A new era in European rail travel began at 9.55am on Monday with the inaugural daytime rail connection between Paris and Berlin.
The 1,100km journey takes eight hours with stops in Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt, four hours less than the average driving time. With a promise of no security queues, free wifi and a full dining car, the French and German rail companies are selling standard tickets from €60.
And at Paris-Est station on Monday, they threw down the green gauntlet to European airlines – in particular Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.
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“Our route generates 100 times less carbon dioxide than the flight from Paris to Berlin, we’re offering Europe’s most climate-friendly travel,” said Anja Schöllmann, production director of Deutsche Bahn, the German state rail company. “We have great passenger rights if something happens, the comfort on board is second to none and there are no luggage limits. It’s a totally different experience to budget airlines.”
The spotless grey-and-red ICE high-speed train left Paris on the button and was soon racing at 320km/h through the French countryside.
In the first-class carriages, beaming rail executives mixed with journalists and excited rail video bloggers, the 21st-century trainspotters.
Among them was Matthew Tam who, by day, is a London-based quantum computing scientist. “There’s definitely a market for a daytime connection like this and eight hours is probably the limit,” he said. “The carbon footprint is effectively none and night trains can be difficult to run economically.”
The new Paris-Berlin express is part of a wider renaissance of European cross-border rail travel that has in effect killed off many flights, such as from Paris to Stuttgart and Frankfurt.
“We’re very happy with the bookings so far,” said Andreas Fuhrmann, Deutsche Bahn deputy transport spokesman. “What we’ve noticed is that 75 per cent of tickets sold have been for the entire Paris-Berlin connection.”
Monday’s train journey offered a second premiere with the first-ever direct connection between Berlin and Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament.
The new route is part of a wider co-operation agreement between Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, the French rail network. Last year, they transported 30 million passengers across the Franco-German border. Links are growing, too, with Swiss and Austrian rail operators. A year ago Austria’s ÖBB launched a Paris-Berlin sleeper service.
As Monday’s day train neared Strasbourg, Kristin from California’s Bay area sat in the bright dining car with her husband and three daughters. “It’s so wonderful to get around Europe this way, see the countryside with no stress,” she said.
At a time of growing unrest and tighter border controls in Europe, the bilingual Franco-German train teams conductors were bursting with pride on their inaugural journey. SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou described the new route as the right symbol at the right time.
“We know France and Germany are the engine at the heart of Europe, and this connection strengthens that engine.”
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