MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate use: Wednesday 21st November 2007

'The Railways Means Business':
Trains more productive and more reliable for business travellers than taking the plane

TRANSform Scotland have today (Wednesday 21st November) published a new report 'The Railways Mean Business'. The report analyses the productivity benefits for business travellers of switching from air to rail for journeys from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London.

The report found that the existing benefits of rail travel - reliability, better use of the working day, comfort, and low stress - far outweigh the assumption that shorter travel time equates to greater productivity.

Paul Tetlaw, Chair of TRANSform Scotland, said:

"Most people will be aware of the environmental benefits of rail but this report shows that using the train offers significant productivity gains for business.

"For too long people have focused on flight time as compared to time on the train as the means of comparison. This is entirely misleading as it does not reflect overall journey time. Crucially, it fails to recognise the very real benefits of being able to work on a train journey as opposed to the fragmented and disjointed nature of a journey by plane.

"However, we found that railways could be even better and we make a series of recommendations to further improve business travellers' experience when travelling by rail."

The report demonstrates that rail already has significant advantages over air - even without environmental considerations, including:

• Better reliability - rail is over 20% more punctual than air services
• A much more comfortable and low-stress travel experience - more room and no need to queue
• A more productive working environment
• Better use of the working day - air travellers often find little or no time for work, due to the fragmented nature of the journey. This results in by far the greater part of the journey time being lost (1 to 3.5 hours).

The report concludes that the negative perceptions of rail travel need to be challenged, and that the railways could do more to sell its existing benefits. Further specific enhancements targeting the business market should be made, including:

• Encouraging corporate buy-in to rail travel through improved frequent traveller scheme and an environmental 'Green Star' scheme
• Targeting investment and communications messages to promote trains as a 'mobile office'
• Implementing 'best-of-class' online ticketing across all major rail ticket websites (using Virgin Trains' recent improvements as a starting point)
• Consider introducing an iconic service (for example, free massage) in first class to highlight the low-stress and refreshing nature of rail travel.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] TRANSform Scotland

TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport alliance, bringing together rail, bus and shipping operators, local authorities, national environment and conservation groups, businesses and local transport groups. We can be contacted at 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PR. T: 0131 243 2690; E: <info@transformscotland.org.uk>; W: <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk>.

[2] 'The Railways Means Business' report

The report is available at <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/info/docs/2007-11-21_The_Railways_Mean_Business.pdf>.

The report was written for Virgin Trains by TRANSform Scotland.

END OF NEWS RELEASE