Recently I was invited by Bocconi University to participate in a conference being organised by Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Milan shortly. My role was to be interviewed on video about rail and air competition and collaboration: the interview is to be translated and shown to delegates, who will be mainly corporate travel purchasers in Italy.

This gave me a good opportunity to promote IARO's members.

I was asked about competition and cooperation, so I was able to mention the work done by Fraport and Aeroports de Paris in promoting air-rail code-shares. These can replace short-haul flights, to everyone's benefit. I was able to talk about the issues in integrated air-rail ticketing and to mention the micro-sites used by Gatwick Express and Heathrow Express in particular: these allow passengers to book a flight and then click through from the airline booking site to the railway booking site to buy a train ticket in (almost) the same transaction. The excellence of Manchester Airport's regional rail connections was also something I commended.

The last question was about Italy and air rail developments there.

I was able to start by talking about the rail network developments planned for Venice Marco Polo airport which are being designed by One Works. This led on to a discussion of airport expresses - the advantages of a memorable service frequency like that of Heathrow Express (it takes 15 minutes and runs every 15 minutes). I commented that I was glad to hear that Malpensa Express is to be accelerated and diverted to run to Milano Centrale station from December, and highlighted the benefits of that to the time-poor business traveller. And I was able to end with a description of KLIA Ekspres's e-XKL premium service, explaining that I used it after having been travelling for 23 hours and felt that it was solid gold. "Isn't that what we want all of our passengers to feel - that their journey has been so good it was solid gold?", I asked.

I was surprised to see that TAP Air Portugal is still serving beer on board in steel cans. I thought that airlines were so concerned at the cost of fuel that they were doing everything they could to cut down on weight - and surely steel cans are heavier than aluminium? BA use aluminium cans.

What are other airlines doing?

I rode on the new Italian train, the Frecciarossa, yesterday.

I've seen these distinctive 355 km/h (220 mile/h) ETR 500 trains before, but this was my first opportunity to ride one. And I was impressed - I have ridden on the Shanghai Maglev at 432 km/h, but I don't think I've been as fast as 355 km/h on rails.

I rode in standard class between Milano Centrale and Bologna.

It was fairly easy to find the right platform at Milano, despite much reconstruction work being done there. The main departure screens only showed the final destination (Rome, in this case): I had to find the indicator at the head of the platform to check that the train called at Bologna.

The external livery is red (hence the name - Red Arrow). Inside, the seating is comfortable in tables for four. The overall impression is light, bright and airy. They have 12 passenger cars and a power car at each end.

One drawback seems to be that reserved seats carry no indication that they are reserved: if you haven't reserved a seat, you just have to occupy one and hope that no-one turns up to claim it! And, of course, if it's unreserved between Milano and Bologna but reserved on to Rome and you are going the whole way - you lose your seat! The issue led to a lot of discussion on the train I rode!

We left within 33 seconds of the booked departure time of 11:30, so I'll count that as punctual. Don't get me started on the perceived punctuality of trains outside the UK!

These high-speed trains take 65 minutes for the journey, compared with either 105 or 130 by ordinary train.

Announcements were generally in both Italian and English.

We had a one minute dead stand at a signal check while on the conventional line close to Milano, but thereafter ran very smoothly to Bologna. The line runs alongside a motorway: traffic on that seems to be standing still!

The line is well engineered, with wide (by European standards) margins at either side. There are some impressive flying junctions: the network is obviously incomplete, with some lines starting to diverge but with no wires up and not going anywhere, or ballasted formation waiting to have tracks laid.

At regular intervals, there are well-constructed buildings beside the track - probably for maintenance teams.

At various points, there are sound barriers of different heights. Some have transparent polycarbonate for the top metre or so - but when they are very tall, this isn't as much value for the passenger trying to see the countryside as the manufacturers thought! In urban areas, some have attracted graffiti.

The ride was very smooth and quiet: we arrived at Bologna (where there was a four minute station stop time - why so long?) less than a minute late.

Yes, I was impressed.

Note that for the next few months the inter-terminal shuttle between North and South terminals is out of action.

Instead, there is a bus shuttle.

The route to it is well signed, but it is different. At South Terminal, you need to head for the bus station - as you leave the railway station and go into South Terminal, turn left not right. At North Terminal, you need to go up an extra level - to Departures. And you need to allow more time - at least 10 minutes at quiet times and 20 minutes at busy times, rather than the 2 minutes one allows for the Transit.

See Gatwick's website, www.gatwickairport.com

Having tried this, I can vouch for its unpopularity. People did not like using a shuttle bus. I have seen reports that it is adversely affecting BA's traffic from Gatwick - they use North Terminal - and benefiting airlines like BMI.

Is there a better alternative? Ideas, please!

The buses are of reasonable quality, but they are internal airport buses. They have a lot of luggage rack space at the front, entrances front and centre and seating up some stairs at the back. Part of the problem is the circuitous route - particularly at night, when you have few visual clues as to where you are.

There's a sign on the platforms at London Bridge station, one of the major London railway termini.

It says, "Accessible route to platforms and way out".

It points, of course, to a route which is easily accessible, with ramps rather than stairs.

But when I see a wording where a noun or verb is qualified, I often test the effect of reversing or removing the qualification. If you negate this one, you find yourself looking for signs to an inaccessible route! There aren't any, unsurprisingly.

Similarly I remember seeing a toilet in the US labelled, "Handicapped restroom" - and, of course, thought, "Poor restroom!".

Ideas, please, on what the signage should say in these cases!

It needs to be unpatronising, clear and short. I like, for example, the signage on some trains, "Please give up this seat to someone who needs it more than you" - that's non-patronising, and doesn't put people into pigeon holes.