Lots of attention goes on the expansion of aviation routes and the growing levels of connectivity with the traveller community.

But rail rarely gets a look-in.

If it does, this is often with a focus on the European high-speed network – where operators continue to push rail travel as an alternative form of transport over reasonably long distances to air.

But plans are underway for what could end up being the biggest intra-regional networks of modern, high-speed rail routes in history… in Asia-Pacific.

The region is no stranger to rail travel, with hundreds of lines crisscrossing every country in place since the colonial eras.

But there is no a concerted effort from countries that missed out on the first wave of high-speed rail to join their counterparts in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (and in parts of China) with modern, fast and connected train travel.

India, Bangladesh and countries in South East Asia are coming on-stream and creating, over time, a pan-Asia railway network.

Travellers will be able to travel from Kunming to destinations in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore – all at high-speed.

The numbers are vast and the potential is huge.

In China alone, 2.77 billion rail journeys were made in 2016, with more than half of those on high-speed trains.

With other routes joining the wider network, passenger numbers will soar even higher.

At heart of the development of the pan-Asia network is the realisation by its operators that the modern, connected traveller will put as equal amount of pressure on the quality of their experience as the engineers are putting on the infrastructure.

Pierre-Yves Guillaume, head of rail in the region for Amadeus, says:

“Rail operators are drawing inspiration from peers in countries like Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, which benefit from well-established networks, with a deserved reputation for customer-centricity and a service so reliable that punctuality is sometimes measured in seconds.

“In some cases, rail could drive a more seamless multimodal offer. In others, it could leapfrog air travel altogether to provide a convenient city-centre-to-city-centre experience.”

Yet rather than simply throwing some track down on the landscape and building trains, operators are trying to think a lot harder about what travellers will want.

And, inevitably, technology will be at the heart of it all.

Amadeus believes that with stiff competition from air travel in the region, rail operators will need to think like their aviation counterparts.

This will come in the form of merchandising, for example, or ensuring ticketing extends beyond the existing “closed channels” that exist in some markets so that rail travel will be “more accessible to travellers across various platforms and devices”.

One of the biggest challenges comes in the back-end – data.

There is currently a difficult in getting access to and understanding rail timetables and booking systems.

The integration of rail content into GDS-like environments is, Amadeus argues, inevitably, “a crucial step” to ensuring passengers have the same ease with which to buy a rail ticket as they do with booking a hotel or airfare.

Connected to the consumer experience are two vital ingredients: payments and mobile.

The latter is arguably the most important element given that the region is considered one of the most tech and mobile-savvy parts of the world.

Such as consideration needs to include on-board connectivity, as well as mobile designed or optimised websites and apps, Amadeus says.

The next generation of travellers will demand more throughout their journey, the company argues.

This will generate a need for operators to “stay ahead” through techology that allows the automation of payments.

It highlights the growing use of automated or embedded payments in ride-hailing and accommodation services.

Guillaume adds:

“This resurgence of rail coincides with the rapid growth and evolution of the wider Asia Pacific travel market. And there is huge potential for rail to play an even greater role in supplementing and complementing the wider travel industry.”