Single booking website for UK train services?

[yorkie]

Why? There is no reason GBR can't design its own system - there might even be ex- Trainline employees looking for jobs.

They could, but the track record of RDG is very poor in this area. Maybe GBR will be created as entirely separate from GBR with no commonality, but I won't believe that until I see it.

Why do you think ex-Trainline employees would be looking for jobs? Yes, there will absolutely be a reduction in jobs to maintain the various branded versions of the site, but those people will likely be very different to those behind the core of the journey planner, surely?

The current complexity will no longer be required in a unified railway - that's the whole point!

Creating an effective journey planner absolutely is complex, and I see no evidence of any complexity going away; the direction of travel from the DfT is actually to add more complexity under the guise of less.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Sep 2025 ==

On this, I think @Bletchleyite is more right than you would like to own. I find it very common for colleagues, friends, and family to believe that (like airlines) operator websites will only sell their own tickets and therefore to think that they need to buy elsewhere for anything else. That then favours Trainline, because it has the brand recognition as an independent retailer.

Maybe, but I am not sure ther are that many people who think that if you want to travel on (say) LNER & Northern that think you can't just book it on either of those sites, but also think you should use Trainline as a workaround.

OK maybe some people do think that way, but hardly enough to start the sentence with "People think...."; if he had said "Some people think..." then I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but it surely isn't going to be vast numbers.

I expect the vast majority of people surely use Trainline because of the brand recognition and/or they like the look/ease of use of the website/app.

 

[35B]

Maybe, but I am not sure ther are that many people who think that if you want to travel on (say) LNER & Northern that think you can't just book it on either of those sites, but also think you should use Trainline as a workaround.

OK maybe some people do think that way, but hardly enough to start the sentence with "People think...."; if he had said "Some people think..." then I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but it surely isn't going to be vast numbers.

I expect the vast majority of people surely use Trainline because of the brand recognition and/or they like the look/ease of use of the website/app.

You’d be surprised, then.

 

[yorkie]

You’d be surprised, then.

Feel free to provide the stats!

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

They could, but the track record of RDG is very poor in this area. Maybe GBR will be created as entirely separate from GBR with no commonality, but I won't believe that until I see it.

Why do you think ex-Trainline employees would be looking for jobs? Yes, there will absolutely be a reduction in jobs to maintain the various branded versions of the site, but those people will likely be very different to those behind the core of the journey planner, surely?

Creating an effective journey planner absolutely is complex, and I see no evidence of any complexity going away; the direction of travel from the DfT is actually to add more complexity under the guise of less.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Sep 2025 ==


Maybe, but I am not sure ther are that many people who think that if you want to travel on (say) LNER & Northern that think you can't just book it on either of those sites, but also think you should use Trainline as a workaround.

OK maybe some people do think that way, but hardly enough to start the sentence with "People think...."; if he had said "Some people think..." then I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but it surely isn't going to be vast numbers.

I expect the vast majority of people surely use Trainline because of the brand recognition and/or they like the look/ease of use of the website/app.

I am mystified by this - if I want to buy something from John Lewis I go their site, ditto M & S, so if folk want a rail ticket why wouldn't they go to GBR? If I want a ticket in Switzerland I go to SBB, not some third party. GBR will be the national rail company, have the brand recognition, have its own IT dept. and able to attract the best analysts and developers. Split ticketing and all that nonsense will become a thing of the past. I'm amazed how posters cling to the failed privatisation model and don't appreciate how things will change with GBR.

 

[yorkie]

I am mystified by this - if I want to buy something from John Lewis I go their site, ditto M & S, so if folk want a rail ticket why wouldn't they go to GBR?

There are many reasons why people choose to buy from sites such as Trainsplit, Trainline etc.

Reasons for choosing Trainline would be a better/slicker user experience, while Trainsplit offers seat selection, multiple via/avoid options, and other advanced options not available on TOC sites.

Not to mention cheaper fares than sold by TOCs (ScotRail can be an exception).

If I want a ticket in Switzerland I go to SBB, not some third party.

SBB are about as polar opposite to National Rail as you can get, in almost every respect.

So yes it's unsurprising that people would stick to the SBB site.

That said, most of my journeys on SBB are using a ticket not sold by them!

