Rail Ticket overview
Developing a distribution strategy for European train tickets is a notoriously complex issue. Each country has developed its own distribution system without reference to other countries’ strategy. Unlike the airlines, there is no universal system. Visit the specialist website for train travel Seat61.com to understand why this has become such an issue.https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm#how-to-check-fares scroll down to How to check fares and book tickets.
Developing a universal rail distribution portal such as Trainline is a technical challenge. Combined with a reluctance by rail distributors to share their data has forced Trainline to develop new technologies. This is to integrate disparate systems creating a universal rail distribution system. Historically, rail company commissions are small (5% just 2% for season tickets), so they charge a booking fee. Direct sales by the UK rail companies use Trainline technology including Greater Anglia. They don’t charge a booking fee. However when 2 or more train companies are involved in a travel itinerary the customer gets the benefit of cheaper fares and a choice of itineraries. Trainline has developed a superior platform for online ticket sales by incorporating additional features developed as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic such as..
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COVID 19 Enhancements
- Crowd Alerts, enabling travellers to inform each other if parts of a train are busy or not.
- Contactless ticketing using QR codes either printed or displayed on your phone to avoid ticket machines or queues at the station.
- Catering for the ‘New commuter” by offering 2 or 3 day weekly season ticket options.
Trainline believe it will be the train platform of choice as rail recovers from the pandemic. Also governments promote train travel as the sustainable travel choice.
Future trends
- Rail market liberalism is increasing competition, Trainline’s global tech platform can scale up at speed as new train companies enter the market. For example on the Milan to Rome route ticket prices declined by 40% and demand doubled between 2011 and 2018 when Italo launched on the market.
- Trainline distribute for 270 train and coach companies in 45 European and Asian countries.
- Cheaper travel facilitated by issuing digital railcards and Splitsave. Splitsave creates a cheaper fare by splitting the ticketing not the journey.
- Alongside existing competitors such RailEurope.com, a new company, Great British Railways https://www.gov.uk/government/news/great-british-railways-for-the-passenger was announced by the UK government in May 2021. One of its functions from 2023 will be the setting of fares and distribution of tickets in the UK. This will compete directly in the UK with Trainline.
- In the year to February 2020. Trainline International sales accounted for 13% of the total. Their main competitor in the international arena is Silverrail, a US based rail travel distributor, with a much wider worldwide coverage than Trainline. They too supply technology directly to train companies such as LNER in the UK.
Over and above technical concerns, booking train travel remains complex as compared to flights, hotels and car hire. This has deterred major players such as Expedia from becoming involved and triggering a step change in the volume of train ticket sales. Trainline is pioneering a highly successful global distribution which may bring this about?
For more information and to book tickets go to https://www.thetrainline.com/
