This week sees two potentially game-changing rail stories: the commercial launch of Eurostar's London-Amsterdam route and the SNCF strikes.
Both are reminders of why rail is usually an afterthought to corporate travel programmes.
Many travel managers see rail as air's poor cousin because of the fragmented nature of its routes, ownership, distribution and product as well as the relative unreliability of the service. Corporate indifference to rail can also be pinned on the inability to secure discounts on rail fares in the same way as air fares in many countries.
Others travel managers, particularly those in Europe where taking business trips by train is far more common, see rail very differently and both France's strikes and Eurostar's new route are potential game changers.
When Eurostar's services between London and Paris and London and Brussels launched in 1994, they quickly reduced the market share of airlines plying those routes and in both directions.
The Eurostar London-Amsterdam service is starting with just a twice-daily schedule but could potentially be very popular. After all, Heathrow and Schiphol are two of the three busiest airports in Europe and nudging the top of the leader board for international air city pairs within the continent.
The Eurostar journey from the central London to the hearts of Rotterdam and Amsterdam will take 3 hours 1 minute and 3 hours 41 minutes respectively. Travel time might exceed that of air but the difference evaporates when airports transfers and check-in times are included. The total rail trip time is potentially productive, making it very competitive for corporate traffic.
Competitive is what the French rail system might become if President Macron's proposals are adopted. His government wants to remove SNCF's special employment rights and to change the indebted organisation from a public establishment to a publicly limited company. Although privatisation is not being formally proposed, it is seen by some as the inevitable outcome should the proposals be implemented. Competition is already on the cards as we discussed here.
Privatisation and competition would undoubtedly increase consumer choice.
The TGV services which are popular with business travellers are heavily hit by the strikes but if Macron is successful the consequence could be more long-distance services. These would appeal to the European corporate travel market.
Both Eurostar's new route and the French railway workers' industrial action mean that competition between air and rail for business traffic could be more than a Brief Encounter.