[The Practical Nomad Newsletter] The Amazing Race 14, Episode 1

[Edward Hasbrouck]

This column (with lots of useful links this week):

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001628.html

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Los Alamitos, CA (USA) - Locarno (Switzerland) - Verzasca Dam 
(Switzerland) - Interlaken (Switzerland) - Stechelberg (Switzerland)

This season of "The Amazing Race" began with a pair of challenges in rail 
route planning, involving connecting trains and combinations of flights 
and trains. I've faced very similar problems on recent trips to Europe, 
and in planning my next one in March and April. As rail travel displaces 
air travel for short and medium distances within Europe, you are 
increasingly likely to face these same issues in your own European (and 
other) travels. What tools and resources are available to plan your 
European rail journey?

Planes can follow any flight path, while trains have to follow fixed 
tracks. So "Is there a train from point A to point B?", or "Is this the 
train to point B?" might seem like simpler questions than which connecting 
flights will get you to the other side of the world the soonest.

But you can't switch from one plane to another in mid-air. In any sizeable 
region with a decent rail network, the number of rail junctions is far 
larger than the number of airports with scheduled service, much less the 
number of airline hubs. It's rare for a real-world traveller to have to 
change planes in a place you've never heard of before, but common to find 
yourself changing trains in somewhere such as, say, 's-Hertogenbosch, as I 
did not long ago. (When I'm not using voice recognition software, my 
typing is terrible. But that's really how the name of the place is spelled 
and punctuated: 's-Hertogenbosch.) And part of the pleasure of travel on a 
Eurailpass (and part of what can make it worthwhile even when it costs 
more than point-to-point tickets would have cost, if you had known in 
advance exactly where you would want to go) is the chance to make 
unplanned stops in places that strike your fancy that strike your fancy 
along the way. 

First, the racers had to get to Locarno, Switzerland, which has no 
scheduled airline service. They could fly to Milan or Zurich, and take a 
train from there. But what would the transfers from planes to trains be 
like in each of those places, and which set of flights and trains would 
get them the earliest arrival at their destination? 

It's much harder to get answers to rail routing questions than questions 
about the fastest flight connections. Finding the cheapest route and 
tickets is a different issue, but if price is no object the four major 
computerized reservation systems used by airlines and travel agencies all 
have pretty good aggregated information, in a common format, on the 
schedules of participating airlines, and tables of likely connection 
points that are adequate for everyday purposes (although a skilled user 
can sometimes find better connections by prompting for a connecting 
airport not in the CRS's routing table, or by building connections 
manually, flight by flight). Although nothing like a full CRS command set 
is available through any public gateway, you can get adequate schedule-
only information for participating airlines through CRS-operated Web sites 
like the Amadeus.net timetable service. The only real difficulty in 
finding the fastest flights is in figuring out which airlines that don't 
participate in these CRS's (typically so-called "low-cost" airlines like 
Southwest, JetBlue, and their counterparts in other countries) might 
nonetheless offer useful flights, either alone or in combination with CRS 
participants.

Most passenger railroads use their own separate reservation systems, 
rather than contracting out the hosting of their reservations to a CRS 
that uses a standardized format and already has connectivity to other 
systems. As a result, only those trains that have airline codeshare 
designations as "flights" are typically shown in CRS's, especially as part 
of connections. It's up to you (or a knowledgeable travel agent) to know 
which airports have mainline rail service, or how easy it is to transfer 
from the airport to a train station, and to piece together separately-
obtained information about air and rail schedules.

For example, I've taken several trips from San Francisco to Brussels in 
recent years. There's no direct flight to Brussels from anywhere in 
America west of Chicago, so the most direct routes are via Paris or 
Amsterdam. The main train station in downtown Brussels is near the mid-
point of the high-speed rail line between Charles de Gaulle Airport 
(Paris) and Schipol Airport (Amsterdam), and the trains are faster and 
more reliable from either Paris or Amsterdam than connecting flights would 
be.

