Berlin - Cheap tickets and a fast cross-border connection to
France: just a few weeks ahead of the summer holidays the German
railway uses the start of its new timetable on Sunday to challenge
airlines and motorists.
In the face of high petrol prices, special offers starting from 29
euros are intended to lure travellers to take a long-distance train,
says Deutsche Bahn AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hartmut Mehdorn.
In future, German high-speed ICE (InterCityExpress) trains will
speed to Paris at 320 kilometres an hour on the new billion-euro
tracks in France, while its French counterpart TGV (Train a grande
vitesse) is due to cross the river Rhine for the first time.
For the home market, this new cooperation also means new rivalry.
The ICE could woo French customers, while German travellers get the
chance to test the TGV. So far, competition between long-distance
trains has been minimal.
To launch the Franco-German track of pride both sides count on the
spirit of cooperation. 'Europe's leading railway lines are joining
forces for the first time,' Mehdorn said during a symbolic opening
tour at the end of May.
'Together we will win new customers,' his French counterpart Anne-
Marie Idrac added.
Harmoniously, the two share the running of the new connections,
which will significantly reduce the travelling time to Paris, which
so far has been more than six hours.
It takes the ICE 4 hours and 11 minutes, which from December will
be shortened further, to only 3 hours and 49 minutes, on a northern
route from Frankfurt to Paris. The TGV takes over a southern route
between Stuttgart and Paris, with a travelling time of 3 hours and 39
minutes.
Whether there's enough demand or not will have to be seen.
Expectations are high: until 2012, the planners expect a 50-per-cent
growth to an annual 1.5 billion travellers on the international
routes. But also the national routes on either side of the border
will change.
The ICE will not only stop at the Paris Gare de l'Est train
station, there will be another two new stops in Lorraine - the
23,000-strong town of Forbach near the border and Lorraine station
between Metz and Nancy.
The TGV on the other hand will add the 300,000-strong Baden
metropolis Karlsruhe to its network. From December platform
announcements in Ulm, Augsburg and Munich might say: 'The next train
to arrive is the TGV.'
Given that ICE and Intercity trains are still running much more
frequently, the shiny, silver TGVs are unlikely to attract enormous
numbers of new passengers. But if departure times suit, people might
soon find themselves travelling from Munich to Stuttgart 'a la
francaise.'
'Competition keeps you on your toes,' says Karl-Peter Naumann,
chair of the passengers' association Pro Bahn. Railway expert Heidi
Tischmann of Travel Club Germany thinks: 'It's good that German
travellers realize that there are other long-distance trains.'
While Deutsche Bahn competitors have a 15-per-cent share of the
local and regional market, their share in the long-distance market is
less than 1 per cent.
With the help of a special tariff, Deutsche Bahn is planning to
fill up in particular those ICE and Intercity trains that are not
currently used to their full capacity. There will be 750,000 tickets
a month by the end of the year, the state-owned company promises.
Depending on route and time of day, the tickets will cost between
29 and 69 euros on the internet and between 34 and 74 euros at the
ticket office and be valid for a single trip.
The planners have experience in doing the sums: special offers
always catch the bargain hunters, although regular tariffs have been
rising in recent years, not least due to the rising cost of fuel. The
most recent price hikes of January 1 increased ticket prices for
long-distance routes by an average 5.6 per cent.
But Bahn CEO Mehdorn is already looking beyond the new timetable
with an eye on the strictly sealed-off French market. 'Why shouldn't
our ICEs run a regional connection in France in cooperation with the
SNCF (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais)?' he wonders.
The ICE is totally up to scratch with is high level of travel
comfort, including electrical sockets in first and second class, Pro
Bahn head Naumann thinks.
But also the French are updating their TGV to go east with a new
interior design - the seats are covered in red and light green, and
there's more leg space than usual.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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