I wanted to clarify that while the initiative was on the US side, FRALH is aware of my involvement with FT. While it may be a “baby step” I am so far pleased with the results.

This was a thoughtful post. Agree that disappointingly it was probably some technical issue on DLD’s side which prevented its earlier publication.

Kind regards,
Michelle Schiff
aka LHrelate

I contend that largely it will still come down to time. That’s really the primary, in some cases only thing an airline can beat the train on. The trains win just about every other category, or can win the category should they elect to spend money on it. (For example, first class service on some airlines is very good, but costs many thousands.) Your suggestion of easing the airline to train transfer is a nice one — because it saves time — but of course is what the trains already work hard on.

One way to examine this question is to ask yourself for a short haul trip, when would you choose air over train? Would you ever choose the plane if it took longer than the train? Would you ever choose it if it took the same time? How much less time does the plane have to take to make you take it? What could the airline do that the train can’t do to change that margin of time?

I can think of only a few. The planes could fly at a more convenient time, since what you care about is duration of trip related to your desired arrival time at your final destination. But that’s pretty arbitrary, the luck of picking the schedules.

The non-stop plane can be a less bumpy, interrupted experience than the train, which for various economic reasons usually makes stops, which many find distracting. But if trains want to, they can do that too. Ever ridden the Nozomi in Japan? Non stop, always smooth and no announcements in the cars. (Both trains and planes blab way too much.) And yes, there are places planes can get to far more easily than trains, but in the European short haul market, which is what LH cares about, these are few.

No, the 3 top reasons to fly are time, time and time. Rail is the most energy efficient — though the most land-inefficient — but with the rails already paid for, rail will win on cost.

So answering their question is all about looking at the time flows and critical paths that are making a nightmare of air travel, I think.