Air France has entirely discontinued air service to Brussels, and has not 
just codeshare "flight" numbers but dedicated Air France cars (first-class 
TGV seating even for coach airline ticket holders, with complementary 
beverages and snacks at your seat and a separate attended storage area for 
checked luggage) on the trains between CDG station and Brussels, and a 
dedicated Air France check-in counter at the Gare du Midi in Brussels.

KLM and Brussels Airlines still both fly between Brussels and Amsterdam, 
though, and the trains on this leg don't have any airline designator or 
show up in any airline reservation system. As a result, despite the fact 
that this is the second-best door-to-door schedule of any combination of 
planes and/or trains (and better than any all-air routing), no current 
CRS, Web site, or automated route planning tool recommends it or is able 
to show the through air/rail schedule via AMS, much less allows it to be 
priced, reserved, or ticketed from a common interface. You have to figure 
out for yourself that it's a possibility, and then get information, make 
reservations, and purchase tickets for the air and rail portions of the 
journey from separate sources. I might not have figured it our myself on 
my first trip to Brussels if one of my colleagues at Airtreks.com hadn't 
suggested it.

That's the situation the racers found themselves in with respect to the 
journey from the starting line near Los Angeles to Locarno. None of the 
trains to Locarno are designated as flights by any airline. So to figure 
out which route would get them there first, the racers would have needed 
first to check airline schedules, then figure out whether there were 
direct trains from the airport (as there are in Zurich but not in Milan) 
or how to get from the airport to the train station and how long that 
would take, and then check train schedules on each route. Not something 
they probably had time to do before making their choice of departing 
flights.

Later in the episode, after bungee-jumping off the crest of Verzasca Dam, 
they were told to "make your way by train" to Interlaken. But Locarno and 
the Valle Verzasca are in the extreme south of Switzerland, near the 
Italian border. Getting to Interlaken requires a change of trains, and a 
detour, to get through the Alps: either east via the Gotthard Tunnel and 
then Lucerne, or west via Domodossola (Italy) and then the Simplon Tunnel. 
Once again, what are the connections like, and which route would be 
faster?

Aside from (once again) time pressure to make their decision, the problem 
in this case is the lack of integration or standardization between 
different railways. Although the racers were going from one place in 
Switzerland to another, one of the two routes (and possibly the fastest, 
depending on their departure time), involved a change of trains in Italy. 
Even within Europe, where there is a particularly large volume and 
percentage of international rail travel, 85-90% of rail traffic is 
domestic, according to Charles de Gaspe Beaubien of Wandrian, the first 
company to be trying to build a global "switch" to access information from 
multiple railways through a common API or user interface. As a result, 
there has been little motivation for the development of good planning, 
booking, or ticketing tools for international rail journeys, especially 
where there isn't direct service (through trains or through cars).

The concept of a global rail CRS is sufficiently novel and potentially 
valuable that Wandrian was recognized as one of the most innovative travel 
companies at the PhoCusWright conference in November, where I interviewed 
Mr. Beaubien. I like the idea, but it remains to be seen what Wandrian 
will deliver: They don't expect to have the features they demonstrated at 
PhoCusWright available to users until late 2009 at the earliest. Their 
focus is on those railways that are attracting high-paying business 
travellers, in competition with short-distance flights, in Europe and 
North America. Important railroads for world travellers in India, China, 
and Russia will come later, if all goes well, but not for at least another 
year or two.

