France's high-speed train, Thalys, boards passengers in The Hague, Netherlands.

Those in Europe who are responsible for high-speed rail service are thinking about business travel needs, but leisure travelers can also benefit from ever-improving European rail service.

Why Travel by Rail?
One big advantage of rail is that itʼs a less stressful way to travel, partly because it is more comfortable, and partly because the rail station experience is so much more tolerable than a typical airport. Also, with far fewer weather delays, one can generally count on on-time departures and arrivals. And finally, for journeys of two to four hours, the door-to-door time for passengers is usually shorter via rail than via air.

Existing High-Speed Lines
Many European high-speed routes are already in existence, with more coming as the European Union continues to integrate its infrastructure. Present high-speed routes ‒ weʼre talking about trains that travel at 300 km per hour or faster (thatʼs 185 mph or more) ‒ can add to your travel ease and help you avoid air or roadway congestion.

High-speed train travel already operates between these pairs of cities: London to Paris or Brussels (Eurostar), Paris to Lyon or Marseille, Brussels to Cologne, Madrid to Barcelona, Madrid to Seville or Malaga, Milan to Bologna, Naples to Rome, Rome to Florence, and St. Petersburg to Moscow.

In addition, other cities are connected by routes that are mostly (if not 100 percent) conducted over high-speed rails, such as Hanover to Berlin, Frankfurt to Cologne, and Paris to Geneva.

Future High-Speed Lines
These routes are in process:

• Service between Paris and Amsterdam, beginning mid-December 2009, will save over an hour over present train travel.
• In the UK, plans are afoot to add high-speed rail between London and Glasgow, cutting present travel time roughly in half.
• France, which is a leader in high-speed rail, will add new lines from Paris to Brittany, and Paris to Lyons.
• In Scandinavia, there are plans for a high-speed connection between Helsinki and St. Petersburg.

An EU priority for high speed rail is to expand the number of cross-border routes, in anticipation of which the EU is funding infrastructure development of the numerous tunnels and bridges required to realize this goal.

Bottom line, once youʼve flown transatlantic, rail travel is a fast, comfortable and civilized means of making your way around Europe. And it just keeps getting better.

‒ Peg Prideaux, CTC
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