Royal Travels

It’s been a busy couple of months! I’ve been all over, from Amsterdam down to Malaga;

Destination #1 - Frankfurt 

The Railway Interior Innovation Summit Europe took place at the IdeasTrain Hall in Frankfurt-Rödelheim, Germany (organised by RedCabin), and as the name suggests, focussed on interiors and innovation within rail. Alongside being a fab conference with great speakers (shout-out to Kirsty at PriestmanGoode for her brilliant management of the whole thing), I loved exploring the Ideenzug; or, the Ideas Train, from Deutsche Bahn & neomind. This is a 1:1 mockup model of a real train which is used to construct and test onboard concepts; from tamer ones to new seating layouts, to blue sky-thinking ideas like onboard fitness suites. 

I loved the airline-style first class seating pods and the classic 'click-clack' convertible train seat which allows passengers to face either direction, and I hated (sorry, yes, hated) the semi-standing leaning seats which airlines have also considered to maximise capacity. Please, please, no. Frankfurt's also got a brilliant transport system; with trams, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and buses, all for incredibly low prices (as in all European cities, try not to be as jealous as I am...)

Destination #2 - Amsterdam

The World Passenger Festival (organised by Terrapinn), was next, with loads of UK companies represented (nice!) and brilliant speakers in a beautiful city.

There was one thing that did completely enrage me, however. There was a fantastic panel on equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) featuring an all-female and highly knowledgeable panel; but as this panel was beginning, roughly half the audience left the room. It was an exodus of pale, male and stale attendees (and more than a few women!), who had clearly decided that this part of the agenda simply didn't matter to them. Perhaps the industry feels all our issues in ED&I are solved, despite the fact that we all have huge skills gaps looming on the horizon? Genuinely incredibly disappointing.

Destination #3 - Malaga

My last trip, and the only one I had to fly to (sorry, don't hate me!) was for the Rail Live! (organised again by Terrapinn). This event was very Spanish (less international), which was genuinely very interesting to experience; a real deep look at transport in Spain specifically. We definitely need to build up the UK company representation there next year! Also, can we have it in a train-reachable country for those of us using the Eurostar to connect, like Barcelona, please?

A brilliant rail advert in Manchester - a big, bold, obvious advert that tugs at the heart strings. Excellent!

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I’ve been travelling in and around Naples! I took a great trip on the Circumvesuviana; a network of lines running out of Naples to the east of the city around Mount Vesuvius. It’s a popular tourist route, with frequent, cheap trains out to Sorrento and Pompeii. For being a popular tourist route, some interesting choices have been made... For example, is that an incredible view outside the window?! You'll never know, because we covered the windows of some of the trains in film! The majority of stops also have step-free access from the platform to the train, a feat still far, far off in the UK, but not access from the station to the platform at many of the stops.

Of course I also used the funicular! There are four funiculars in the city, some nearly totally underground and some offering views over the city. During the 19th century Naples experienced booming growth in construction, with the development of hilltop neighborhoods Vomero and Arenella; leading to the construction of their popular funiculars. For example, inaugurated in 1928, the Central Funicular of Naples (just one of the four) is one of the most used funicular railways in the world, and carries over 10 million passengers per year.

I also learned about the Art Stations project (Stazioni dell’Arte), which brought in artists and architects to bring art to people’s everyday lives. Toledo (with the blue tiles, above) is one of the very best, and was even nominated as the most beautiful station in Europe. There's science here too - the LED lights that soar upwards through the ocean-like artwork are part of a tool developed at the INFN National Laboratories of Gran Sasso. Cosmic rays arrive on earth with a flux of about 100/200 particles per square meter per second. These are particles with electric charge, mass and energy, and can reach a depth of 50 meters, hence this genius observation system built into the metro. Each illuminated LED indicates that a particle has passed, as well as showing its trajectory. I love this intersection of science and art; I'd love to see something like this in the UK!

