5 minute read
Duty of care: Renewed impetus and the TMC's role
and car travel, and whether or not they reflect the reality. The gap between perception and reality was, surprisingly, widest when comparing the carbon emissions of rail with other ways to travel.
According to LNER, a passenger journey on an Azuma train emits 97% fewer emissions than a journey of the same length on a typical aircraft used on domestic routes, yet less than 10% of those travellers surveyed were able to identify the extent to which this was the case.
David Horne, LNER Managing Director, said: “We're confident that if we continue to promote rail as a productive, fast and sustainable mode of travel we will see more business customers choose our services.
“Recent research has shown that the productive time enjoyed by customers on our services is estimated to be worth £610 million to the UK economy every year."
Finding solutions
One company aiming to make it easier for corporates to book rail travel – and be more aware of its sustainable credentials – is Egencia. In recognition of the growing demand for sustainable travel choices, Egencia ramped up investment in its rail product in 2021.
Recent and upcoming features include more rail alternatives to air travel on its air versus rail display, which provides travellers and travel arrangers with the ability to compare and select rail alternatives for the same air route to reduce the impact of business travel carbon emissions.
John Sturino, the company's VP Product & Technology, says: “Many businesses across the world, both big and small, are continuing to set higher and more aggressive targets for sustainability. In response, we are designing innovative self-service solutions that empower our customers to reduce carbon emissions by offering alternative transport options – allowing them to save time and money while making conscious decisions on how they travel in the future.”
Safety fi rst
In the Covid era, traveller safety remains paramount and rail travel may be safer than we expect.
American Express Global Business Travel and Black Box Partnership’s 2020 Let’s Go By Train white paper quotes evidence from the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) that estimates the risk of contracting coronavirus on a train as less than 0.01% – or 1 in 11,000 journeys. This level of risk halves if passengers practice social distancing and wear face masks – which of course is less frequently the case now that rules in the UK have been relaxed and passenger numbers are increasing.
TransPennine Express (TPE) continues to build on its 'reassurance campaign', including enhanced cleaning, encouraging the wearing of face coverings in England and promoting digital channels.
It also continues to support the ‘Book with Confidence’ industry initiative, offering flexibility around advance tickets with feefree changes if customers need to amend their bookings due to their travel plans changing.
Susie Palmer, Business Account Manager at TPE, outlines how the train line is working with the business travel community to identify how it can support and encourage rail travel.
“Collectively as an industry, through the Rail Delivery Group, we are reviewing how we can adapt to the current customer demands through improved customer experience, products and further developing our digital proposition.
“Collaboratively with some of the other train operating companies, to drive the recovery strategy, we will be sponsoring a rail zone area at the upcoming ITM conference to support corporates with discussions around developing their sustainable travel programmes.
“In early spring this year, we will be launching a new groups proposition, offering a dedicated groups function to support the growing demand in this sector.
Sustainability will be the driving factor and rail will be be front and centre in corporate travel policies”
"In addition, we have noticed a trend with the SME market being more agile and starting to travel more, so later this year we will be developing a solution to support this client base.”
Changing track
South Western Railway (SWR) is also supporting business travellers through its corporate anytime fare and has introduced its Business Direct booking tool for SMEs offering discounted travel on the SWR network and allowing greater flexibility. "Business Direct users can also map their CO2 footprint and compare it against the same journey if they had taken a plane or diesel or petrol vehicle,” explains Joe Thurgood, SWR Sales Manager.
“We are making ongoing adjustments to our timetable to make it more attractive, and ongoing cleaning and sanitisation onboard are in place to help passengers feel safer.”
Great Western Railway (GWR) is “keen to welcome our business customers back and help them arrive ready for those allimportant face to face meetings,” says Phil Delany, Commercial Director.
The train operator has introduced a flexi- season ticket to help commuters who have changed their working patterns since the pandemic. It has also improved its SME B2B product for direct bookings and has upgraded its First Class lounge.
“From a marketing perspective, we are running B2B campaigns to remind people of the advantages of train travel – for example, arriving ready for those key meetings by being able to work and prepare on one of our high-speed trains,” adds Delany.
“We will continue to work with industry associations and our TMC partners to promote GWR to the corporate market.”
Grand Central has launched its Real-Time Journey Dashboard application, provided by Whoosh. Users access the app via a QR code and benefit from real-time updates directly to their personal device.
This can include live train running information, station departure boards, refreshments delivered straight to your seat, goodwill gestures for service disruption, and onward travel departure details. Real-Time Journey Dashboard also trialled on Network Rail from early January 2022.
Finally, Avanti is boosting its offer to draw passengers back onboard.
Roger Williams, Chairman of the International Rail Catering Group, explains: “Like all travel operators around the world, Avanti’s customer base shrunk dramatically during the last two years, but that hasn’t dampened its enthusiasm for bringing forward fresh onboard concepts.
“The new Standard Premium class, for example, offers roomier seats, a guaranteed tabletop giving useful work or leisure space, free Wi-Fi with access to Avanti media and an At-seat App to allow passengers to order café bar food and refreshments from the comfort of their seat.
“These enhancements have coincided with a recent uplift in passenger confidence in train travel, especially amongst discerning leisure customers – a signal perhaps of a new dawn in passenger growth.”
