At 8.30am this morning I was in the studio. In itself unremarkable, but at 7am I was having breakfast on the beach, 85 miles away, in East Sussex. Nope, I haven’t learned to fly, but I think I’ve discovered the future of travel nonetheless.
The new high speed train service from Ashford to London is a revelation. It makes the journey in 37 minutes instead of the 1 hour 22 minutes that a regular train demands. The speed feels effortless, especially where the line runs alongside the Motorway and you get to see the futility of a similar journey by car. The carriage is clean, comfortable, and hardly busy. The departure and arrival (St. Pancras) points have a clinical efficiency to them meaning that you’re in or out before you really know it. The end to end journey is fast. Damn fast. And, as high speed rail rolls out to more parts of the country over the coming generation, will probably change the way, or at least where, we live.
In this business we talk a lot about brand experience, and this one has to be up there close to the best of them. It succeeds where so many others fail by delivering the thing that matters most, an outstanding product.
Where it could yet deliver more is on the emotional side of the experience. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of my journey was the absence of any surprise. As it’s generally true that most railway-bound surprises are bad ones, then that could be said to be a strength but I can’t help but feel that there’s room for something more here. This is an experience that could afford a little more celebration. No, I don’t mean self-congratulatory announcements from the driver, but more something that allows the passenger to inwardly remark on the fact that a great travel choice has been made. And with only 37 minutes to fill instead of the old-school 82, one or two great ideas could be all that it needs.
At the end of the journey an American accent announced our arrival. This felt entirely appropriate, somehow emphasising the cultural shift that this service represents – from the slow discomfort of British railway’s past, to the fast, cosmopolitan simplicity of the future.
Now, where do I catch the tube?
thanks for the post -