Planes, trains… and sustainability. Adoption of ‘integrated intermodal travel’ is speeding faster than a locomotive around the world, especially in Europe and Asia, and it could mean the next time you book a flight, your journey - and ticket - will include a leg on a train or even a bus.
The key to ‘integrated intermodal travel’ is the ‘integrated’ part. It involves seamlessly switching between modes of transport in a way that’s efficient and cost-effective, typically with pre-arranged connections and schedules that minimize the time spent in transit.
In fact, more and more intermodal travel even adds points to your airline loyalty program’s bottom line!
What’s ‘Driving’ Integrated Intermodal Travel?
Switching between modes in an organized, pre-arranged way is usually more:
- Sustainable,
- Time-effective, and even
- Cost-effective
Trains have a smaller environmental impact than flying – especially on shorter routes, as most fuel is expended for takeoff and climbing to cruising altitude.
A train can carry a larger number of passengers at once with less energy per passenger mile. Electric trains, in particular, are more efficient when they are powered by renewable energy sources. And trains – again, especially electric ones – create far less noise and air pollution than airplanes.
Eurostar says that flying from London to Paris emits 14 times more CO2 than traveling the same route by the just-over-two-hour train ride.
Once you take the time consumed by airport lineups to check in, check baggage and go through security, add in a delay boarding, a queue of planes waiting to be cleared for takeoff or having to circle your destination airport until your plane can land… it can be a lot faster to take the train.
And cheaper.
For example, one report compares traveling from Rome to Florence by train and by plane: it takes over double the time and nearly 3 times the cost to take the plane.
What’s Facilitating Integrated Intermodal Travel?
Countries and transportation companies are waking up and smelling intermodal integration. Some are voluntary – but some is mandated.
A number of European jurisdictions have started banning short-haul flights, forcing the issue.
What does that look like for you? Your trip to a European destination could involve an overseas first leg of your journey and instead of a second, smaller flight, transiting to a train at the airport that takes you to your final destination.
That’s breathed new life into relationships between air and rail companies and sparked a rail revival, with a burst of infrastructure enhancement: rail hubs at airports, and overall rail networks, including a return of the popularity of night trains.
But it’s about more than more trains, more routes and more station hubs at airports.
Technology is making integrated intermodal travel simple, smooth and hassle-free, taking away booking and timing issues, coordinating bookings between modes in one system and removing other pain points that made switching from plane to train and beyond a challenge.
Just as airlines partnered up in networks that made flying on different airlines within the network seamless, new modes are being added to networks.
Here’s one recent announcement, from the airline industry’s biggest Star Alliance – announcing the latest integration with its over 2 dozen international airlines: with an Austrian rail system:
“The partnership is founded on ÖBB and Austrian Airlines' long-standing cooperation to offer rail-to-air connectivity, known as AIRail, which was launched in 2014. It has allowed passengers to travel conveniently between major Austrian cities and Vienna Airport by train, with integrated ticketing and check-in services.
Introduced in August 2022 with Germany's Deutsche Bahn, the Star Alliance Intermodal Partnership model makes it possible to intelligently combine an alliance-wide airline network with a railway, bus, ferry or any other transport ecosystem. It further links loyalty systems and facilitates seamless airport/station/port transit. Benefits to customers include:
More booking convenience:
In a single booking process, customers will receive a combined ticket for the flight and train journeys including seat reservation.
More check-in convenience:
Customers can check in online or at one of the ÖBB Travel Centers in Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck and receive boarding passes for both flight and train journeys.
More choice:
Customers will have even more choices based on timings, duration and prices offered.
More benefits:
With a combined ticket, customers can earn points or miles for their train journey in the preferred frequent flyer program of a Star Alliance member airline.”
It’s safe to say the future will bring more integrated intermodal travel – and its many benefits - into our lives, with savvy travelers working with their travel advisors to optimize all available options and reshape our trip plans.
START YOUR TRIP!
By: Lynn Elmhirst, travel journalist and expert.
Image: Getty
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