Five top journeys
Glacier Express, Switzerland
The world’s slowest ‘express’ winds its way at a leisurely 38.5km through breathtaking Alpine scenery. In winter, it’s ‘like travelling through CS Lewis’s magical world of Narnia’ says train guru Mark Smith from seat61.com.
Eastern & Oriental Express, SE Asia
Absorb the tropical countryside of Asia – rice paddy fields, rubber and palm trees – while revelling in pure luxury on the 1920km between Singapore as Bangkok.
Blue Train, South Africa
Butler service, lounges, an observation car and full-sized bathtubs on the 1600km journey are just some of the features that help this Pretoria-Cape Town train live up to its billing as ‘a five-star hotel on wheels’.
Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express, Russia
One of the world’s epic train journeys recently got a facelift, with twelve swanky new carriages and dining car introducing pure luxury into an exotic, culturally fascinating odyssey. www.trans-siberia.com
Shinkasen, Japan
Whereas many other great journeys offer historic elegance, Japan’s new Nozomi bullet train whizzes by into the future, devouring the 520km between Tokyo and Kyoto in two hours and 10 minutes.
It’s real travel again
One thing Mark Smith likes to make clear is that he’s no trainspotter. ‘I’m sure Alan Whicker doesn’t have these problems,’ jokes the man behind the cult rail information website seat61.com, when the word ‘enthusiast’ is mentioned. ‘The travel’s the thing. I like travelling by train and ship because it’s civilised.’
With his online trove of timetable information and links, tips on booking and even photographs and videos of onboard accommodation, Smith – the ‘man in seat 61’ – has certainly plugged into the zeitgeist. He explains how growing public emphasis on green and stress-free travel have helped turn a hobby website into a full-time phenomenon.
Why seat 61? We’ve heard it’s your favourite Eurostar seat?
Yes, that’s true. I found myself always asking for it, to make sure that I got a seat that lined up with a window, and it faces another across a table. It’s much more sociable than staring at a seat back.
What inspired you to develop this comprehensive information resource for UK rail travellers heading to Europe and beyond?
I’ve always found it very easy to go by train, say down to Spain or Italy. It’s far more practicable, quicker and cheaper than people think, but finding out about it beforehand was a nightmare. So after stumbling on a guide to writing your own website, I started in 2001 with a simple page about getting from the UK to principal cities. From there, it sort of snowballed.
It certainly has. How on earth do you manage to keep it so detailed and current?
I used to have a full-time job, and would update the site on a laptop while commuting to work. I was the only person delighted when the train ground to a halt outside Marylebone waiting for a signal! But in September (2007) I was able to give up my job to concentrate the site full-time. It’s a bit like detective work, putting different sources together. Increasingly, seat61 visitors are emailing with me with suggestions, comments, corrections and updates, so it’s also growing organically.
The rediscovery of rail travel is an oft-discussed media topic. Do you have hard evidence that this is genuinely happening?
About three years ago, I was getting 150,000 visitors a month and now it’s half a million. There’s undoubtedly been a change.The train is no longer forgotten. It’s real travel again.
Has the nature of your readership changed since the site’s inception?
Initially, it was a whole raft of people who were forgotten by travel agents – people afraid of flying or who simply preferred to go by rail. However, in the last two years, their numbers have been overwhelmed by people citing the hassle of flying and the environmental impact of flying as reasons for switching to the train. That’s been a huge effect – really huge.
So, which are the most popular country pages or journeys?
In Europe, it’s Italy, followed by France and then Spain, where you can catch Eurostar to Paris and a direct train hotel from Paris to Madrid or Barcelona. Around the world, the journey everyone wants to do is Singapore to Bangkok – either one the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express or do it on the regular daily train for £30. Germany, the Netherlands, China and the United States are also popular destinations.
Many of those are holiday routes. Aren’t many rail journeys just too slow for business travellers?
For decades, it was a truism of railway marketeers that three hours was the magic figure. If you could get the train journey, centre to centre, down to three hours you could compete for business travel with the plane. But about a year ago, the chief executive of French Railways (Guillaume Pépy) declared that’s now changed. It’s now more congested to get to and from the airport, we’re being told to check-in two hours before the flight, take-offs are often delayed and so on. So that magic figure is now at least four hours and sometimes five.
Which potential new business routes does this create?
Between Perpignon and Paris, where the French Railways have a five hour 15 minute journey time, they have a 50 percent market share of the air-rail market. That’s been a big shift. It’s worth mentioning Madrid-Malaga (three hours) and Madrid-Barcelona, which should come down to three and then two and a half hours soon. And I don’t think the airlines will know what’s hit them when London-Amsterdam, with one change in Brussels, comes down from five hours, 30 minutes to four hours, 10 minutes as planned.
Do punctuality, seamless travel and a growing number of eco-friendly corporate polices figure in the equation?
Of course, plus the train is more productive, with powerpoints for your laptop and, in some cases, Wi-Fi. Travelling by plane you get bugger-all done, as you’re not allowed to use your laptop until after take-off and you can’t work the taxi to the airport and so on. I would like to see the railways get their booking sites right and for business travel agents to offer rail directly instead of just flights and car-hire.
Off-duty, do you have any favourite rail trips?
One is the Caledonian sleeper from London to Fort William. First of all I love the train, because it’s a hotel on wheels with a lounge car that serves excellent scotch whisky and haggis. And what could be better than going to bed in the big bad city of London and waking up in the middle of the Western Highlands?
Finally, do airlines ever have the privilege of your custom?
When it’s unavoidable. Our family flew to New Zealand last year, but once we arrived we stayed on the ground. From London, I’ve got as far as Nagasaki overland, and on another occasion to Hong Kong, but I’m always tempted to travel further.
