Rail Europe
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Rail Europe is a specialist in passes and point-to-point tickets for rail travel around Europe. With close links to European rail operators including SNCF, Eurostar, Deutsche Bahn, Elipsos, Artésia and Thalys, it is made up of four independently run companies operating in distinct geographical areas:
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[edit] Rail Europe Limited
From its travel centre in Regent Street, online at and via a dedicated call centre in King's Hill, Kent; Rail Europe specialises in selling tickets for European rail travel to a UK audience. A wholly owned subsidiary of SNCF, Rail Europe distributes well known rail passes such as InterRail and Swiss Pass, and rail tickets for European services including:
- Eurostar and Eurostar Connections – for direct travel to Paris, Brussels, Lille and Disneyland Paris and onward travel to a comprehensive list of French destinations.
- High speed trains: the fastest way to travel around France and into Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy and afield.
- SNCF local services – for comprehensive services throughout France.
Overnight services direct into the heart of Europe’s cities, including Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, Berlin and Munich.
[edit] History
In 1893, the Chemin de Fer du Nord became the first French private railway to be represented in the UK, establishing an office in London's Victoria station. Almost 20 years later, the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée, (PLM), opened an office at 179 Piccadilly.
In 1937 France nationalised its rail network and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) was created by the merger of the state railway company with five other principal operators. With the nationalisation of these companies SNCF created French Railways Ltd, incorporating the UK operations of its predecessors.
In 1995 French Railways Ltd opened a larger public call centre located in Leake Street (near Waterloo station) in London, and two years later acquired British Rail International. SNCF subsequently merged French Railways Ltd and British Rail International to form Rail Europe Ltd.
In 2002 Rail Europe Ltd combined its Head Office operations from Piccadilly and Call Centre from Leake Street into new premises located in Kings Hill, Kent, and in December 2007 the Travel Centre in London's Piccadilly moved to a new premises shared with VisitBritain located within British Columbia House, 1 Regent Street, London SW1.
[edit] Rail Europe 4A
Created in 1995, Rail Europe 4A is a joint venture between the French and Swiss national railways (SNCF & SBB), which promotes European rail travel in Asia, Australasia, Africa and South America in cooperation with 134 General Sales Agents in 49 countries.
[edit] Rail Europe, Inc.
Rail Europe, Inc. is a distributor of European rail products in North America; representing more than 35 railroad operators throughout Europe. The company also offers U.S. rail products through its travel agent web site. Rail Europe’s history of doing business in North America dates back to the 1930’s. In 1959, the company introduced the Eurail Pass to the North American market[1], and in 2009 began offering Amtrak products through travel agents. [2]
With headquarters in White Plains, New York and a Contact Center using ISO 9001:2008 certified processes. [3], located in Rosemont,Illinois; Rail Europe provides services in English, French and Spanish. The company’s product range includes European rail passes, city to city rail tickets, rail ‘n drive passes, high speed train tickets (which are available as e-tickets in France, Spain and the United Kingdom), sightseeing passes, hotel/rail packages. Rail Europe serves over one million travelers per year.
[edit] Product Offerings
Rail Europe, Inc. provides a range of European travel products, including:
- Rail passes, which allow travel on board European trains in a specific geographic area (defined at time of purchase) for a specific number of days. These days can be “consecutive” (i.e., 5 days in a row) or not (i.e., travel any day within a longer period of time for up to 2 months). Eurail Select and Global passes can include rail travel in 3 to 23 European countries on a single pass. And national and regional rail passes offer extensive travel within specific countries or regions.
- Rail tickets, which allow travel for one way or round trip train journeys between cities.
- Seat reservations, which are mandatory for high speed trains and are available to rail pass holders at discounted “pass holder” rates.
- Sleeping accommodations, which are available on overnight trains such as City Night Line (Germany) or Elipsos (Spain, France, Italy).
- High speed trains, which connect travelers from city center to city center at speeds of up to 200mph. Some of the popular high speed trains are: AVE (Spain), Eurostar (Britain, France, Belgium), Frecciarossa & Frecciargento (Italy), ICE (Germany), TGV (France), Thalys (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany), Lyria (France & Switzerland) and X2000 (Sweden).