So what's a practical rail nomad to do? Here are some tactics you can use 
today:

*European Railway Route Maps:* For now, most timetables and schedules are 
oriented toward point-to-point trains. Connection information, especially 
if you're crossing borders or need to change trains more than once, is 
spotty at best. The best way to figure out for yourself which are likely 
to be the best routes and connections is to study one of the specialized 
maps that not only shows the rail lines but clearly distinguishes high-
speed lines, normal-speed (which in European usage can mean up to about 
200 km/h or 125 mph) main lines, and slower branch lines. The network of 
high-speed service is expanding rapidly throughout Europe, so make sure 
you get an up-to-date map. Maplink and Omnimap stock several such maps, 
including Maplink's own map (which tries to show, on the map, approximate 
journey times and frequencies of service between city pairs) and those 
from ITMB and Thomas Cook. The laminated Streetwise map and the map given 
out with Eurailpasses are too small to be much use, in my opinion, and 
Rick Steves' Europe map is too selective, highlighting the places Rick 
recommends and ignoring many others. If you can find it, my favorite for 
its combination of legibility and detail has been the Kummerly + Frey rail 
map of Europe.

*Continental European Rail Timetables:* It's getting harder and harder to 
find printed timetables at all, and when you do find them, they generally 
only cover routes within the country you are in, or at most a few 
international trains to and from that country. The best summary of express 
services between major cities in Europe, including through international 
trains, is distributed free to each Eurailpass purchaser (but, annoyingly, 
isn't available for purchase at any price). You're short-changing 
yourself, though, if you only visit the biggest cities. If you want to get 
further afield, invest in a copy of the Thomas Cook European Rail 
Timetable. (Ditto with the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable for the rest of 
the world.) It's bigger, heavier, and more expensive than you are ever 
likely to need, but unfortunately there is no "light" alternative. 
National railroads' Web sites have the same problems as their printed 
timetables. The Austrian railway's route planner is the best of a bad lot 
for pan-European international schedules. Better for international 
connections, although far from perfect, are the point-to-point timetable 
services from Railpass.com (powered by Wandrian) and RailEurope.com . I 
tried both for an upcoming journey from Geneva to London: Railpass.com 
came up with the best route (with same-station connections in Lyon and 
Lille), although only after I went through a long list of slower and/or 
less convenient routes, but their Web site was entirely unable to price 
the journey. Rail Europe was able to calculate prices, but could only 
suggest substantially slower (in total journey time) and more awkward 
routes with a tedious transfer by RER (commuter train) between the Gare de 
Lyon and the Gare du Nord in Paris.

*Pricing and Tickets:* Point-to-point train tickets for simple domestic 
trips within any single country are usually cheapest from the railroad's 
own Web site. For trips with stopovers, especially multi-stop one-way 
international journeys at through fares, you may need to go to a ticket 
office in Europe in person. Point-to-point tickets purchased through 
agents in the USA or elsewhere outside Europe, whether online or in 
person, are usually more expensive. Price point-to-point tickets for your 
intended journey (or the one you think is most likely) before buying a 
pass, so you'll know how much of a premium you are paying for the extra 
flexibility of a pass. Remember to include the cost of required 
reservations, sleeping berth surcharges, and supplements for high-speed 
trains in your calculations of the total cost of both point-to-point and 
pass ticketing.

*Continental European Rail Reservations:* If you already have a ticket 
(most likely because you have a Eurailpass), and just need reservations, 
it's generally easier and the same price (or cheaper) to make them 
reservations in person at a train station, rather than online. I've almost 
always found railway clerks at smaller stations, in the suburbs or in the 
provinces, more willing to take the time to help me, and to put up with my 
inability (or limited ability) to speak their language, than those at main 
stations in big cities. Even with a pass and even in low season, try to 
make your reservations at least a couple of days in advance: Even if 
trains aren't full, the number of seats on the fastest trains allocated 
for pass holders is limited. In peak season or around holidays, especially 
for high-speed trains or berths in sleeping cars, you may need to book 
further in advance (although a couple of weeks is usually sufficient for 
almost any trains except the Eurostar).

