New Orients
Looking at the world’s railway networks, these span more than 1.3 million route-kilometres worldwide. And while most of the vaccinated travel schemes revolve around airplanes, some countries have begun to take into consideration how trains can be a major player too.
In Asia, the latest addition in December 2021 was launched by Laos. The US$6 billion Laos-China high-speed link that began with much fanfare, in spite of criticism toward the possible debt crisis, has the government hopeful that it could be turning profits in a few years.
While Swedish state-owned SJ railway introduced a Stockholm-Hamburg night service stay passing through Copenhagen last year. Not far off, Nightjet now offers a service line between Paris and Vienna, almost proving how there is a renewed interest, since the route would restore one the famed Orient Express used to take before it was discontinued in 2009.
In the US, President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill comprises a US$66 billion commitment to expand the US Amtrak rail network. One that can potentially see travel between connecting more cities on rail travel. In an interview with Cnet, Mr Roger Harris, Amtrak's chief marketing and revenue officer added that Amtrak’s recovery has been consistent through 2021 noting that ridership has reached about "70 per cent of pre-COVID levels," adding that much of that is leisure travel rather than business.
If anything, COVID is one of the major factors for the dramatic change in recreational behaviours as well as the ideals on travelling and new consumer patterns.
Renewed Interests
Since international borders were closed, governments have looked to domestic tourism.
Japan started the “Go to Travel” campaign for all local and foreign residents in Japan since July 2020 while Singapore rolled out its S$320 million worth of “SingapoRediscovers Vouchers” - tourism credits - to Singaporeans in August 2020. Thai citizens over 18 years old qualified for 40 per cent of the cost of domestic accommodation, ensuring a budget for five million stays till early 2021. The Australian government unveiled a A$1.2 billion tourism support package in March 2021. Costa Rica even enacted a law that shifts the day of the week of all holidays to Mondays, which is effective between 2020 and 2021, in order to promote domestic travel by citizens.
Whilst success was seen in the domestic travel market recovery of some countries, these initiatives have also spurred on a deeper appreciation for destinations much closer to home. And travelling by train can certainly provide that novel approach to relive nostalgias and the cultural exchanges most have been missing out on since 2020. The longing for more of the great outdoors maybe better placed via a train journey rather than the average budget flight out and back with just one destination.
One that tracks across several borders, such as the route from Beijing to Moscow, can hold its own allure from charm to enough journey eloquence for travel enthusiasts – promising an adventure of multiple stops with more great open vistas to behold along the way, opportunities to take a longer sojourn – and all for a lesser carbon footprint throughout.
Greener Travel
Based on The Future of Rail: Opportunities for energy and the environment (January 2019) by the International Energy Agency, it was reported that Rail is among the most energy efficient modes of transport for freight and passengers. Citing that while the rail sector carries 8 per cent of the world’s passengers and 7 per cent of global freight transport, only represents 2 per cent of total transport energy demand.
According to The Guardian, travelling by train from Bristol to Newcastle takes in 33kg of CO2 per person in comparison to the return plane journey that results in 203kg of CO2 per person.
Judging from a statement published on 31 December 2021, the non-governmental organisation Greenpeace European Unit seems to agree as it calls for the European Union authorities to focus more on rail rather than plane travel.
But for travellers, some suggest the cost of train tickets is more than a domestic budget airline fare. Or is it? It depends: For a traveller who takes the Eurostar from London to Paris, or say the KM train from Singapore to Malaysia’s Johor Bahru, these fares are not just far cheaper, they are also more convenient and faster – without the hassle of long lines through customs, unforeseen traffic jams even if driving say from Singapore to JB.
With supply chain woes and the fluctuations on carbon pricing growing tenuously, freight train may not seem like such a bad fit. Since many countries have the infrastructure, support services, capabilities and resources needed to ease into expanding rail connections further in the region.
Getting Beyond
With an ongoing vaccination rollout in many parts of the world and the risks of a new variant strain infection still questionable, building flexibility in another vaccinated travel mode may still help. And train travel could be the surprising additional outlet for a continual recovery track needed in regional and domestic tourism.
Travellers, on the other hand, may even feel that lesser contact from station to perhaps a personal carriage lowers risks to exposure of a possible COVID spread or infection – not for sure though as researchers add that there is recirculated air within trains. But the reality remains that travelling on any mode, whether on plane, car, coach or train, holds no guarantees in avoiding a COVID spread. Loosening safety restrictions will not be an option. And as Omicron continues to pose challenges, policymakers may even tighten these as the situation evolves from country to country.
Moreover, a new train network across a region is an extensive thus long-term and massive undertaking, if done well, can greatly boost many essential points at this time. Stronger cooperation and commitment between national governments, create many more jobs and open up numerous opportunities for public and private sectors to collaborate.
But for now, countries with an shared established network, may skip past all of that to consider how to quickly benefit from an additional VTL by train.
Byline: Paul Lim Pau Hua, Student (Masters in Public Policy) 2022