hen The Future Laboratory published
W
Train travel has other benefits too; there’s no
its Future Forecast 2020 report towards
two-hour wait in departures before setting-off,
the end of 2019, its authors could
and stations tend to be right in the centre of
hardly have known the scale of the impending
the city for easy access to accommodation and
pandemic, nor the impact it would have on global
attractions. For longer distances, trips will likely
travel. Yet remarkably, the forecasting agency
take longer by rail than by air, but sometimes,
named staycations as one of the trends set to
that’s the point. Slow travel has been a rising
shape the year; little did they know that with
trend over the last decade and was highlighted
international travel off the cards, discovering the
in Wunderman Thompson’s The Future 100
wonders of one’s own country would become the
report for 2020. “Travellers are embracing a
defining travel trend of 2020.
longer journey as an opportunity to savour the
And with staycations comes a rise in rail travel.
moment,” it states. “The journey, once simply
According to new research conducted by YouGov
a means to an end, is being relished as much
for rail operator LNER, Covid-19 has changed the
as the final destination.” The report goes on to
way British people holiday, with nearly a quarter
say: “Train travel, which harks back to a slower
(24%) revealing they intend to go on more
pace of life, is redefining modern luxury travel as
Take it Slow… With train travel on the rise, will restored heritage trains or their shiny new counterparts win the race for the consumer?
staycations in the future. The report also found
consumers hunger for opportunities to step back
that one-in-five are reconsidering air travel for
from the stressors of daily life and engage more
future trips, whilst a third are looking to increase
deeply with the world around them.”
their use of trains, with 46% of those aged 18-
From the Yukon railroad through Alaska to the
24 selecting rail as their preferred method of
epic Trans-Siberian railway that links Moscow
transport for holidays within the UK and abroad.
with Vladivostok, there’s countless great railway
Aside from the current restrictions on
journeys of the world, often famed for the routes
international travel, an increasing desire to
they take and the landscapes through which they
take the train is being driven by environmental
pass. When it comes to on-board luxury however,
concerns. It’s no secret that trains are one of
few beat the beauty of Belmond. Its trains are
the most sustainable ways to travel – LNER’s
designed to celebrate the Golden Age of Travel,
new fleet of electric bi-mode Azuma trains
with interiors inspired by stops along the way,
produce less than a third of the carbon of other
whether it be Cusco’s ancient Inca Empire on the
modes of transport – plus, a number of high-
Andean Explorer, or Istanbul’s Ottoman palaces
profile endeavours have drawn attention to the
on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express. The latter
matter. Last year, supermodel Edie Campbell
features restored carriages from the 1920s and
opted to take a 12-hour train journey from
1930s, though it’s worth noting that the original
London to Milan for fashion week in a bid to
Orient Express, which first departed Paris in
reduce her carbon footprint, while activist Greta
1883, ceased operations in 2009, reportedly a
Thunberg spearheaded the flight-shaming
victim of high-speed trains.
movement, promoting train travel over flying on environmental grounds.
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The world’s high-speed rail network has been developing at pace since the turn of the century;
