “But solving big, complex city travel problems is even cooler.”