Trainline

Not to be confused with Railway line.
Trainline plc
Company typePublic company
IndustryTravel
Founded1997 (1997)
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Number of locations
London, Edinburgh, Paris
Area served
Europe
Key people
Brian McBride (Chairman)
Jody Ford (CEO)
ProductsTrain tickets, mobile app
RevenueIncrease £327.1 million (2023)[1]
Increase £27.6 million (2023)[1]
Increase £21.2 million (2023)[1]
Websitewww.thetrainline.com

Trainline (formerly Thetrainline.com) is a British digital rail and coach technology platform operating across Europe. It sells train tickets and railcards as well as providing free access to live train times and railway station information through its website and mobile app which is available on the iOS and Android platforms. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Former logo as Thetrainline.com

Trainline was established in 1997 by the Virgin Group, and online ticket sales began in 1999. It was operated under contract by Capgemini.[2] Stagecoach later purchased a 49% shareholding. In February 2004 Trainline merged with Qjump, its main competitor.[3] Stagecoach sold out, with Virgin having an 86% shareholding in the merged company with National Express owning the other 14%.[4][5][6]

In July 2006, Exponent Private Equity acquired Trainline.[7][8][9] In July 2007, Trainline acquired Advanced Smartcard Technologies and ECEBS, signalling a new strategy to enter the smartcard market. Ecebs was subsequently sold to Bell ID in November 2012.[10]

The company was bought from Exponent by KKR in January 2015.[11] In August 2015, the company announced it had changed its name from thetrainline.com to Trainline.[12] In 2016, it acquired Captain Train and re-branded it as Trainline EU.[13][14]

In June 2019, after an initial public offering the company floated on the London Stock Exchange.[15] At the end of February 2021, Clare Gilmartin stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Jody Ford who had joined the business in July 2020.[16]

Activities

In addition to the online service provided direct to customers operated under its own brands Trainline and Qjump, it provides the website services for some of the UK train operating companies, as well as providing a rail business travel service direct to a number of large blue chip corporations, travel management companies and travel agents. Trainline also provides a call centre service to a number of the customers referred to above.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). Trainline. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ The TrainLine earns Virgin £88m per year The Railway Magazine issue 1183 November 1999 page 71
  3. ^ Trainline absorbs its Q-Jump rival Modern Railways issue 666 March 2004 page 9
  4. ^ Stagecoach Group sells shareholding n The Trainline to Virgin Group Stagecoach 9 February 2004
  5. ^ Rail booking firms set to merge BBC News 9 February 2004
  6. ^ Tranline and Qjump couple ticket sales The Daily Telegraph 10 February 2004
  7. ^ Trainline Expnet
  8. ^ Trainline sold for £163m Rail Business Intelligence 29 June 2006 page 5
  9. ^ Low bids derail trainline.com sale The Daily Telegraph 22 July 2012
  10. ^ "Bell ID buys Ecebs". Finextra. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  11. ^ Berry, Freya (22 January 2015). "U.S. fund KKR buys Trainline, derails London listing". Reuters. Retrieved 2 September 2015.[dead link‍]
  12. ^ "Adapting for mobile users". Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Trainline buys Captain Train". Railway Gazette International. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  14. ^ Trainline expands into European ticketing with Captain Train purchase International Railway Journal April 2016 page 10
  15. ^ Ticketing app Trainline looks to raise £75m from share sale BBC News 29 May 2019
  16. ^ "Trainline taps Jody Ford for COO". Sharecast. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  17. ^ "About thetrainline.com | How to save money on train tickets". Thetrainline.com. Retrieved 31 October 2013.