RAIL BOOKING Click Travel director of operations Chris
Vince says: “Because we have developed our own technology, we don’t have to pass on third-party costs to customers – while the refund process is very easy. Simplicity is the system’s USP, and it’s designed to offer the cheapest ticket every time. “We are working on e-ticketing, but it
needs to be consistent across all train oper- ators and ticket types. It would be great to see simpler fares as being trialled by Cross- Country and Virgin, but there’s a long way to go. Virgin’s app offering the possibility of upgrading to first class for £5 the day before travel is interesting.” A survey by the GTMC indicates strong demand for both advance (68 per cent of respondents) and flexible Anytime tickets (66 per cent). CEO Adrian Parkes says: “As more business travellers need to work while out of the office, the onus is on train operators to provide the functionality and technology to support this. They must ensure TMCs have access to mobile ticketing and refunds on all bookings and fares, to ensure there are flexible and relevant ticketing options for today’s business traveller.”
EUROPE AND BEYOND As Britain lags behind several European countries in providing a high-speed rail network – until HS2 becomes a reality – many corporates don’t realise that rail is a viable alternative to air on journeys of up to three or four hours. Some business travellers connect to Europe’s growing high-speed network via Eurostar (now with a limited direct service to Amsterdam), while many others fly into Europe then travel on by rail. Spain, France, Germany and Italy have
the most developed high-speed networks, while the Thalys network connects cities including Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. The GDS are working hard to deliver full functionality for booking European rail, while Asia is a key growth area. Online
Eurostar launched a direct London-Amsterdam route in April
Evolvi’s average transaction was
£56.82 £59.03
in 2013
specialists such as Trainline and Voyag- es-SNCF (owned by French Railways but booking rail throughout Europe) offer an alternative. Martin Danzl, director ground and sea
for Sabre, says high-speed train operators are working on API technology to deliver improved functionality via GDS – while greater “visibility” of rail is driving bookings from air to rail with productivity gains and carbon savings as a result. “High-speed rail is developing throughout
western Europe with the new line from Munich to Berlin being the latest success,” he says. “Some rail operators, including Eurostar, have IATA codes so they can be displayed alongside air, but you don’t need rail to be on the same screen as air to create one booking flow. “Since 2010 there has been an open
market for rail within the EU, but with the exception of Italy there are still monopo- lies. In Germany, however, we are seeing tech-driven operator Flixtrain moving in. “We are now distributing rail in Russia,
which could be a big market. Japan and China have major high-speed networks, but the technology is restricted and there are hurdles to overcome. High-speed rail is developing in South Korea, and while
130 BBT May/June 2018 in 2017, down from
the US is not a big rail market, Amtrak is making strides.” Paul Broughton, Travelport managing
director UK and Ireland, says there has been “a significant shift from air to rail bookings” in countries investing heavily in high-speed rail. But he adds: “The non-standardisation of rail content and lack of a common rail protocol makes rail journeys, outside of air/ rail agreements, complicated to book. “Rail operators must make their content
and fares available for booking worldwide and using the same workflow that TMCs use to buy air, hotel and car travel. With high-speed trains capturing a market almost half the size of the airline industry, Trav- elport is playing a key role as a facilitator with air-rail codeshare services, such as our Heathrow Express app.” Amadeus is a leading player in rail, in-
vesting Ð100 million in development and issuing a report identifying Asia as a region of great potential. Antoine de Kerviler, global head of rail and ground travel, says: “We want to make rail as easy to book as air, and are pushing for standardisation and a more global approach by train operators. There’s a lot of pressure from TMCs for deeper integra- tion of rail, but there are still big challenges such as cross-border journeys.” Voyages-SNCF has seen a steady increase
in business bookings online, with Print@ Home and e-ticketing becoming more widely available, including on Eurostar Connection routes. Trainline has a growing portfolio of corporate customers across Europe, and is talking to UK corporates about supporting their staff in other Eu- ropean countries. GTMC is calling on European train oper-
ators to prioritise the role of the TMC in the ticketing process, by providing access to all international rail ticket sales channels so that they are able to offer the best options.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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