Railteam

Infobox Organization
name = Railteam

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motto = High Speed Europe
formation = July 2007
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type = High-speed rail alliance
headquarters = No single location
location = flag|Europe
membership = 7 operators
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website = [http://www.railteam.eu www.railteam.eu]

Railteam is an alliance of seven European high-speed rail operators. The aim of the group is to offer integrated high-speed rail travel between major European cities and to compete with airlines on punctuality, environment, pricing and speed. Coordinated departures are intended to give consistent travel. The members of Railteam plan to launch a consistent ticketing system on a single website in 2009, as well as offering mutual membership of customer loyalty schemes and access to business lounges.cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6262236.stm|title="'Single' euro train fare planned"|date= 2007-07-02|publisher="BBC News"] cite web |url= http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9441785|title= A high-speed revolution|accessdate= 2007-07-17|date= 2007-07-05|publisher= "The Economist"]

Railteam plans to increase high-speed rail passengers from 15 million a year currently to 25 million by 2010.Fact|date=July 2008 When the group was formed, the European Commission insisted that involved operators continue to compete on prices.

Hubs

The five Railteam hubs are the main connection stations between 2 or more Railteam carriers of the alliance. In the hubs, Railteam will provide services aimed to ease travel connections. This includes multilingual staff and information points to help travelers. If one misses a train because of delays, it will be possible to have a seat (if available) on a sooner departure.Fact|date=July 2008 There are plans to extended these services to all stations in the Railteam network.

List of hubs:
* Brussels
* Lille-Europe
* Cologne
* Frankfurt
* Stuttgart

Members

Railteam currenctly consists of seven operators from Western and Central Europe. Its website states that they are open for more operators joining.

Cross-border rail operators Thalys, Lyria and Alleo are associate members. [ [http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/08/7658/railteam_bids_to_relaunch_international_rail_travel.html Railteam bids to relaunch international rail travel] "Railway Gazette International" August 2007]

TGV
Eurostar
InterCityExpress (ICE)

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Thalys

Conditions for joining

Quality standards like air conditioning, width of seats, on board services, multilingual staff, etc. Another criterion is that the trains have to reach a minimum speed of 230 km/h (140 mph), along with minimum frequency levels, etc. and will be linked to the Railteam network are needed to become a member.Fact|date=July 2008

Competition

The Railteam alliance is the answer of the highspeed train operators on the growing pressure of the airline alliances like SkyTeam, Oneworld and Star Alliance. In addition Railteam uses the same terminology in their communication like hubs, a joint frequent traveller programme and reciprocal lounge access between carriers.

The alliance intends to focus services around five main hubs (Brussels Midi, Lille Europe, Stuttgart, Cologne and Frankfurt ), with multilingual staff and lounges accessible by members of any partner's frequent traveller programme from 2008. Other hubs may open in the future.

References

External links

* [http://www.railteam.eu Railteam.eu] – Official website