In contest between European railroads and airlines, all win

This promises to be an exceptionally good year for Americans to ride the rails in Europe. Some fares are down, speeds are up and it’s getting easier than ever to book train trips.

Credit the Continent’s low-cost air carriers for many of these benefits. In what European tour operator Rick Steves calls “one of the great bonanzas of the decade,” cocky newcomers such as Dublin-based Ryanair and London-based easyJet have slashed fares between European cities, forcing trains and major airlines to follow suit.

Eurostar, for instance, reduced its lowest fare by more than half last summer on its high-speed Chunnel rail route, which links London, Paris and Brussels. If you book 21 days or more ahead and travel on weekdays, for example, you can get round trips for $90 in standard (coach) class and $190 in first class. In a recent check of London-Paris round trips for Feb. 5 to 9 at www.cheapseats.com, British Airways wanted $109.35, including taxes. EasyJet, www.easyjet.com, wanted about $59 to $68, including taxes, depending on the time of departure.

If I were really strapped, I’d choose easyJet in this case, even though Luton, the airport it flies from, is seven miles farther from London than Gatwick and 20 miles farther than Heathrow. (A bus line and airport shuttle link Luton with London.)

But price isn’t everything. If I were pressed for time, especially if I were taking a day trip to Paris or just impatient with hassles, I’d take the train. That’s because, besides being cheaper than major air carriers, it travels directly between the cities’ centers (Waterloo train station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris) and could actually be faster than going by air.

Especially now.

That’s because in September, Eurostar began using new high-speed track along part of its route in Britain, shaving 20 minutes off its trips. Getting from London to Paris now takes 2 hours 35 minutes; London to Brussels takes 2 hours 20 minutes or less. You can expect to add about 10 minutes on each end for check-in, Eurostar says.

Although the flight time to Paris is only about 70 minutes, you could spend more than three hours, counting travel to and from the airport and arriving the recommended hour or more before takeoff.

The trains’ reliability, a sore point in the past, has also improved. Before September, the runs to Paris and Brussels were on time about 75% of the time, said Paul Charles, Eurostar’s spokesman in London. Today that figure is more than 90%, beating many airlines, he said.

Other European trains are also running faster. In Spain, the trip between Madrid and Barcelona takes 4 hours 35 minutes, down from seven hours, thanks to high-speed track opened last fall. Unlike Amtrak’s long-distance trains, European trains typically don’t have to share their rails with freight, making it easier to keep on schedule.

Not surprisingly, with these advantages, Europeans often take trains. Between London and Paris, Eurostar claims about 65% of the business, more than all the airlines combined, Charles said. The high-speed Paris-to-Lyon train also transports most of the travelers between those cities, said Nico Zenner, vice president of marketing for Rail Europe, which sells European rail tickets and passes in the U.S.

But Americans, accustomed to relying on cars and planes and leery of Amtrak’s troubled long-distance network here, remain reluctant rail travelers, even abroad. Reportedly only 10% of U.S. visitors to Europe take a train. Rail officials balk at citing a figure, but Charles acknowledged that only 5% of Eurostar’s passengers are from North America -- a number he said the company was determined to double this year.

“That’s the challenge: to persuade Americans that they should be taking the train,” Charles said.

Among other improvements by Eurostar and other rail companies:

* Easier booking: Since November, Americans have been able to book Eurostar trains in dollars instead of British pounds on www.eurostar.com. By using a travel agent, you can also, in many cases, book a single ticket that covers air and Eurostar travel, thanks to new partnerships with 12 airlines, Charles said. You can even add Eurostar to air passes bought through www.europebyair.com, which covers about 20 smaller European carriers.

By June, Rail Europe plans to offer real-time reservations on its website, www.raileurope.com, instead of next-day confirmations.

* Stable prices, more types of rail passes: Eurailpasses are generally priced the same this year as last, which is an even better deal than it sounds because the dollar has slid more than 15% against the euro in the meantime. Some rail passes, such as Flexipasses and one- or two-country passes, have increased.

Two-country passes, introduced in 2002, have sold “beyond our wildest expectations,” Rail Europe’s Zenner said. They’re available for France-Italy, France-Spain and, new for 2004, France-Switzerland and Switzerland-Austria.

* Refurbished cars: By the end of this year, Eurostar plans to revamp its trains, adding laptop plug-ins, wireless access and some “quiet coach” cars that bar cellphones. In spring, taking a cue from the glamorous bygone days of airline travel, it will introduce gray-and-yellow staff uniforms designed by trendy Philippe Starck, Charles said.

Even with all these changes, it doesn’t always pay to take the train. You need to compare travel times and prices, especially on longer trips and on routes served by low-cost air carriers. “I’m routinely astounded that it’s less expensive to fly than to take the train,” said tour operator Steves, a longtime expert on European travel.

But rail has its pleasures. You see the countryside. On overnight trains, you can even save a hotel bill -- no small matter these days.

Jane Engle welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail jane.engle@latimes.com.