Partners
AccesRail – opening a world of opportunities with Travel Agencies
AccesRail is an alliance of railway companies created to provide railways with an interface to the GDS companies using standard airline systems. In addition, AccesRail provides IATA licensed travel agents with a user-friendly method of selling rail.
– What is the AccesRail Solution?
– Why was AccesRail developed?
– Background
– Joining forces to reduce the costs
– AccesRail In a nutshell
What is the AccesRail Solution?
AccesRail’s solution distributes railway products to travel agents on a system they are familiar with. They use the same Primary screens and commands they would use for booking airline tickets.
In Short:
- We act like an airline
- We use the same systems as the airlines
Why was AccesRail developed?
AccesRail was developed in response to a need to increase the distribution of train products among travel agencies domestically and internationally. Therefore producing:
- Increased revenues
- System cost savings
- Improved cash flow
Background
- The travel industry’s most significant distribution channel is the airline one with an international reach of over 150,000 Travel Agencies through GDSs. Even with secondary screen rail applications offered by some GDSs, the reality is that Travel Agents do not have access to rail the same way as they have access to air and thus over 90% of their sales remain air sales. In this context there was an opportunity to integrate rail on the primary GDS screens as a means to significantly increase rail distribution not only domestically but also internationally. But, GDSs were developed by the airlines for the airlines and the interface was not made for railways.
- AccesRail developed the required interface between airline systems and railway systems. This company was incorporated in October 1998 as a company to interface with GDSs and IATA approved travel agencies.
- AccesRail staff, made up of industry veterans, have done this similar integration for VIA Rail in Canada, Swedish Rail (SJ), Norwegian Rail (NSB) and BritRail.
Joining forces to reduce the costs
- The AccesRail concept allows Railway Companies to offset the huge costs of connecting to the GDS systems and the cost of joining and settling through the various IATA BSPs.
AccesRail in a nutshell
AccesRail is an alliance of railway companies for:
- Increased distribution of railway products among Travel Agencies
- Sharing the costs of maintenance and development of required systems and processes
AccesRail partners benefit from airline-style distribution and e-ticketing on all the GDS primary screens, thereby:
- Opening sales possibilities among the worldwide network of 110,000 IATA travel agencies who regularly book on the GDS.
- Offering end to end intermodal travel (air & rail) on the same ticket which opens new business opportunities.
- Expanding distribution via our interline agreements with more than 100+ airlines, which also opens up access to airline ticketing offices and call centers.
- Providing a fully integrated distribution system with no capital investment.
AccesRail acts like an airline and therefore has its own:
- IATA carrier code – “9B”
- Airline accounting code – “450”
AccesRail Railways include those partners:
- BeNe – Belgium
- DB – Deutsche Bahn
- EJR – East Japan Rail Company
- Friendly Airport Limousine (FAL)
- Great Western Rail – UK
- JR Kyushu – Japan
- JR West – Japan
- Michigan Flyer – USA
- National Express – UK
- NS – Dutch Railway
- NTV/Italo – Italian Railway
- ÖBB – Austrian Railways
- Renfe – Spain
- SJ – Swedish Railways
- SNCB – Belgian Railways
- Eurostar – Netherlands, Belgium
- Trenitalia – Italy
- VIA Rail – Canada
- Virgin Trains East Coast – UK
- Virgin Trains West Coast – UK