I'll be the first to admit that I'm a train geek. Yes, I really liked playing with my model train set when I was a kid and perhaps I never grew out of it. Even today, whenever I get a chance, I'll go out of my way to see a model railroad display (the one at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is particularly impressive). I even "drove" the diesel locomotive at Monticello's Railway Museum (they'll let you play engineer if you pay them some cash). So it's no wonder that when I got back from Europe and unloaded my digital camera, I found that I had taken a lot of train pictures.
Unless you live in the Northeast corridor, train travel in the U.S. is not very popular. However, in Europe everyone takes the train. One reason could be that gas prices are much higher in Europe. But the most obvious reason is that train travel is just so much more civilized. Most intercity trains have a dining car that serves beer and wine, and an espresso cart comes down the aisle every now and then. Besides, Europe's rail network is so well developed, you can pretty much take a train to anywhere. Even though long distance intercity train travel is expensive, it's still well worth it to avoid the hassle (and expense) of getting to and from an airport. And of course, the long lines at airport security checkpoints don't exist at train stations.
As a designer, I have a keen interest in logos, identity and branding -- and the high standards of European railway graphics did not disappoint. Each country has its own national railway, complete with a distinctive logo and a well-executed identity system that integrates color schemes, uniform design, fabrics, interiors, glossy promotional materials and a fully branded web site. The web sites are so functional that one can plan detailed itineraries complete with transfers and track numbers. If you buy European rail tickets online from the U.S., they will mail you the tickets across the Atlantic. Automated ticket machines at stations are also available in English and are fairly easy to use.
But what impressed me the most was the design of the trains themselves. Depending on whether you're riding a local, regional or intercity train, the railway cars themselves could be completely different designs. Each country had its own aerodynamic, super-fast flagship "tilting" trains that can travel up to 200 MPH. The Swiss have the ICN, the Germans have the ICE, the French have the TGV (the fastest train in the world?), the Italians have the Cisalpino -- and they each have a distinctive look. Even the interiors have distinctive color schemes and layouts. The German ICE had the best seating arrangements. If you wanted to, you could choose a six-seat private compartment and close the door -- even in second class. We got lucky one day when we took the train from Basel to Zurich to check out a museum. Without planning for it, we rode the ICE to Zurich and the TGV back. We even managed to get our own private compartment on the ICE because the train wasn't very crowded. On another occasion, when the second class cars on the Golden Pass line were very crowded we were able to upgrade to first class for only $15 per person.
The German trains are all owned by Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad. But the Swiss had both a national railway and privately owned regional railways like the Zentralbahn and the Jungfraubahn, each with their own branding and color schemes. The Jungfraubahn specializes in scenic and historic rail routes like the narrow gauge Schynige Platte line and several gondola lifts. They also own several hotels and lodges in their region, which we figured made good business sense since cheap hotels help sell train tickets. The Zentralbahn featured the Golden Pass line which runs the amazing scenic route from Interlaken Ost to Luzern complete with panoramic cars. Ticketing for all Swiss trains are available on the Swiss Federal Railway site regardless of which line you want to travel on, and the timetables are all coordinated to make transfers easy and convenient.
If you've traveled on Amtrak, you know that our trains never run on time. Not so in Switzerland or Germany. If the train is supposed to leave at 4:10, it leaves exactly at 4:10 -- to the second. I've watched this phenomenon again and again: about 30 seconds before departure, the conductor blows his/her whistle, the doors close, and when the second hand strikes 12 (and not one second later), the engineer releases the brakes and we're off. For some reason, the Italians aren't that concerned with promptness. In fact, because intercity trains often cross borders and make connections with another country's trains, the Swiss tend to blame to the Italians for screwing up their schedule.
Trains are great for intercity travel, but for local travel, take the tram (a.k.a. "street cars" like the ones in San Francisco). The major cities we visited -- Basel, Zurich, Berlin -- all had impressive tram systems. And where trams don't go, there are electric buses. Berlin had it all -- trams, buses, subway (U-Bahn), and the S-Bahn, an above-ground city train system. Ticketing on city transportation is based on a trust system. There are ticket machines at every station, but no one checks your ticket. Sure, there are random checks to keep people in line but those checks are few and far in between.
Train travel is so embedded in European culture that one can catch special train movies on late night cable TV. One night, as I was randomly clicking around, I stumbled across one channel showing an unedited video of an express train running at 200 MPH as seen from the engineer's point-of-view. It was raining the day the video was recorded, so the windshield wiper was going, making a rhythmic beat that mixed nicely with the sound of the rails flying by underneath. So I sat there glued to the TV, mesmerized by the scenery flying by for what seemed like an hour. As I sat, eyes glued to the TV screen, I noticed that I felt very much at peace and in balance -- with my mind emptied of random thoughts. Now that's train magic.
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