Travellers swing from air to rail travel
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High-speed European rail travel is now considered a serious alternative to short-haul air travel around the continent, independent research commissioned by Eurostar has revealed.
More than 84% of 1036 people surveyed by the Toluna Group between 21 and 23 April - during the midst of the air traffic crisis caused by the volcano cloud - said they would definitely or probably choose high-speed rail over air when they were planning their next trip to the continent.
In the week after flights were grounded, Eurostar put on an additional 63 trains and carried around 400,000 passengers.
By Sunday (25 April), the train service had carried 500,000 passengers over the disruption period - 100,000 more people than were booked to travel.
Passengers were connecting to Eurostar services from the South of France, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
“During the disruption we have transported half a million people to and from the continent,” said Eurostar Chief Executive Nicolas Petrovic.
“There is no doubt the airline disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano has made people reassess their travel options with eight out of ten now saying they might well opt for rail over plane.
“With a journey time of around four hours from London to Amsterdam or Cologne and five hours to Frankfurt, high speed rail is seen as a serious alternative to flying short haul.”
Nearly half of respondents 943%) said they would be happy to travel by train for up to six hours.
More than 80% said they would choose to go to France by rail and more than half said they would opt for the train when visiting Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.
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