Juan Girón Roger (journalist) | You might have thought why you can leave your house, take a taxi, jump into a plane, get a bus, take a train and get to your destination. That is because of multimodal travel. This vision was developed to make people’s life easier. But is this something anybody can use and benefit from?
Let’s take it one step at a time. Multimodal travel implies that passengers use several types of transport to go from A to B. They are registered on just one transport document. Multimodal travel combines two or more methods (modes) of transport by land, sea, or air (some part can be by plane, train, boat by sea or by river or lake, by car, bus or coach, etc.) and all on a single travel booking. The train and the environment will be the key beneficiaries of this shift to sustainable travel through the multimodal approach.
Riding the gravy train.
As early as March 2020, the European Commission identified rail travel as a crucial priority for its green agenda. That’s why the EU has an interest in making different modes of transport compete against each other, as it may inspire operators to find ways to lower their environmental impact without passing costs on to the consumer. It’s a matter of making rail more attractive, instead of banning or disincentivizing aviation, as explained by European Transport Commissioner Adina Valean (source: Bloomberg). According to EUROACTIV, the European high-speed rail network will increase by 10% per year over the next decade. The French government has decreed that air travel should not be used for domestic trips that can be made in two and a half hours by rail (just the time it takes to travel Paris-London by train).This view saves travelers time and money, offers them unprecedented efficiency, and gives them the peace of mind of a “hassle-free” trip with visibility over disruptions (delays, cancellations) that may occur during the journey and influence (or ruin) the planned connections…