GBR will be the national rail company, have the brand recognition, have its own IT dept. and able to attract the best analysts and developers.

Do you have insider knowledge that that they will be offering significantly higher salaries than RDG currently offer?

Split ticketing and all that nonsense will become a thing of the past.

Do you have any evidence of this?

I'm amazed how posters cling to the failed privatisation model and don't appreciate how things will change with GBR.

Do enlighten us with the plans, if you have a copy of them.

 

[vuzzeho]

While GBR is going to have its own unified ticketing platform, as per the current plans and the consultation mentions this, we'll have to wait until next month for the Railways Bill to set out the details. I think it's likely that this GBR ticketing site will probably just be developed from National Rail Enquiries, or like, the LNER site or something. A big part of GBR is fare simplification and modernisation, but again, we don't know for sure what this will be. While the LNER ticketing trial is being rolled out further on LNER, it is still just that - a trial. It may (almost definitely will) end up changing in some form. There's also that Northern/EMR trial going on, so we'll really have to wait and see what is chosen, or if it's even chosen by the time GBR really comes in (but by then it probably will).

 

[35B]

Feel free to provide the stats!

I have no stats, just the experience of talking to people who consistently demonstrate the assumption that buying from the lead operator for their journey is necessary unless they go to an “external” website, at which point Trainline have brand recognition.

 

[styles]

You don't have to go to the BA website to buy BA flights in any case. There are many sites which sells tickets for airlines which aren't the airlines themselves. You also have the code sharing situation and connecting flights to throw some spanners in.

Trainline has innovated in the online ticketing space more than I like to admit, so even if the GBR TOCs were all forced into a single platform, there would still be space for third party retailers.

 

[Hadders]

A sole booking site would be a very bad idea in my view. Just imagine a single GBR site, it would probably be clunky, starved of investment etc. It is the third party retailers that have led innovation in ticket retailing over the last 20+ years so let them get on with it.

Different websites do different things - Trainline has a great user interface, Trainsplit let the way with split ticketing etc.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A sole booking site would be a very bad idea in my view. Just imagine a single GBR site, it would probably be clunky, starved of investment etc. It is the third party retailers that have led innovation in ticket retailing over the last 20+ years so let them get on with it.

Different websites do different things - Trainline has a great user interface, Trainsplit let the way with split ticketing etc.

Is anyone proposing banning third parties? I'm not. I'm just suggesting one GBR site instead of one per TOC. It's an easy money saving.

 

[styles]

Is anyone proposing banning third parties? I'm not. I'm just suggesting one GBR site instead of one per TOC. It's an easy money saving.

ScotRail uses Trainline's booking engine with split tickets enabled.

If all the TOCs are forced to use a single booking engine, I imagine things like split tickets will be off the table.l, whereas at least if the TOCs are responsible for their own booking engine procurement, there remains a possibility of some of them offering such features.

(I'm aware ScotRail will remain operationally independent from GBR, was just an example)

 

[yorkie]

Is anyone proposing banning third parties?

Nope, it's not happening.

I'm not. I'm just suggesting one GBR site instead of one per TOC. It's an easy money saving.

True, but arrogant TOCs such as LNER would be far too stubborn to go with what operators such as ScotRail want, so good luck with that...

 

[Trainbike46]

Realistically, what I would expect to happen:

- Independent/third party retailers remain and do their thing
- non-DfT operators that offer booking sites at present (Scotrail and TfW, as well as the OAOs) continue to offer their own booking websites, as now
- DfT operators that will be subsumed into the new BR -> one new BR booking site to replace the various TOC booking sites

Whether the BR booking site will be any good remains to be seen. If it is good, it may eat into trainline revenue, but if it is bad, it may even push more people to use independent retailers. I can't see there being any value in having each DfT TOC having their own booking engine, and it's a clear and easy saving to replace them all with one, with the potential to drive more revenue if it is done well.

 

[vuzzeho]

True, but arrogant TOCs such as LNER would be far too stubborn to go with what operators such as ScotRail want, so good luck with that...

