Questionsand answers

Railteam is an alliance between Europe’s leading high-speed rail operators, currently Deutsche Bahn (Germany), SNCF (France), Eurostar (UK, France and Belgium), NS Hispeed (Netherlands), ÖBB (Austria), SBB (Switzerland) and SNCB (Belgium), as well as three of their high-speed subsidiaries Thalys, Lyria and the DB/SNCF cooperation, with the possibility of more train operators joining in the future.

Railteam is not a new carrier, it should be compared to the alliances in the airline industry such as Skyteam, OneWorld and Star Alliance.

Yes, this is a partnership that is open to any other operators. Every European railway operator can become a part of it - providing they are connected to the network. The condition is that new members respect certain criteria such as service quality criteria, speed of trains etc.

It is a combination of quality and network criteria which need to be evaluated. Some of the quality standards are, for example, air conditioning, width of seats, on board services, multilingual staff, etc. Another criterion is that the trains have to reach a minimum speed of 230 km/h, along with minimum frequency levels, etc. and shall be linked to the Railteam network.

Yes, a partner can withdraw from Railteam but there are number of procedures to be followed beforehand.

Three main advantages:

1. By working together, Railteam members offer customers a better and more seamless travel experience, with a special focus on improving bookings and connections.
2. Through Railteam, they can increase competition with the three airline alliances, and therefore are able to offer a new alternative to travellers in Europe, and thus more choice.
3. Railteam members will help Europe reduce CO2 emissions, by proving a better alternative to flying or travelling by car. CO2 emissions can be reduced per passenger journey by a factor of 4 to 40, depending on the country and their source of electricity

The customer benefits Railteam will be providing fall into three main areas. The first area centres around making it easier for customers to connect to different countries. We really want to make the experience as seamless as possible. The second area revolves around providing much simpler and clearer information about fares and travel information with an emphasis on making it as easy as possible to purchase any origin and destination across the Railteam network. The final area focuses on frequent business travellers, ensuring their privileges to a wider network.

Each operator will keep its own identity. By becoming a member of Railteam, operator’s must comply with minimum service and quality standards, such as air conditioning, width of seats, on board services, multilingual staff etc. Another criterion is that the trains have to reach a minimum speed of 230 km/h, along with a minimum of 3 trains per direction per day etc.

A Railteam journey is an international journey, direct or with a connection, on the Railteam network. To receive all the Railteam benefits your connection must take place in the same station.

The Railteam hubs are the main connection stations between 2 or more Railteam carriers on the Railteam network. In the Railteam hubs, you’ll benefit from all Railteam services aimed at making your connection easy and smooth.

Exclusive services:
- multilingual staff and Information Point, to help you find your way and to make your connection as simple as possible
- “Hop on the next train” service : if you miss your connection because your Railteam train is running late, you can simply “hop on the next train”*.

This service is now available in the 5 RT Railteam hubs for all connections between 2 Railteam high speed trains. It will be soon extended to the whole Railteam network for all connections taking place in the same station.

*Seat cannot be guaranteed and is subject to availability.

List of hubs:
- Brussels Midi
- Lille-Europe
- Cologne
- Frankfurt
- Stuttgart

If you are already a top-tier frequent traveller member with one of the Railteam members, some of your benefits have already been extended across the whole Railteam network. For instance, you have access to the 35 business lounges and you are also eligible for certain privileges from other Railteam members’ frequent traveller programmes, for example, discounted car hire across all Europe’s major cities.
In the future, there will be even more benefits available, including the extension of the existing “earn and spend” points programmes across the whole network.

There is no specific Railteam frequent traveller programme. Railteam’s ambition is to extend the existing members’ loyalty programmes across the Railteam network, and share between them certain privileges.

By taking a high speed train CO2 emissions can be reduced per passenger journey by a factor of 4 to 40, depending on the country and the source of electricity. High-speed trains are also low on
energy consumption, take up minimum space and reduce pollution.