Knowledge Hub / SILVERRAIL POWERS THE NEW ON TRACK RETAIL BOOKING ENGINE FOR GOVIA RAIL COMPANIES

SILVERRAIL POWERS THE NEW ON TRACK RETAIL BOOKING ENGINE FOR GOVIA RAIL COMPANIES

The author: Frederic Kalinke

15/02/2016

Written by Frederic Kalinke

SilverRail, the transformational technology business dedicated to supporting train companies in attracting, interacting and transacting with their customers, has today announced a new partnership with On Track Retail, a joint venture between Assertis and The Go-Ahead Group. SilverRail’s market-leading SilverSearch platform is now powering the new On Track Retail online rail booking engine across all three franchises operated by Govia (a joint venture between The Go-Ahead Group and Keolis), Govia Thameslink Railway (which includes Southern Railway, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland – enabling customers to plan rail journeys in real-time. Collectively, the Govia rail companies have more than 27% share of the UK rail market, with 6,000 daily train services and 12,600 employees.

This partnership marks a huge step forward in innovation in UK rail retailing, with train operating companies taking control of the complete end-to-end customer booking experience. For the first time a UK rail franchise operator will own their customer data, integrating direct customer feedback into their digital customer experience across all customer channels to help drive innovation.

The company launched their new ‘On Track’ platform, powered by SilverSearch, in October 2015, phasing it in across their channels and brands. Today, ‘On Track’ is powering online sales for all Govia’s rail franchises: Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) that includes: Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express, Southeastern and London Midland.

On the company’s partnership with SilverRail, David Maitland, ‘On Track’ Retail MD, said: “SilverSearch has enabled us to rethink the customer experience, adopt next generation journey planning and pricing, and ultimately bringing the purchasing of rail tickets through web and mobile up to the standard of other retail sectors through a customer-friendly, intuitive interface. With the support of SilverRail, we are delighted to be able to offer our users a more comprehensive service than ever before.”

Cameron Jones, Chief Commercial Officer, SilverRail said: “This partnership highlights how SilverRail is helping to drive innovation into the UK rail market, where we are seeing a growing trend for UK transport groups seeking to improve their retailing and customer experience capabilities. Unlike any other travel vertical, rail in the UK has traditionally seen operators outsource the digital customer experience to third party companies, therefore losing control of the customer experience and slowing the rate of innovation. We are thrilled to enable them as they challenge the status quo, take back their customers, and accelerate their pace of innovation.”

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:
Belinda Hallworth/Archie Pottinger – Flagship Consulting 020 7680 7114/7113
Sophy Norris – Flagship Consulting 01392 248 934 / firstname.lastname@flagshipconsulting.co.uk
Govia press office – Communications@govia.info

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SilverRail Technologies (www.silverrailtech.com)

Silver Rail Technologies is a transformative technology business with one mission – to foster the renaissance of rail travel by making global rail content more easily available, accessible and affordable.

SilverRail is currently processing over 1 billion online rail searches per year. Over 35 rail carriers are connected via the company’s ‘SilverCore’ distribution platform – the world’s first unified platform for global rail. More than 20 million bookings are made on SilverRail’s various systems each year. SilverRail is currently serving over 1,500 Transit Operators worldwide.

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