Rail rivalries reviewed
As competition hots up between rail operators across Europe, Roger Williams checks out who scored best in a recent survey testing some of the continentʼs biggest operators
Across Europe, train travel is growing at an astonishing rate. Sales are driven by social media advertising, TV coverage, ticket booking websites and apps, but whilst there is a range of ‘comparison’ websites for hotels, restaurants, airlines and travel insurance the same doesn’t really apply to rail. Perhaps because railways have traditionally had a monopoly on their particular route, they haven’t truly competed with each other. Instead they compete with air and road transport in their own geographical areas.
Competition heats up
However, the advent of ‘open access’ across the European rail network has meant more and more train companies are now competing for the first time. And in a new approach to benchmarking rail, Loco2 (the low carbon travel website) in partnership with German publisher Hidden Europe, have commissioned a survey to do just that.
The Great Train Comparison survey concentrates on high-speed, long distance trains with journeys of at least 400km. It covered 16 European train companies over a four-week period – including Alleo, CD, Cross Country, DB, Eurostar, GWR,
Italo, Lyria, OBB, SBB, Renfe, SNCF, Thalys, Trenitalia, Virgin EC (now LNER) and Virgin WC.
Combining a 100-point survey and personal travel experiences, each company was investigated against the expectations of 12 different passenger types. Independent experts then analysed results across 12 quality categories.
The results
Swiss Railways (SBB CFF FFS), synonymous with great timekeeping and quality service, came out on top. It was voted best for families with kids, disabled passengers, cyclists and wintersports fans and scored highly with foodies, environmentalists and couples.
In joint second, were Deutsche Bahn and OBB (Austrian Railways), excelling in services for backpackers, passengers requiring quiet areas onboard and in the eyes of environmentalists.
For full results see: https://loco2.com/ en-gb/blog/great-train-comparison_report
Onboard food
The big surprise was Czech Railways (CD) which was top for foodies, beating some of the biggest European railway caterers. The evaluation included feedback from food blogger Michelle Minnaar of Greedy Gourmet, who said: “It’s hard to beat the meals served in Czech Railway’s restaurant cars.” She also
praised the restaurants on the Swiss and German Railways stating “the food on offer bursts with regional flavours”. Minnaar added: “It’s good to note that many more operators are prioritising organic and locally sourced food. Thalys, Alleo, Trenitallia, SNCF and Eurostar among them”.
Loco2’s report stated: “The Czech national operator scored for consistently high standards of meals available at fair prices, and dishes including hearty salads, a range of schnitzels and a fabulous selection of wines and beers.”
Caterered by JLV, CD’s catering partner based in Prague, the restaurant car menus are created by Miroslav Kubec, president of the Association of Chefs and Pastry Chefs in the Czech Republic.
His team has also won international competitions
such as the FHA Culinary Challenge in Singapore.
Future improvements
It’s refreshing to see a new approach to assessing customer services in rail. This initial European rating demonstrates how rail is pushing hard to improve its offerings across a range of traveller categories but shows there is still work to be done.
On catering, there was one note of warning from Minnaar, who said: “Although the vegan movement is growing, support for such eaters is still lacking. It’s encouraging to see though that even if there is only one item on the menu that these customers are at least being considered.” Elsewhere in the report, food was also mentioned in the environmental section won by DB. Environmentalist Georgina Wilson-Powell, recognised “opportunities to buy organic, Fairtrade and locally-sourced food at railway stations and on trains” but there was still a concern that “there needs to be more communication to consumers on the various environmental policies of each train operator” … and that “UK rail companies have got a long way to go in terms of ensuring that high-quality food is always available.”
She added that there is “still some way to go when it comes to recycling. These days no-one should continue to rely on plastic packaging”. I’m sure we would all echo that! •