Certares Bets $2.3 Billion on High-Speed Rail in Europe, Founder Says

Greg O'Hara, founder and senior managing director of private equity firm Certares, expects more European governments to push travelers off short-haul flights and onto trains, and he said his company has invested about $2.3 billion in European and UK rail.

A French law already bars domestic flights if a direct train trip would take less than 2.5 hours. (Certain connecting flights are excluded.)

"So we like trains because France has passed a law, and other European countries are going to pass a law that if it's within a certain distance, you can't fly there anymore," O'Hara said Thursday at the Skift Transatlantic Summit in Dublin. The topic was "Where Transatlantic Travel Capital Goes Next."

"The plan is we own the challenger railway to SNCF in high-speed rail in France," said O'Hara, who lives in Milan and spoke via video from the Italian offices of train manufacturer Hitachi. Certares' partner is Ferrovie dello