Growing group of business travellers takes international train

Business travellers are increasingly choosing the train for destinations up to 400 kilometres. This is according to a new analysis of business flight and train data by the Coalitie Anders Reizen and Natuur & Milieu among large employers.

At the same time, business travellers are still hampered in their choice of train. Much profit can already be easily made here by making train instead of plane the default choice in booking programmes, the organisations argue.

For the analysis train and flight data were provided by 22 major Dutch companies. It shows that Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Hamburg and Luxembourg were the most popular train destinations in the period June 2022 to July 2023. Rail is on the rise at these destinations up to 400 kilometres. This results in 8 to 10 times less CO2 emissions per kilometre compared to air travel.

"On journeys of up to 400 kilometres, the plane can very well be replaced by the train" - Rob van Tilburg Nature & Environment

Comparison pre-corona and post-corona

A comparison was also made between pre-coronagraph 2019 and with the period June 2022 to July 2023 with the data of six companies. It shows that the share of train journeys to popular destinations up to 400 kilometres at these companies grew from just over 50 per cent in 2019 to over 80 per cent. Rail travel to Berlin (up to 700 kilometres) grew from 4 per cent to 50 per cent in the same period.

"On routes up to 400 kilometres, the plane can very well be replaced by the train," said director of programmes at Natuur & Milieu Rob van Tilburg. ''It's great to see that many companies are making the move to more sustainable business travel and using the alternative. The train causes less inconvenience, the air stays cleaner and it causes less climate damage."

"The growing demand for train travel from the business community provides energy to accelerate." - Hugo Houppermans Coalition Different Travel

Increasingly steering for CO2

Hugo Houppermans of the Coalition Different Travel: ,,The growing demand for train travel from the business community gives energy to accelerate. Companies can do this by putting the train first in the booking programme. Companies: sit down with your intermediary and the booking platform and make choosing the train the norm."

Another trend is that companies affiliated to the Coalition Different Travel are experimenting with steering by CO2 budget. Houppermans: , "This means that instead of just costs prevailing, teams and employees are booking their trips with a CO2 budget. This makes the train a logical choice."

Participating companies

For the analysis, flight and train data from the following employers were analysed: APG, Capgemini, Deloitte, Eneco, EY, KPMG, PwC, Strukton, Sweco, Schiphol, Vitens, TNO, VodafoneZiggo, Province of Groningen, Arcadis, Royal Haskoning, Thales, Friesland Campina, central government and Accenture Non-members Ahold Delhaize and TomTom also participated.