*British Rail Timetables and Tickets:* The privatization and breakup of 
British Rail have recreated the situation that existed decades ago before 
nationalization, with multiple railways competing between the same cities. 
The national rail enquires Web site will tell you which railway companies 
operate between any two towns or cities in Britain, and link you to the 
railways' own Web sites to make reservations and purchase tickets. Tickets 
are either electronic or can be picked up at the station on departure. (Be 
sure to leave time in case you have to stand in line at the ticket 
collection window.) Last-minute walk-up fares can be ten times the lowest 
advance-purchase fares. Nowhere else in Europe is as important as it is in 
Britain to fix your rail itinerary and purchase your tickets at least a 
couple of weeks in advance, even in low season. For typical itineraries, 
Britrail passes are reasonably priced compared to full fare, but 
outrageously expensive compared to the cheapest advance-purchase prices.

*Channel Tunnel Trains (Eurostar):* No rail pass includes the Eurostar 
trains through the Channel Tunnel between England and France or Belgium. 
But if you are also buying a Eurail or Britrail pass, you can buy a 
Eurostar ticket from the same place you bought your pass, at a passholder 
price that's less than the full Eurostar fare. Most other Eurostar 
discounts (including some sale fares that are cheaper than the passholder 
prices) are available only on the Eurostar.com Web site, just like "Web 
fares" for flights that are available only from the airlines' own Web 
sites. You can pick up your tickets from a check-in kiosk when you get to 
the station, so there's no need to pay for ticket delivery. The difference 
between the cheapest tickets and the full fare is substantial, and the 
cheapest tickets sometimes sell out weeks in advance, but the cheapest 
tickets are also nonchangeable. How certain are you that your plans won't 
change?

At the end of the day, there are still some routes you'll never find 
unless you enquire locally.

Just over a year ago, we spent six weeks making our way from Lisbon to 
Rome. We had Eurailpasses, and made reservations a day, or a few days, 
before each leg of the trip. But we also stopped off in some places on 
impulse -- or got on the next local train and moved on earlier than we had 
planned.

Our railway route map showed -- somewhat cryptically -- a rail line 
through the middle of the Pyrenees, between Zaragoza (Spain) and a town in 
France we'd never heard of called Pau. It looked like part of a logical 
main route between Madrid and Paris. But we couldn't find it in either the 
French or Spanish or Eurail timetables, which all showed only slow trains 
between Spain and France around the Pyrenees, along the coast through 
Barcelona or Bilbao. Even at the station in Bilbao, the ticket agents 
assured us there was no train between Zaragoza and Pau. Which were we to 
believe: the staff, Web site, and printed timetables of the national 
railway, or our map?

In Zaragoza itself, we asked again, and discovered that there was indeed 
such a rail line, although part of it had been "temporarily" out of 
service since a viaduct was damaged by a freight train whose brakes failed 
in 1970, and we would have to change to a bus -- included in the rail fare 
or, for us, our Eurailpasses -- over the pass between Canfranc and Oloron, 
instead of going through the Somport Rail Tunnel (not to be confused with 
the newer, separate, Somport Highway Tunnel). The extra transfers from 
train to bus to train were apparently why the through transpyreneen 
service didn't show up in any timetable or online route planner.

We liked Pau and we liked the trip through the Pyrenees. Along the way, 
the former border station at the Spanish end of the tunnel is a tourist 
attraction in its own right, even in its dereliction, and slated to be 
restored as a luxury hotel. The story is too long to tell here, but this 
was once, and may someday be again if grassroots activists on both sides 
of the border are successful, the main line between Spain and France.

Just as our map suggested. But you can never count on that.

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Wednesday (18 February) in San Francisco:

http://hasbrouck.org/events/#schedule


----------------
Edward Hasbrouck
<edward at hasbrouck.org>
<http://hasbrouck.org>
+1-415-824-0214

"The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World"
(4th edition 2007)
"The Practical Nomad Guide to the Online Travel Marketplace"
<http://www.practicalnomad.com>

Around-the-World and multi-stop international air tickets:
<http://hasbrouck.org/tickets/>