  28 Feb 2017 Press release

Global rail growth unlocked with Amadeus Value Rail

Eve-Marie Morgo

English

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It's time for high-speed to go global

Madrid to Sevilla in under two hours and a half, Paris to Frankfurt in under four or Rome to Milan in under three? All centre to centre, with good legroom and wi-fi? It is actually possible - and anyone who travels in Europe will know they have high-speed rail to thank. But for the novice rail traveller, booking these fares abroad could be overwhelming, or not even an obvious option in the first place. For travel agencies, a costly and complicated setup has got in the way of selling international rail. And for railways, this has meant being left in second place by the international traveller.

But it’s now time to go global. A new business model proposed by Amadeus can:

Bring down borders
Attract foreign travellers and
Drive new revenues for railways and travel agencies

Value Rail: One single connection to the world

Value rail provides travel agencies around the world with one link to sell multiple railways:

Bypassing the need for one-to-one commercial relationships between both parties.
With just one interface and one sales system, making it easier for travel agencies to sell rail products.

Currently, the full offers of:

Deutsche Bahn (German)
RENFE (Spanish)
Trenitalia (Italian)

And select eastern European rail operators are available as part of this model, with more expected to join soon. Amadeus acts as a merchant for rail operators to simplify contractual agreements, financial flows and invoicing with travel agencies.

This will mean reduced costs for railways as Amadeus takes care of all setup, billing, settlement activities, and assumes financial and legal risks of selling via travel agencies. The model will enable railways to reach new travellers in new markets as Amadeus takes care of promoting their offer to travel agencies too.

Giving rail the attention it deserves

“Rail travel today is still largely domestic but this will soon change – our merchant model marks the beginning of a new era, giving the industry what it needs to take a global leap, and unlock growth. For travel agencies, this will mean a convenient gateway to leading rail content that will serve to enrich their overall offer.” Antoine de Kerviler, Global Head of Amadeus Rail & Ground travel

Foreign travellers can conveniently book rail travel through their travel agency before flying and have their entire trip – including air, hotel and rail – on the same itinerary.

Antoine is confident that rail will be on the radar of many more travellers now as it becomes more and more accessible - just imagine booking rail the same way as air, all integrated into a single itinerary - it will get the attention it deserves.

Some of our customers are already experimenting the benefits and power of this new business model:

"The merchant model combines Deutsche Bahn's market leading transport services with the technological power of Amadeus.With this new agreement, Deutsche Bahn vastly extends its global network. We will improve the availability of our tickets to all travel agencies, particularly those with a wide travel offer” Ronn Kostecki, Project Manager Deutsche Bahn

"The new agreement with Amadeus will let Trenitalia increase its global reach. It will be much easier for travel agencies to distribute our products and let travellers from all around the world move by train, which in the last years has become one of the most pleasant and convenient ways to travel to top Italian destinations. Moreover, this is a further step towards our ambitious project of offering our customers an integrated travel solution, covering their trip door-to-door in Italy” Alessandra Bucci, Commercial Director of Long Haul Passenger Division Trenitalia

Discover Amadeus Value Rail in our infographic

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