Unusual to call an entire TOC arrogant, but regardless, once it's all GBR that won't matter. It'll almost definitely just be one site that LNER will not choose

 

[renegademaster]

The best thing to do, rather than reinvent the wheel, is put out a tender for who can do it cheaper between Trainsplit and Trainline

 

[35B]

The best thing to do, rather than reinvent the wheel, is put out a tender for who can do it cheaper between Trainsplit and Trainline

That would be an interesting David/Goliath battle where Trainline’s sheer scale would give them an unfair advantage.

Getting a large public sector body to frame that kind of tender in a way that a business smaller than a large corporate could win head to head will be difficult, and then there are the costs of bidding. All of which then assumes that bidding would be worthwhile

 

[yorkie]

The best thing to do, rather than reinvent the wheel, is put out a tender for who can do it cheaper between Trainsplit and Trainline

Trainline will do it cheaper.

Have you had to sort out a refund for a complex issue on Trainline and Trainsplit to compare?

Trainline customer service is perhaps bots or bot-like people, while Trainsplit has actual experts (many of whom are on this forum)

 

[renegademaster]

That would be an interesting David/Goliath battle where Trainline’s sheer scale would give them an unfair advantage.

Getting a large public sector body to frame that kind of tender in a way that a business smaller than a large corporate could win head to head will be difficult, and then there are the costs of bidding. All of which then assumes that bidding would be worthwhile

Both do white label products for existing TOCs, I don't know how it would be so impossible, if they can do it better, to win the tender considering they've already won many TOC level ones

 

[Bletchleyite]

Both do white label products for existing TOCs, I don't know how it would be so impossible, if they can do it better, to win the tender considering they've already won many TOC level ones

Which TOC(s) use a Raileasy white label? I know a number of businesses do, but TOCs?

 

[Trainbike46]

Presumably the other providers to TOCs would also bid for a theoretical new BR contract, so it wouldn't just be a two-way race between Trainsplit/Raileasy and Trainline.

Trainline will do it cheaper.

Have you had to sort out a refund for a complex issue on Trainline and Trainsplit to compare?

Trainline customer service is perhaps bots or bot-like people, while Trainsplit has actual experts (many of whom are on this forum)

Fortunately never had to contact customer service at Trainsplit - fingers crossed it stays that way. The one time I had to deal with Trainline customer service was not a good experience.

From what I can tell, Trainsplit would be the best option from a quality standpoint, by far.

I would assume BR wouldn't want to offer split tickets, but maybe they could set it up so that, if no fares are available without splitting, it then tries with split tickets? The reason for this would be to avoid wrongly telling passengers a journey can't be made, turning away potential passengers (and revenue).

 

[35B]

Both do white label products for existing TOCs, I don't know how it would be so impossible, if they can do it better, to win the tender considering they've already won many TOC level ones

Let's just say I've dealt with large scale tender processes, and know how demanding they are. It's not whether one would be better if selected, it's about being able to win the competition.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I am mystified by this - if I want to buy something from John Lewis I go their site, ditto M & S, so if folk want a rail ticket why wouldn't they go to GBR? If I want a ticket in Switzerland I go to SBB, not some third party. GBR will be the national rail company, have the brand recognition, have its own IT dept. and able to attract the best analysts and developers. Split ticketing and all that nonsense will become a thing of the past. I'm amazed how posters cling to the failed privatisation model and don't appreciate how things will change with GBR.

This analogy does not stand up. If I want to buy an McVitie’s biscuit I do not use the McVitie’s app, I buy it in a supermarket which sells every type of biscuit.

Every time I have travelled abroad in the last decade (I never drive abroad, so always use trains), I have used Trainline to buy my tickets. It is easy to understand, has all my details linked in making payment via ApplePay very easy, and can immediately be saved to my phone’s digital wallet.

I would not dream of trying to buy a ticket via, say, the Italian or Portuguese railway companies. Why would I put myself to that hassle?

Most people have limited attachment to railway operators and just want the smoothest purchase experience.

 

[Bank Foot AM]

This may already have been mentioned elsewhere, but the DfTO published a market engagement notice on 01/12/2025.

The GBR Online Retail project will deliver the passenger-facing channel for GBR, GBR Online (website and app), at launch. The aim is to provide a high-quality national retail and journey information service, aligned with broader GBR branding and transition.

As noted in this thread, TOCs are continuing to procure their own Ticket Issuing Systems (ticket office and mobile) with contracts which will run well into the next decade.