100-Person Choir Invades New York For A Musical Protest About How Rail Europe & TGV's World Record-Setting High Speed Trains Are 'Shrinking Europe'

NEW YORK, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Whenever something new and improved comes along, you can always count on a tiny minority to rally irrationally and loudly against such progress. This was the case today in New York City, when a 100-person strong choir raised their voices in song to protest the new generation of high-speed trains, TGV East, which they fear are making the continent of Europe smaller than it already is. Their proof is that time taken to travel between popular destinations in Europe has become alarmingly short- by up to half the time needed to travel amongst a host of popular destinations.

The "mock" mob, which was actually a part of a larger one-day effort throughout the city, belted out a tune entitled "Europe Is Shrinking," during the morning rush hour at this city's busiest travel hubs, including Pennsylvania Station, Times Square, Bryant Park and Grand Central Station. The "faux" musical rally elicited giggles and gawks from thousands of usually unflappable New York commuters, who simply couldn't understand why the crowd would stand in the way of something that is improving the lives of millions of American tourists and European residents.

"In the past, I have mentioned that our new high-speed trains would make Europe smaller," commented Guillaume Pepy, Chief Executive Officer of SNCF (The French National Railways). "Unfortunately, this small group took this jest rather literally. What I really meant was that Europe would feel smaller because our trains greatly shorten the commutes between cities, for Europeans and the millions of Americans who will visit this summer. The notion that Europe is shrinking is ridiculous, but these protestors refuse to listen to reason!"

Mr. Pepy was also in town for more serious business, when he met with 300 travel editors and travel agents to unveil the new service in a late afternoon press conference at New World Stages.

Rail Europe executed this kicky slice of street theater to draw attention to the TVG East service, which averages 199 mph and cuts travel time - by one- third to one-half - to a host of locations in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. "Europe Is Shrinking" is a mock reaction to Rail Europe's ad campaign created by TAXI New York that launched this weekend nationally, about how the new fast trains are making Europe smaller. For more info on the "Europe Is Shrinking" cause, please see http://www.europeisshrinking.com/ (live Wednesday, April 18th). Rail Europe and TGV East were also in the news earlier this month when a new prototype train set a new world-record of 357 mph.

About Rail Europe

Rail Europe is the leading North American distributor of European rail products, offering the most extensive selection of railpasses and point-to- point tickets for individual or group travel. For more information to book railpasses or tickets on TGV East or trains throughout Europe and the UK, consult a travel agent or log on to http://www.raileurope.com/ (U.S.) or http://www.raileurope.ca/ (Canada) or call Rail Europe at 1-888-382-7245 (U.S.) or 1-800-361-7245 (Canada).

About TAXI Inc.

TAXI Inc. (http://www.taxi-nyc.com/) opened in New York in December of 2004. Globally recognized for its creative product-Advertising Age's Creativity Magazine ranked it the world's 8th most-awarded ad agency for 2006- TAXI's media-neutral approach fosters strategic and creative agility to produce consistent brand experiences across multiple consumer touch points. In Canada, TAXI was named agency of the year by Marketing Magazine in 2001 and 2005, and by Strategy Magazine from 2002 through 2005 consecutively. In addition, TAXI has annually been named one of Canada's Top 50 Best Managed Companies by Deloitte from 2002 through 2006. Both TAXI Inc. and TAXI Canada Inc., with offices in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, are independent, wholly- owned companies with core expertise in strategic planning, media planning, advertising, design, interactive and branded entertainment (chokolat inc.). Client assignments in New York include Coors Brewing Co.'s Killian's Irish Red and Molson Canadian, Versus Network (formerly OLN), Jig-A-Loo, Rail Europe and Blue Shield of California; and in Canada include NIKE Canada, Canadian Tire, MINI Canada, Pfizer VIAGRA, McCain Foods, TELUS Mobility and WestJet.