Trainline EU
| Founded | May 2009 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jean-Daniel Guyot, Martin Ottenwaelter, Valentin Surrel |
| Headquarters | , France |
Area served | Europe |
Key people | Jean-Daniel Guyot (CEO) |
| Products | Train tickets |
| Services | Online Travel Agency |
| Revenue | 22,931,315 Euro (2022)  |
| −1,795,059 Euro (2022) | |
Number of employees | 32[1] |
| Website | www.capitainetrain.com |
Capitaine Train is a French online travel agency selling train tickets in Europe. Through either its web interface or mobile apps, customers can purchase tickets for SNCF (including its subsidiaries Ouigo, iDTGV and iDBUS), Deutsche Bahn, Eurostar, Thalys, Lyria and Thello at the same price as if bought from the official website of each party, including recognition of applicable loyalty cards or vouchers and with e-ticket support.
The company was founded in May 2009, after the SNCF's online service, Voyages-sncf.com, was opened to resellers, with the purpose of providing the simplest possible interface, primarily for the purchase of train tickets, and without any advertising. After two years during which it was first private and then invitation-only during beta testing,[2] the service was made publicly available in October 2012.[3] At first it was accessible only through the web application; an app for iOS became available in late October 2013,[4] and an Android app in March 2014.[5][6] As of March 2014[update] the service has approximately 200,000 users.[7]
Service
The service requires the creation of a user account, which stores applicable fare conditions (such as age category and loyalty cards) in addition to preferences and patterns of use (such as comfort requirements and recurring destinations). The customer can then compare itineraries between any two stations served by the included railway services, and reserve, buy or cancel tickets. The service prefers e-tickets, where available, over traditional physical tickets. Any vouchers or coupons offered by carriers are accepted for payment.
The service can be accessed either via a web application, which is compatible with tablet browsers (running either iOS or Android),[8] or via apps for iOS or Android smartphones.[6]
Capitaine Train covers the following railway companies: SNCF, including its subsidiaries Ouigo, iDTGV and iDBUS; Deutsche Bahn, Eurostar, Thalys, Lyria and Thello. Its service therefore covers all of France and Germany and extends into all neighbouring countries: England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. The service is available in French, English, German and Italian.
Capitaine Train works through the carriers' own reservation systems for all searches and transactions; it acts strictly as an intermediary between them and passengers, and does not hold the tickets which it buys and resells. Prices are those charged by the carriers, with no added service charge; Capitaine Train receives a commission from the carrier on each brokered sale.
History
Capitaine Train was created by three young engineers: Jean-Daniel Guyot, Martin Ottenwaelter and Valentin Surrel.[9] Finding Voyages-sncf.com insufficiently intuitive to use, they aimed to create an easy-to-use, advertising-free ticket booking service.
On 5 February 2009, the French national competition regulator, the Autorité de la concurrence, found SNCF in breach of the code of commerce for unequal treatment of travel agencies and ordered the railway to pay 5,000,000 euro in fines.[9][10] This led to a relaxation of access requirements for the SNCF's reservation systems, and the project that became Capitaine Train was launched three days later, on 8 February.
In May 2009, Elégantes Solutions SAS, later to be renamed Capitaine Train SAS, became licenced as a travel agency and began negotiations and testing to enable the necessary access to the SNCF reservation systems. A request for full access, including post-sale processing, was made in April 2010,[11] but received no response. A contract for full access was finally signed in June 2010,[12] after an update of Voyages-sncf.com, and access became effective six weeks later, in mid-July.
In October 2010 a closed beta version was made available to the developers' family members. In March 2011, access became available by invitation.[9][13]
Capitaine Train began selling iDTGV tickets in August 2011,[9] Lunéa tickets in December 2011[14] and Deutsche Bahn tickets for travel in Germany and France in May 2012.
The company raised 1.4 million euro in venture capital funds in February 2012 and 2.5 million euro in June 2013.
The service was made publicly available in October 2012.[3] The iPhone app was released in October 2013 and the Android app in March 2014.[4][5][6] In July 2014, Capitaine Train began selling Thello tickets.
References
- ^ Histoire, on the website of the company, retrieved 27 March 2015
- ^ Capitaine Train, la start-up qui révolutionne la vente de billets de train sur Internet, press communication of Capitaine Train, April 2nd, 2011
- ^ a b Le site ouvre ses portes au public, on the blog of Capitaine Train, 8 October 2012
- ^ a b L’application iPhone Capitaine Train est disponible sur l’App Store, On the company's blog, 30 October 30 2013
- ^ a b Capitaine Train débarque sur Android !, Capitaine Train's blog, 25 March 2014
- ^ a b c L’application Capitaine Train est disponible sur Android, Gizmodo, 25 March 2014
- ^ With 200,000 users, Capitaine Train comes to Android, on Rude Baguette, 25 March 2014
- ^ Capitaine Train sur l’iPad et les tablettes Android, Capitaine Train blog, 30 April 2013
- ^ a b c d Capitaine Train signe avec la Deutsche Bahn, Press release, Capitaine Train, 14 May 2012
- ^ Décision du 5 février 2009 relative à des pratiques mises en œuvre par la SNCF et Expedia Inc. dans le secteur de la vente de voyages en ligne, Autorité de la concurrence
- ^ Voyages-sncf: une agence saisit l'Autorité de la concurrence, l'Écho touristique, 3 June 2010
- ^ "Capitaine Train" rame pour lancer son site, freinée par Voyages-SNCF, TourMaG.com, 7 June 2010
- ^ Capitaine Train, la start-up qui révolutionne la vente de billets de train sur Internet, Press release, Capitaine Train, 2 April 2011
- ^ Lunéa, les trains de nuit sur Capitaine Train, Capitaine Train blog, 19 December 2011