- City sightseeing tours, such as museum passes, wine & cheese tasting and hop-on hop-off bus tours.
- Group travel, for groups of 10 or more travelers, Rail Europe, Inc.’s group travel consultants offer personalized assistance.
[edit] Markets & Channels
Rail Europe, Inc. serves the traveler directly, as well as the travel agent community. Residents of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central American countries located north of the Panama Canal can book directly through Rail Europe’s websites, mobile site, iPhone App and Contact Center. Rail Europe, Inc. has a business-to-business Web site for travel agents in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central American countries located north of the Panama Canal. Rail Europe offers travel agents the ability to make bookings via the agent web site and through the Contact Center. Travel agents can book both European and US rail products through Rail Europe. Rail Europe, Inc. also offers a European Rail App for the iPhone and iPod touch through the iTunes store. [4]. The app allows travelers to choose a route, download train timetables and allows rail pass holders to make a seat reservation directly from their iPhone and iPod touch. Rail Europe also has a mobile version of their website.
[edit] References
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle August 11, 2005
- ^ Amtrak
- ^ Travel Pulse November 01, 2011
- ^ Jaunted May 12, 2011
[edit] Rail Europe Continentale
This wholly owned subsidiary of the French Railways is responsible for the marketing and distributing of French domestic and international rail products in continental Europe. Rail Europe Continentale has its headquarters in Brussels and offices in Frankfurt, Milan, Geneva and Madrid.
[edit] Rail Europe Chartered Operations
As well as selling and distributing tickets for SNCF and other European railways, in the past Rail Europe has organised two chartered rail services in France. Operated by SNCF using standard French rolling stock, both services were aimed at the UK market and staffed by both French personnel (Driver and Guard) and English-speaking Rail Europe representatives ("Rail Travel Supervisors").
[edit] The Rail Europe Snowtrain
This chartered service operated between December or January and April to transport passengers directly to the ski resorts of the French Alps.
The journey took place in two stages; the Eurostar on a Friday from London or [Ashford International] to Paris, followed by a transfer to an overnight sleeper service composed of 10 Vu-84 "Corail" coaches with sleeping accommodation consisting of six berth "couchette" compartments. The train included a Bar/Disco coach, with disco lighting and DJ booth. This overnight service called at Chambéry, Albertville, Aime la Plagne and Landry, terminating at Bourg St Maurice early Saturday morning. The return service departed from Bourg St Maurice on Saturday evenings, with passengers arriving by Eurostar in London or Ashford on Sunday morning. The Rail Europe Snowtrain was suspended in 2009 due to economic uncertainty.
Skiers wanting travel by train to the French Alps during the winter can now take the Eurostar to Paris and change for high speed or overnight services to stations like Chamonix, Bourg St Maurice, Briançon, Moûtiers and Megève. Eurostar also runs Direct Ski services during the ski season, calling at Moûtiers, Bourg St Maurice and Aime-la-Plagne, stations which serve ski resorts including Courchevel, Les Arcs, Tignes, Méribel, Aime la Plagne and Val d'Isère.
[edit] French Motorail
'Motorail' services carry cars and motorbikes using car transporters attached to the train. Operating from May through to September, Rail Europe’s French Motorail service was aimed at travellers wishing to take their cars to the South of France and onwards with a minimum amount of driving.
The train departed from Calais several times every week during the summer months, terminating at Nice (stopping at Avignon and Frejus) and Narbonne (stopping at Brive la Gaillarde and Toulouse.) The service was cancelled in 2009 due to economic uncertainty.
Travellers who want to take their cars to France can now drive to Paris and pick up an ‘Auto-Train’ service, where cars are transported on overnight train carriers to Avignon, Bordeaux, Brive la Gaillarde, Fréjus/St Raphaël, Lyon, Marseille, Narbonne, Nice, Toulon and Toulouse. Unlike on the Motorail service, travellers can then either travel on the same route with a Lunéa sleeping-car ticket or on a different train such as a daytime TGV.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- RailEurope.co.uk The UK website of Rail Europe.
- RailEurope.com The North America website of Rail Europe.
