chrissxb

that was exactly the problem. there are too specific destination forum. for example eurostar. there were questions about eurostar in the uk&ireland forum, france forum and europe forum. and for train travel from italy to france ... what forum would you look for? railteam? - were does the alliance and lounge access system-wide questions belong to?

I fear that being too ambitious, the whole project may never get realized. read upthread: japan people want rail in destination forum - so exclude this from a general rail forum?

tcook052

Then the collective widsom of TB will be put to the test; keeping everybody happy all the time is within their job descriptions, no?

For me it would only make sense to organize a rail forum now rather than adding an EU specific forum, which I agree has merit, only to have other rail questions scattered in various destinations forums.

Roger

Whatever the decision - and I'm firmly in the Europe group - please don't limit it to EU countries as mentioned above. Europe yes, just EU no.

chrissxb

I guess EU was used as acronym for europe and not for european union
european rail travel and other rail travel would work for me. but european situation is too specific with cross-border and alliances ... it really merits a european forum.

Mwenenzi

I would think most of this forum would read Eu as the Europe continent (and UK) , and not that political grouping Eu (what ever it is). Eu is common abbreviation Europe here, especially RTW flights. We like abbreviations - jargon on FT

Roger

Sorry, Mwenenzi. Whatever the Aussies say, that's wrong and most people don't suffer that delusion. And if you're being serious using 'whatever that is', the EU is generally reckoned to mean the European Union.

Being serious, the reason why the forum should be Europe and not EU is quite simply that trains travel between EU and non-EU countries and it would be silly to exclude Norway, Switzerland and Central and East European countries because of a misunderstanding. Especially Switzerland, which while possibly unkown in Melbourne is not in the EU and is a major rail crossroads in Europe so shouldn't be excluded.

szg

It would be really helpful, if we get an european rail forum, because a lot of people are travelling by train within Europe and it isn't easy to find anything about rail travelling within Europe on FT.

ajax

I support this viewpoint entirely.

European rail is much more complicated and extensive than any other regional or intra-national rail service. I think that for any other region, the specific rail queries can be quite easily handled within the individual area's travel forum - and that's how users want it (e.g., Japan).

Swanhunter

^ Perfectly summed up.

European rail travel is significant more complex than Amtrak, which does have its own forum.

lin821

FT has been very "flyers"-oriented (it's FLYERtalk.com afterall ), there are airlines fora. Because of travel, FTers stay in hotels and rent cars. Therefore, FT has hotel and rental cars fora. FTers go to places, hence destination fora.

What has been overlooked is train/Rail is a means of travel as well. Under our current structure, Amtrak is under "Other Loyalty Programs/Partners Forum". The merits of train/rail as a means of travel hasn't been factored in. Like we all know, it's very difficult to find the right forum when you want to specifically ask about travel by train. Discussion has been shoveled to destination fora so far. Simply because there's no better or more logical place to place those threads.

In certain countries/regions/continents, train is a better option than taking a flight. Europe is one good example. I guess Japan and China fit the bill too. No doubt European rail travel is busy and complicated enough to earn its own place. A subforum, as suggested by Cholula and AZ Travels the World, under the new Train/Rail Forum can most certainly grant European rail its own track. We probably need to fine tune what subforums are needed under the new Train/Rail Forum though.

A focal forum to discuss train/rail travel is a definite plus for FT. If a Train/Rail Forum becomes a reality, whether Japan rail should stay in destination forum or be part of the new forum is up for discussion. Just like the pre-OMNI/PR era, everything OMNI was in the Classic OMNI. Now there's OMNI/PR, certain topics just can't stay in Classic OMNI no more.

FLYGVA

As a person, who travels for business and leisure reason quite a lot on trains (from high speed to slow regional trains) I think a European Rail forum is really a good idea.

I completely agree with this points, as I would never think about looking in a European Rail Forum if I want to know how to best go from Munich Airport into Munich downtown. The subway system belong mainly to destinations.

There might be some points (e.g. if you railticket includes a ticket for the local public transportations network at your destination and you want to know hiw this works), but it is mainly related to the destination and therefore belongs in this category

Honestly, I learnt about the eurostar in the UK&Ireland and BA Forum by coincidence. I would never searched there myself. If I search for rail related questions I usually search all forums, which is really not the way. But I look first in the Amtrak Forum for question about Amtrak.




^
We might start with a European Rail forum and eventually with a Japan Rail Forum. But I would not divided Europe into more parts, as this might be a bad idea. Especially since there are quite a number of people who travel around several European countries by rail on their trip to Europe and it is in my eyes easier if Europe is covered in one forum with all Train and Railway Frequent Traveler Programs like Bahn Comfort / Bahn Bonus in one place.

I would think Japan should have it own forum, but this is just my personal opinion. The main reason for this is, that the Japan Tourist Offices in Europe promot their Japan Rail Pass and its options sometimes quite heavily. YOu have to buy this pass outside Japan and it is good for traveling in Japan and on several (afaik not all) networks.
I think Japan has a really good railway system and therefore qualifies for its own forum as well, though I have to admit, it will not become such a busy
forum like European Rail Forum hopefully will become.

Jenbel

Bumping since only 3 TB members have responded - do any of the rest have comments or thoughts to share with us?

ajax

Also, the European rail system is much more heavily integrated, heavily travelled and heavily researched than the rail system in any other region in the world - at least (IME) by the posters at FT.

lin821

If history serves as any indication, not every TBer is expressive in the public TB Forum. Not sure if this TB will be any different though.

The motion is yet to come.

Jenbel

Well yes - but 3 out of 9 of our elected representatives is not exactly a great showing either

This is clearly something which is important to the European FTers. We're still trying to get a sense of how clearly the needs of non-American FTers will be listened to by the new TB, and this is a great opportunity to assess that.