ATOC

About
ATOC Train
Companies Policy
Briefings Latest
Publications Media
Centre

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

February 2013

January 2013

Buy your rail ticket on the move with National Rail Enquiries

06/11/2012

It is now even easier for passengers to buy train tickets on the move using their smartphone, thanks to National Rail Enquiries (NRE) updates and improvements to its mobile website and smartphone app.

Wherever they are and whenever they want, people using either the NRE mobile website or the NRE downloadable app can for the first time get the latest up-to-date train travel information and buy their rail tickets in one place.

Already the most popular destination for rail information for millions of customers in the UK, NRE has launched the updated mobile site and app to help ensure it is even easier for people to buy rail tickets in ways that fit in with more mobile lifestyles and the spread of new technologies.

Smartphones are booming in popularity. Official figures show that two-fifths (40 per cent) of UK adults now use a smartphone, and that almost a third of people who contact NRE do so using a mobile or smartphone. The app has already been downloaded 1.9 million times since it was launched six months ago.

Earlier this year, NRE - paid for and run by train companies - launched its own free smartphone app for iPhone and Android operating systems, offering UK passengers even more choice over how they access real time information about train journeys.

Chris Scoggins, Chief Executive of NRE, said: “As well as record numbers of people now travelling by train, we know that more and more people are using their smartphones to get the latest information about train services, whether that’s by downloading our app or logging onto the mobile website. So it makes sense that they can now buy their tickets and browse train information in the same place, whenever and wherever they like.

“Innovating and keeping up with what our customers want is at the heart of what we do at National Rail Enquiries. That’s why this latest update will mean that the growing number of smartphone users can quickly and easily ‘click and go’ when it comes to buying train tickets on the move.”

ENDS

Notes to editors.
- The updated NRE mobile website, http://m.nationalrail.co.uk, is accessible using a smartphone with an internet browser installed.
- As well as now being able to buy their rail tickets, visitors to the updated National Rail Enquiries mobile website are able to:
- view live departure and arrival boards for all stations;
- plan their journey using real-time journey information and view the latest timetable changes;
- access station information, including opening hours and car park information.
- Two fifths of UK adults now use a smartphone. Source: Ofcom, The Communications Report; United Kingdom, (2012).

- The app can now be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple app store and features many of NRE’s most popular tools including a real time journey planner and live departure boards, together with relevant and up-to-the-minute information about disruptions and stations.
- The app also provides a “Get Me Home” function that allows customers to find the best way home by rail from their current location with just one click.