KLM chief says slow German rail links block more air-rail connections
KLM CEO Marjan Rintel says poor rail infrastructure in Germany prevents the airline from offering more train-to-flight connections on short routes, and calls for faster high-speed lines.
KLM wants to connect more flights with trains. Its chief executive says German rail infrastructure is the main obstacle. Marjan Rintel has led KLM since 2022 and previously ran the Dutch national railway. She said the carrier works closely with Eurostar, which links Amsterdam with Brussels, Paris and London. At a press briefing, she said KLM buys fixed capacity on those trains so passengers can transfer to rail toward Belgium or France.
High-speed rail works well toward Brussels, Paris and London, Rintel said, and those services can be connected with KLM's global network. The same would apply to German cities close to the Dutch border, she added.
Berlin is different. Rintel said a journey from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Berlin currently takes at least seven hours and twelve minutes because of construction work on the German rail network, including at least one change. By her account, travelling from Amsterdam onward to Berlin by train takes well over six hours, which she said makes it impossible for rail to compete with flying on that route. She called for shorter journey times that can match flights and said high-speed lines are urgently needed to achieve that.
Rintel said Germany lags behind on fast rail connections.
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Sources
- aerotelegraph.comKLM-Chefin sind Bahn-Verbindungen in Deutschland zu langsam