Following is the next instalment from Dr Keith Howson, the former Dean of the Business Faculty, who is officially lecturing in the US, but during their break has been seeing Europe. It’s a though life! Enjoy.
Travel is always interesting because it affords an opportunity to see things through the lens of another place. We have been doing some travel in Europe and on several occasions I have been reminded of the diversity of life in the various nations where we have been and what we might learn from such experiences. For example, we travelled by train from Malaga in Spain to Barcelona on a high speed Spanish service. Top speed of 300 kph, on time departures, clean carriages and a rather good canteen service. We continued our journey via Toulouse to Poitiers, and on to Paris all on a French TGV with similar experiences. The Eurostar took us on to London. On this section of the railroad we saw the trains dedicated to cargo traffic in a service lightheartedly referred to as via the “Chunnell.” Our final train ride was on the HST from London to Edinburgh and back. I marveled at the strength and robustness of this important component of commercial infrastructure. On each section of the ride we saw many holiday makers but also a fair number of people in suits with laptops. I wondered about how different it might be if we had such a service between Sydney and Brisbane, or Canberra or even to Melbourne. At 300 kph with limited stops and no airport hassles it would be an amazing way to journey. Security checks are in place in Europe so that cannot be avoided but not being at a departure point an hour or more before embarking certainly makes it a good deal easier to move people and cargo seamlessly between major destinations