When she visits her brother living in Denmark, Chiara Pellas systematically takes the train. There is no longer any question, for this 26-year-old Parisian, of using the plane. “Yes, it’s longer and it costs me a little more – I pay around 300 euros for a return trip. But it allows me to reconcile my ecological conscience and my desire to travel”says this CentraleSupélec graduate.
She tested journeys, night or day, different connection possibilities: “Passing through Hamburg [Allemagne], That’s what is best. » She even managed to convince her parents to do the same for Christmas. “They’re just going there, and they’ll come back by plane. But that’s already it! », says this young engineer, who has decided to devote her professional life to trains. In February, it launched a site that offers rail travel itineraries in Europe, called “Mollow”.
Specialized media, agencies, train influencers, new comparison sites, travel guides… An entire ecosystem has developed over the past two years around rail travel, seen as the antithesis of a polluting plane. Initiatives led by young entrepreneurs, often graduates of major schools, or by communities, such as the Occitanie region which is developing a system to encourage tourism by train – with proposals for circuits and combined activities (train and kayak, for example). example).
Symbols of this new era: the 30,000 France-Germany rail passes, distributed in June to French people aged 18-27, were snapped up in a few hours; the number of InterRail passes sold in France, which allow unlimited travel in Europe over a certain number of days, increased by 127% in 2022, compared to 2019. Added to this is the rise of DiscoverEU program of the European Commission, which offers InterRail passes to young French people aged 18 (by lottery, around 10,000 in 2023). New offers are emerging, such as the Occitanie Rail Tour, an unlimited pass at 10 euros per day, launched in 2023 across this region, “and which primarily targets young Europeans”explains Jean Pinard, director of the Occitanie regional tourism committee.
For some, traveling by train would thus become a political act, on which NGOs, such as Greenpeace, wish to rely. In this organization, a person is specifically responsible for promoting the train, through communication campaigns, reports, guides and actions on the ground, sometimes a little funny. For example, activists are sent to station platforms to welcome travelers with rounds of applause: the videos are then published on social networks.
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