- Trainline
- 12 March 2026 07:53:28
Source: Sharecast
In a trading update for the year to February 28, Trainline said group ticket sales grew 7% to £6.32bn while revenue rose 2% to £453m – the upper end of guidance of flat to 3% supported by the continued growth of ancillary revenues, including hotel and insurance sales, which was up 17%.
"In the UK, we focused on deepening and strengthening engagement across our 18 million customers, supported by the expansion of our digital railcard base. This helped mitigate the impact of rail operators promoting features on their own online channels that we are not permitted to offer," said chief executive Jody Ford, who is stepping down after six years in the job.
European sales benefited from new carrier competition - including in South-East France, which grew 26% as foreign travel to the continent bounced back in the second half.
UK consumer net ticket sales rose 6% to £4.1bn due to continued strength in leisure travel sales and a recovery in the commuter market.
Trainline said its digital railcard user base increased 16% to 2.7 million users, partly offset by Transport for London's expansion of its contactless payment network and the growing impact from train operating companies' prioritising their own online retail channels - including offering one-click delay-repay, "a feature third party retailers are expressly prohibited from providing to their customers".
The company is still battling with the government over its plan to create Great British Railways, the state-owned body that will run the rail network, saying it "continues to take an assertive stance to bring about a fair retail market".
GBR poses a threat to Trainline's commission-based model as it plans to introduce a government-backed retail app that would aggregate the websites of 14 train operators, giving passengers the freedom to buy tickets without booking fees.
It is also lobbying the government to allow it to provide access to automated delay-repay for all customers irrespective to which retailer they use. An online petition has garnered more than 25,000 signatures to date.
UK consumer revenue fell 2% to £204m as a result of a cut in the headline commission rate from last April to 4.5% from 5%.
International consumer net ticket sales were £1.1 billion, up 3% year on year as the company focused marketing investment on European high-speed routes with emerging carrier competition.
However, growth in Spain was severely hit in the second half due to safety concerns affecting supply and consumer confidence after a series of rail accidents - including the Adamuz disaster in January that killed 46 people and injured 292.
The business-to-business Trainline Solutions arm saw net ticket sales rise 14% to £1.1bn, with growth partly offset by the loss of Trainline's white label contract in the UK with rail operator Cross-Country, with a further headwind expected in 2027 as ScotRail seeks to move to a new partner, bringing offline and online sales more closely together.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com