On track for a golden age of rail
With flying having become a deeply stressful prospect in the era of Covid-19, holidaymakers are looking with new eyes at train travel. Could we be on the cusp of a golden age of rail?
European rail companies are planning to resuscitate defunct old routes in light of the demand for sleeper services: Stockholm to Hamburg; Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf to Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
Closer to home, LNER, our state-owned service, has announced the launch from next month of an app-controlled waiter service. Pick your snack and it’ll be delivered to your seat.
This will make trips reminiscent of an upper class Eurostar experience (only with credit cards). There’s something delightfully old-fashioned about waiter service on a train, and nothing nicer than a luxuriant train journey.
I once took a first-class trip from York to London and shared the cabin with Benedict Cumberbatch. If the glamour of rail is good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.