Travel management companies (TMCS) are being "put off" booking rail because of the difficulties involved, according to Anne Godfrey, CEO of the Guild of Travel Management Companies' (GTMC).
TMCs want to be able to book point to point, electronic tickets, said Godfrey, in a session on European rail at the Business Travel Market at London's Excel, but with the current system in Europe this is not possible.
Instead, tickets often have to be bought separately, from different providers, for a single journey, especially when travelling through different countries.
"That is a problem," she said. "TMCs would like to be selling more rail."
According to Godfrey, a modal shift towards rail over air travel had already been happening before the recession, partly as a result of corporates taking sustainability more seriously.
This trend has continued, but, warned Godfrey, "how much further we can push it with the current [UK] infratructure remains to be seen".
Godfrey called for an increase in capacity in the UK. "Spend nothing and in 10 years time there are going to be real problems," she said.
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