{"id":49637,"date":"2024-05-21T12:11:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T02:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=49637"},"modified":"2024-05-21T12:11:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T02:11:39","slug":"how-lvmh-exhumed-luxury-rail-with-the-eastern-oriental-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=49637","title":{"rendered":"How LVMH exhumed luxury rail with the Eastern & Oriental Express"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The entrance to Woodlands Station is a pure draught of old Singapore. Officials bark instructions as cars converge, disgorging passengers and luggage. It\u2019s a rare bit of human chaos, conducted in the steamy 30 degrees that prevailed before the city-state became a frictionless, temperature-controlled pleasure dome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time you make it up the stairs, however, you have travelled even further back in time. Parked along the concrete platform of the combined station and border checkpoint, surrounded by cyclone fence and razor wire, is contemporary luxury\u2019s latest secret weapon, 15 carriages glittering like cloisonn\u00e9 jewel boxes in the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Eastern & Oriental Express is back with routes through Malaysia. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Belmond\u2019s Eastern & Oriental Express (E&O) is not in any sense a new train. Its relaunch a month ago, however, has been widely seen as further confirmation that high-end travel in general, and the luxury-train mini boom in particular, are back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a resurrection that started slowly and finished at lightning speed. Belmond, which owns luxury hotels, safari lodges, upmarket river barges and classic trains from the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to Peru\u2019s Andean Explorer, spent the early years of the pandemic undertaking mandatory checks and repairs to the E&O, and evaluating its options for when travel resumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That it had that breathing space came down to a miracle of timing. In the eat-or-be-eaten world of luxury brands pre-COVID, Belmond had been eyeing potential acquisitions such as Kangaroo Island\u2019s Southern Ocean Lodge<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, it was itself taken over by the French luxury behemoth LVMH for $US3.2 billion ($4.9 billion) in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The decor evokes notions of elegant train travel from a bygone era. Ludovic Balay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThat obviously was a saver for us,\u201d the E&O\u2019s affable French general manager, Valentin Waldman, says over a glass of wine as we sit in one of the train\u2019s dining cars towards the end of what Belmond is billing as E&O\u2019s inaugural trip post-launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the beginning of 2023, we were still unsure what we were going to do with this train,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had ideas but not definitive ideas. I said, \u2018We have to restart this train, otherwise it may well be perceived as a dead business\u2019. So we started putting a plan together. The money was there, given we were backed by LVMH. We just needed to convince them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Upholstered seating makes for a comfortable ride. Ludovic Balay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

E&O has come back with a renewed sense of purpose, its place in the market. The current configuration of 15 carriages compares with 22 pre-COVID and accommodates only 60 passengers, half the number carried previously. Since January, $US5 million has been spent on a soft refurbishment (fabrics and upholstery) by an in-house designer, and it is every bit as effective as it seems to have been cost-effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My State Cabin is a symphony of rosewood marquetry and brass, rippling green silk upholstery, cobalt velvet banquettes, dragons sprawling across cushions. Billed as timeless elegance, it evokes everything from old Shanghai to Murder on the Orient Express, <\/em>the golden age of travel before it went mass.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Inside a cabin on the Eastern & Oriental Express. Ludovic Balay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And like everything aboard the E&O, it\u2019s a conjurer\u2019s trick. Built in Japan at the start of the 1970s, the carriages operated as New Zealand\u2019s Silver Star Train, before being bought and refitted in the early 1990s by Belmond founder James Sherwood, a man who saw the experiential future \u2013 and the premium it would place on authenticity \u2013 early. That marquetry \u2013 like the bathroom and brass luggage racks that turn out to be as functional as they are evocative \u2013 dates from 30 years ago, rather than the 1930s. The E&O has been chasing, and improving upon, the past for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey, too, has been refined to two seasonal Malaysian routes starting and ending in Singapore, minus the previous Singapore-Bangkok\/Bangkok-Singapore options. The new summer option, titled Essence of Malaysia, takes you through Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang over four days, and features snorkelling, boat rides and picnics. Our three-night journey, Wild Malaysia (March to October), spans kilometres of palm plantations, immaculate towns, and jungle, including Taman Negara National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Eastern & Oriental Express passes through the landscapes of Malaysia. Ludovic Balay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s only just spring when we arrive at Taman Negara in jeeps on day two, but it\u2019s already so humid wildlife sightings are limited to a particularly languid langur and endangered (and sadly delicious) Kelah fish fighting the crystal-clear currents of the Relau River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we climb to the treetop walk, the rainforest is spectacular, electric with cicadas, the slow whoop of silver-handed gibbons somewhere in the distance. The sturdy new iron-and-steel construction, with its 20 observation towers and stations, opened last year, replacing what used to be the world\u2019s longest rope bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outing ends with a visit to the nearby Save Wild Tigers conservancy, with which E&O has partnered to support a national symbol featured on everything from carriages to letterhead and bed linen, although the animal itself is so endangered the marketing material makes it clear we will not be seeing one.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Kung Fu girl mural by Ernest Zacharevic is among the street art in George Town on Penang Island. Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The punchline of the trip is George Town on Penang Island, reached the next day. Navigated on the back of motor scooters, the town\u2019s UNESCO-listed Old Quarter might have been built for the purpose, with its fading shop and clan houses, frozen in time due to rent-control legislation that made development unprofitable, and now home to art and design collectives, antique shops and boutique hotels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decade, the town has also undergone a street-art makeover spearheaded by the whimsical work of Lithuanian street artist Ernest Zacharevic and featuring murals by the likes of Russian street-art star Julia Volchkova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit ends appropriately at George Town\u2019s hyper-cool Hin Bus Depot. Behind its apparently derelict art-deco facade lurks a sprawling 5574-square-metre site housing a gallery, artist studios, vibrant weekend food market and a restaurant that started as a residency but proved too successful to close.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A dish on board the Eastern & Oriental Express. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The E&O\u2019s makeover has also included a major restaff. The Taiwanese, Michelin-starred fusionist Andr\u00e9 Chiang was selected as its new \u201cculinary curator\u201d from a field of six Asian stars due to his social media cut-through. Belmond is hoping he will help attract the ever-swelling cohort of wealthy locals as he conjures Malaysian delicacies from train kitchens only slightly more user-friendly than airline galleys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to be relevant to the regional market,\u201d says Waldman. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be some sort of UFO in Asia, like our bubble for westerners. We want to expand and really be sure that we address the Asian market, the regional market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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The staff are trained to create a luxury \u201cbrand desirability\u201d from the get-go. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For the rest, the E&O has drawn on a rich local seam of COVID casualties. My excellent steward, Vishnu, turns out to be a veteran airline steward who first glimpsed E&O six months ago, parked in his hometown in Malaysia, as he delivered a pizza. \u201cIt was so beautiful I googled it as soon as I got home,\u201d he tells me. \u201cThere was a notice they were looking for stewards, and I\u2019d always wanted an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upshot is an authenticity \u2013 and an all-in-this-together enthusiasm \u2013 that is every bit as refreshing as the actual refresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It couldn\u2019t be more useful, given the key metric for E&O\u2019s inaugural trip is a very particular kind of customer satisfaction. \u201cThe idea we always went back too was this idea of brand desirability, product desirability,\u201d Waldman says of the COVID rethink. \u201cWhy do you buy a Louis Vuitton bag? I mean there are probably other good reliable\u2026,\u201d he trails off. \u201cIn simple term, you are being asked at the end of a journey, \u2018Would you recommend this to a friend?\u2019 The key performance [indicator] is word of mouth, because if you are willing to recommend this, that means you have had a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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It\u2019s the little touches that add up to an aura of timeless elegance. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Priced from $US3410 a person (food and most drinks included) for an entry-level Pullman Cabin (the Presidential Suite is $US9450 per person, double occupancy), the Wild Malaysia journey is surprisingly affordable. Which hints at an important part of E&O\u2019s role in the LVMH stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin the grand scheme of things, we have to remember we\u2019re part of this big company,\u201d Waldman says when questioned about the economics of the exercise. \u201cBelmond may represent 1 per cent [of that] and [E&O] within Belmond may represent 1 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLVMH acquired Belmond for the experiential aspect \u2013 obviously the uniqueness of the assets they were acquiring, but also the experience,\u201d he continues. \u201cEven in the stores you get a new layer of experiences. You can expect Dior, or Louis Vuitton, to take over the train maybe for one of their launches. So, this is a living platform, and a unique platform, for this brand to showcase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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The sumptous piano bar on board the Eastern & Oriental Express. Ludovic Balay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And livingness is indeed the essence of that platform. If train travel has taken over from cruising as the new slow-travel ideal, it\u2019s because it\u2019s an even more relentlessly analogue (the E&O has onboard Wi-Fi, but there\u2019s not going to be a TV), even somatic experience. As the train rocks along at an entirely human speed, you literally feel every click and sway of Malaysia\u2019s single-gauge track. Discovering your train legs in turn limbers you up, readies you for anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one reason the piano bar, a halfway point to decompress post outings or pre-dinner, becomes the heart of the train. Slow down and you\u2019ll cop an excellent negroni, or one of a menu of Wild Malaysia-themed cocktails. Later in the night, it becomes the rock on which many are happily wrecked over games or karaoke. Every trip is different, say the staff, because the passengers are different, cohere (or not) in their own particular way.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Interiors are positively gleaming after the refurbishment, with creature comforts guaranteed. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Personally, I prefer the stunning, open-air Observation Car at the tail of the train, where I join the trip\u2019s sole smoker on the benches looking out. As Malaysia rolls past, I happily sniff cigarette fumes as evocative of times past as the train\u2019s decor, as we travel forward together, and back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer travelled as a guest of Belmond.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The venerable company has returned with a renewed sense of purpose after a refresh and a rethink, but the focus is still on timeless elegance and luxuriously slow travel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":49646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1182,163,9183],"tags":[9487,9488],"class_list":["post-49637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-luxury-travel","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-rail-travel","tag-malaysia","tag-singapore"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t