Fear of prosecution under Britain's new Corporate Manslaughter Act has prompted a shift from road to rail.
Small and medium size companies in the UK are urging staff to take the train on longer journeys, rather than drive, Gareth Elliott, policy advisor at the British Chambers of Commerce, said.
He told the Institute of Travel Management's (ITM) conference on ground transportation in London: "We have had a lot of members who have said they would rather employees went by train because if they fall asleep it does no harm.
But if they fall asleep at the wheel and smash the car the company could be responsible."
Under the Act, which came into force in April, firms can be found guilty of manslaughter if failures in health and safety management result in deaths.
But, said Mr. Elliott, many SME's, lacking the legal departments which larger companies could call on, did not yet fully understand the Act.
Its implications, he said, were "still seeping through".
Elizabeth Dainton, research development at the RAC Foundation, told the conference: "Certainly from our work it is clear that companies are now keener on vehicle management in house and to use alternative forms of transport."
According to research quoted in a joint report by the BCC and the Foundation, it is estimated that 25% - 33% of road accidents in the UK involve someone travelling in some capacity for work.
In those accidents 850 – 1100 people were killed and 90,000 – 118,000 seriously injured.
By shifting trips to rail, the Act has had the coincidental effect of making business travel greener.
But both speakers said more needed to be done to get travellers off the roads.
Ms Dainton quoted from the report, which found 70% of the business travel community does not regard public transport as "fit for purpose" - though this applied more to local than long distance services.
Mr Elliott suggested train companies should provide conference facilities at stations, to enable travellers to hold meetings half way between their offices.
Also from the conference:
Train operators fail to grasp corporate needs
Most of Britain's train operating companies still fail to understand the needs of the corporate market, Jan Tucker Jones, global travel manager of BT, said.
"They treat all customers as leisure passengers really", she said. "The airlines are good at working toward deals or corporate fares but with the exception of Virgin and a few others they simply don't recognise the corporate market."
Her criticism was just part of a barrage aimed at rail operators, who came under fire for failing to ensure all promotional fares were available through specialist booking channels and lagging woefully behind the airlines when it came to new technology such as e-ticketing.
Ms Tucker Jones said only about one quarter of the company's rail bookings were made through The Trainline, which was appointed as its rail TMC about three and a half years ago.
"But you've got to start somewhere," she said.
Information garnered through the TMC had helped BT secure some soft benefits such as access to lounges, free wifi and cut price food and beverages for staff in standard class.
"But have we made any hard savings, like discount fare deals)? Not really. And I'm not sure we ever will unless we get more and more management information."
Despite that, BT had managed to reduce the average rail fare paid by employees by more than one third, from £96 to £56, by persuading them to book in advance and take advantage of promotional fares.
"We ask them to buy in advance if they know they have a meeting set up. A first class ticket bought in advance can sometimes be cheaper than one in standard class bought on the day of travel".
Clodagh Buckley, sales manager of Virgin Trains, suggested opportunities for travel managers to negotiate fares on off peak services were much brighter than at peak times, when trains were busy.
But Nigel Turner, UK public sector director of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, feared the chance of negotiating discounts were "minimal because overall the rail operating industry does not take the business travel market seriously."
by Roger Bray