Trainline

Digital rail and coach technology platform

Not to be confused with Railway line.

Trainline plc

Company type| Public company

Traded as

* LSE: TRN
* FTSE 250 component

Industry| Travel
Founded| 1997 (1997)
Headquarters| London, England, UK

Number of locations

| London, Edinburgh, Paris

Area served

| Europe

Key people

| Brian McBride (Chairman)
Jody Ford (CEO)
Products| Train tickets, mobile app
Revenue|  £396.7 million (2024)[1]

Operating income

|  £55.6 million (2024)[1]

Net income

|  £34.0 million (2024)[1]
Website| www.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

[edit]

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]

In June 2025, Trainline began offering an AI Assistant to assist with customer enquiries.[17] The tool was widely criticised for providing incorrect information that if followed would result in the 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.[18]

## Activities

[edit]

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.[19]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Annual Report 2024" (PDF). Trainline. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
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". Cheap Train Tickets. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
12. ^ "Adapting for mobile users". 24 August 2015. 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. ^ "Trainline launches AI assistant". Railway Gazette International. 16 June 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
18. ^ "Trainline's new AI customer assistant veers off the rails". The Observer. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
19. ^ "About thetrainline.com | How to save money on train tickets". Thetrainline.com. Retrieved 31 October 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Trainline on Facebook
* Trainline on Twitter

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* Jerome Kohlberg Jr.
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Electronics|

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Mobico Group

United Kingdom bus operations|

* Lucketts Travel
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* Alsa

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* National Express Germany

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* Brian Souter (Chairman)
* Ann Gloag (Founder)

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Virgin Group

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