Rail Europe launches new website
Rail Europe has officially re-launched its website – raileurope.co.uk. The fully redeveloped site includes a number of new and improved features, aimed at giving users easy access to information and travel ideas as well as a simplified booking process.
While most people are now familiar with booking flights online, booking European rail tickets has remained something of an unknown to many. The benefits of rail travel are rapidly becoming more appealing, particularly in the light of recent disruptions, both man made, in the form of BA strikes, and natural in the form of volcanic ash. The aim of the redevelopment of raileurope.co.uk is to take the uncertainty out of booking European rail travel by providing clear, concise and useful information in an easily accessible, simple to navigate site.
A key development has been the improvement to the booking process. “Booking a one leg journey from London to Paris is relatively simple” explains Stuart Alldis, Head of e-Commerce at Rail Europe. “But when you add another leg to that journey, from Paris to Nice for example, things get much more complex, with hundreds of fare combinations from multiple carriers. On the new site, we have tried to make the whole booking process as easy as possible for the customer. We’ve worked hard to improve the behind the scenes booking process that the customer doesn’t see, but also to simplify the booking form and the way the results are presented.”
Other new features that can be found on the site include:
- A fresh, clean design
- Interactive maps, showing suggested routes between selected destinations
- Destination guides to selected popular towns and cities throughout Europe
- Guides to around 100 European stations, including information on facilities within the stations, such as where to eat and left luggage facilities
- Automatic population of the booking form when a destination is viewed, allowing quicker and easier searches
- Clear and concise information on the types of train available in each country and facilities on board
Improved information on ticket and pass types available
- A handy guide to rail travel – helping first time rail travellers to find information on what to expect from their journey
As with many site launches, the redesigned raileurope.co.uk underwent a soft launch in mid March with the aim of identifying and remedying any issues in advance of the formal launch. An unexpected test of the site came in the shape of the Icelandic volcanic eruption, when the site received its highest number of visitors ever.
“We were extremely pleased with the website’s performance over a period when we received an unprecedented 6 times the number of visitors we would usually expect” said Alldis.
The site will continue to be developed, with new destinations scheduled to be added over the summer, and a section on ski trains currently being developed in time for the 2010/11 season.
To book, visit raileurope.co.uk.