Rail Europe to focus aggressively on enhancing trade communications

The year 2008 ended on a positive note for Rail Europe which registered an 18 per cent growth as per target. The company now has aggressive plans to promote its B2B portal through strategic initiatives. Talking to TravelBiz Monitor, Gopi Iengar, Executive Director, Rail Europe India Pvt. Ltd. mentioned, “The focus for this year will be incremental business. We will highlight the benefits of the B2B portal to the industry, as well as make point to point bookings on the website much easier. Our initial targets for this year were 18 per cent but then considering market conditions, the target has been revised to around 11 – 12 per cent.”

Rail Europe currently has 350 registered users (January – December 2008 and the target for 2009 is to touch 800 registered users. Plans include making e-ticketing available online by this year as currently the option of e-tickets is only available with a GSA. The other option will also include web-enabling the ticket on delivery option.

Elaborating on the specific initiatives lined up, Iengar mentioned, “We would like to maintain the same market share but certainly look at enhanced business volumes.