233: Mark Smith, 'The Man in Seat 61', on train travel to the Alps

Today is a special interview with Mark Smith – the train travel expert also known as ‘The Man in Seat 61’. 

We discuss his background; how he came to set up his website seat61.com; his views on the best routes to the Alps by train; the trend towards night trains; plus whether there will ever be competition for Eurostar on the cross-channel line. 

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SHOW NOTES

Seat61.com is a multiple award-winning website with more than 1m visitors per month (2:00)
Why is it called ‘Seat 61’? (2:30)
What prompted you to start the site in 2001? (4:15)
Mark has worked full time on Seat61.com since 2007 (7:00)
Iain took the ‘Flight Free Pledge’ to take no flights in 2024 (8:45)
Why should people travel by train? (9:00)
Come for the carbon savings, stay for the joy of travelling by train (9:15)

“We're in danger of creating a world where every single journey is an identical non-experience at 30,000 feet and life's too short not to grab every experience when you get the chance.” (11:30)

Listen to Iain’s report on the Eurostar Snow Train (13:00)
Will Eurostar ever bring back that direct service? (13:30)
Or that they might increase the number of rotations? (15:45)
Will we see competition to Eurostar on the cross-channel HS1 line? (18:00)
Virgin are interested in starting as a competitor to Eurostar (18:30)
When will the line from Paris to Turin open again? (21:00)
Taking the train to Italian ski resorts (23:00)
Taking the train to Austria (24:00)
Taking the train to Norway (25:00)
The Caledonian Sleeper is ‘Best train in the UK’ according to Mark (26:00)
Simon Calder and Mark raced to Edinburgh in a plane v. train race (27:30)
Night trains are becoming more popular (28:30)
OBB’s ‘Nightjet’ service is the biggest operator of night trains in Europe (29:30)
The Nightjet to Innsbruck departs from Amsterdam (31:00)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Chris Engelsman, co-founder of European Sleeper (31:30)
Mark will be on the inaugural European Sleeper service (32:30)
Boutique operators include Snälltåget and European Sleeper (33:30)
How do you keep the costs of train travel down? (35:00)
When is Interrail better value than point-to-point tickets? (37:00)
Why do you have to wait to three months beforehand until you can book trains? (38:30)
Iain will be travelling to Sicily on the only train ferry left in Europe (40:45)
Is it possible to travel from Portugal to Singapore by train? (42:00)
Take the plunge, you’ll love it! (44:00)

“Collectively we are racing through spectacular landscapes, covering a mile every 40 seconds, using Victorian infrastructure to the full and causing minimal environment harm. The rail traveller is in touch with the world.”

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