Onboard productivity is seen as the biggest advantage of using trains over planes and cars according to a new survey by Amex GBT.
The survey of 3,000 business travellers from France, Germany and the UK found that 92% like to get work done on the train, with 41% reporting that they spend more than half the journey working.
Comfort (43%), sustainability (39%) and valuing time to sit and think (39%) are other reasons for choosing rail for business trips versus a car or plane.
With more and more business travellers turning trains into mobile offices they acknowledge that today’s trains give them the basics they need to work on the move. More than two-thirds (68%) rated charging point availability as ‘good’, with nearly as many saying the same about the workspace (64%).
However, there are still improvements to be made. The productivity-enabling amenities workers are most keen to see improved are Wi-Fi (34%), mobile connectivity (25%) and quiet spaces that support focus time (25%), ranked before the need for better on-board bathrooms (23%).
Infrastructure issues are also holding UK business travellers back. Respondents were positive about the prospect of high-speed rail projects like HS2 and new routes compared to peers in France and Germany. Six in ten (61%) said it would make them more likely to choose rail for work trips and half (50%) believed the additional competition will lead to improved overall service quality.
Over half of UK-based respondents (57%) said their experience of travelling abroad was better than at home, pointing to faster trains (28%) and more comfortable carriages (23%). They were also the most likely to cite disruptions due to industrial action as a reason they’d avoid travelling by rail.
The survey found that travellers need better digital tools for booking and managing trips. Just 5% of business travellers feel they always have access to timely, reliable trip information, such as delays or platform numbers.
Cross-border and international rail bookings also pose a challenge, with business travel rail users ranking them as the most difficult versus air and car rental bookings.
Censuswide conducted the research amongst a sample of 3,002 respondents who travel for work at least three times a year and occasionally use the train for some of the journeys across Germany, France and the UK.
Jason Geall, Executive Vice President of Global SME at Amex GBT, said: “Taking action on putting rail at the heart of business travel is a win for employees and businesses. Companies unlock productivity gains while delivering on employee preferences and benefiting from the sustainability advantages of taking the train. To deliver this for our customers we have launched a rail innovation initiative to help improve booking options and user experience for travellers and arrangers in our products and platforms.”
