Trainline partners with Travelport as rail travel popularity soars

The GDS says cross-European train bookings can be managed as seamlessly as air or hotel

by Kaia Hicks

Content from Trainline has been integrated into the Travelport+ travel agency platform as travel by rail becomes increasingly popular.

Travelport announced this week that it had finalised a multi-year agreement with the online rail and coach ticket provider.

Trainline’s range of content from rail operators in Europe will be integrated into Travelport+ through desktop user interface Smartpoint and “next-generation” API’s.

The collaboration comes as multinational rail options become an increasingly popular mode of transport across Europe for both leisure and business travellers, according to the GDS.

Travelport said as demand for environmentally efficient modes of travel grows, global agents connected to Travelport+ will be able to manage and book cross-European rail offers “as seamlessly as they do with airline and hotel content”.

Supported by Travelport+, Trainline has committed to making every journey greener by “helping its travellers make smarter choices through simplified and enhanced content distribution”.

Jason Clarke, chief commercial officer at Travel Partners at Travelport, said: “Our collaboration with Trainline Partner Solutions builds upon a common objective of being game-changers in the travel industry by providing customers with trusted and agile solutions that remove complexity and enhance the overall travel experience.

“Our Travelport+ capability will rapidly integrate Trainline’s technology platform leading to improved retailing capabilities for our global network of travel agents and the most compelling range of European rail content for travellers today.”

Champa Magesh, president of Trainline Partner Solutions, said: “We are pleased to reach this monumental milestone with Travelport.

“Making our rail content accessible across the Travelport platform will further enhance our global reach and enable our unique offering to be searched and booked in conjunction with relevant air and hotel content, encouraging greener journeys.

“Travelport’s technology complements our industry-leading tech offering and we look forward to working together to deliver exceptional travel experiences.”