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This was my first InnoTrans (Berlin, Germany) and wow, it’s huge! Nearly 3,000 exhibitors from 56 countries ply everything from miniscule components made of futuristic compounds, to entire locomotives, and everything in between. On our stall, we hosted amazing companies including GoMedia, UrbanThings, Chrome Angel Solutions, Incremental, Atmo and Esoterix. The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) was there promoting the future of transport development in Wales, accompanied by the team at PAULEY, with a digital twin of the space in virtual reality. I enjoyed exploring the Škoda 36T tram, to be used in Germany’s Mannheim in the cities of Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen, and run as a tram-train on regional lines. It also features low-floor entry, double-wide doors and top-of-the-line information systems; promising a safe and smooth ride for all passengers. Something that didn’t impress me was the gender balance and the gendered roles at the event. Every stall which had catering or drinks (usually the large multinationals), had serving staff to deliver their offerings. Without exception (from my observation), the serving staff were women; it seems that these large organisations, who undoubtedly have diversity and inclusion policies, simply didn’t think about the visual impact of their stalls being staffed and led by men, but served by women.

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I was lucky enough to travel with Locomotive Intercity Limited on 90002, the 'Wolf of Badenoch', and experience their Friday Charter offering! I could talk about what we all know: yes, the seats are bigger and yes, it’s got that vintage charm, but the main thing here is the sense of joy it brings which was just lovely to experience on the mainline (as much as I do love my trips with Avanti and I do have a great fondness for Pendolinos). As you'd expect, the service attracted a lot of attention before we departed London Euston; including a famous face!

The journey itself was a comfortable ride and a great experience; the staff are a major highlight - the customer service they deliver is simply superb, it's worth the trip for them alone. The catering is also great; huge, fresh sandwiches which are so cheap given their quality and size at £3.50, plus champagne if you really want to push the boat (train?) out. If I was splitting hairs, the one area to improve are the onboard toilet facilities. They’re fine - functional and clean - but do show the age of the train much more than the rest of the service. A toilet upgrade could be a welcome addition if Locomotive InterCity intend to keep these services running into the future from EUS-MAN (and gosh, I hope they do), though perhaps the more vintage toilet feel is a draw for some! I’m also not sure if I saw an accessible toilet or a wheelchair accessible space in the carriage, though this may be something I just didn’t see personally that is available. (Edit 06/09/22: Loco InterCity confirmed they have an accessible toilet and wheelchair spaces, both usually in coach F).

There are lessons to be learned here; as COVID moves us away from the traditional commuter model, we have to think about how we attract the casual/leisure traveller. Services like this one, from the comfort factor to uniqueness, the catering to the staff, really show how train travel can be part of the day out or holiday experience itself, rather than something to be suffered in order to reach a location. Combine these lessons with modern technologies and materials; you have a winning sustainable travel alternative.

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I’ve been in Scotland! There are no images of my journey up North - this is because it took approximately 8 hours (from Manchester) in the end after a power failure near Lockerbie and a diversion to Glasgow... I wasn't in a photographic mood! Once I actually got to Edinburgh, though, the sun was shining and the Fringe crowds were joyous - almost making up for the difficulty of the travel. My reason for being in Scotland was the phase 2 launch of the Scottish Rail Cluster; an incredible innovation support programme for rail in Scotland led by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Engineering. The launch was hosted by Progress Rail - I was tremendously impressed by their conservation efforts, including branded hedgehog homes on-site!

Have you noticed how hot it is? Gosh, isn’t it hot? Well, Geoff Marshall has you covered with this air-con tube map!

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Before we get to Paris, we have to go through St Pancras (or Sanny P, if like me, you grew up in London). It's truly one of the most stunning stations in the world; need I say more? The Eurostar is just such a fantastic service; it's so much more relaxing than the stress and strife of the airport. What more can we do to promote this option for reaching the continent over flights? Recent Eurostar sales will certainly help, but I can't help but feel like more promotion is needed (as well as more trust and improvement in UK rail service punctuality). The cafe space in particular is great; offering a social area away from seating.

Travel within Paris itself holds its own charms. Firstly, a single ticket across the city, including the funicular, is extremely cheap. Including the Metro, RER, buses and trams within Paris - a single ticket can be used on any of the four modes for a single journey, for only €1.90. A weekly Navigo travel pass, across all zones, for a week, is only €22.80.

On another note, I love that some of the metro trains still have manually-opened doors (such fun!), but the system leaves a lot to be desired in terms of accessibility, with very minimal step-free access and a lot to be desired in way finding and signage.

Are you making the tea correctly?!