Trainline’s European service (formerly known as Captain Train) is becoming your one-stop shop for French trains. The company has partnered with SNCF to get real-time data about trains, delays and your current location. You had to use SNCF’s official app before to get this kind of information.
If you’ve used Trainline to book a ticket before, you know that the app can alert you to tell you the platform of your train. But there was no way to check if your train was delayed or canceled. You had to look at the billboard even though your phone is probably more powerful than the billboard in your train station.
Alternatively, the SNCF app displays this kind of information but doesn’t let you book a ticket — you have to use Voyages-SNCF or Trainline to buy tickets. But nobody wants to deal with two apps.
SNCF now has an official API and has released a ton of open data. Former digital minister Axelle Lemaire forced public administration and public companies like SNCF to share key data under an open data license. So Trainline took advantage of those APIs and data for its own apps.
And if your train is on time, you’re still going to see the difference as you’ll be able to see the next stops, how long you’re going to stop and your current position. The company says that it wants to display real-time information in other countries.
In other news, Audrey Détrie is now Trainline’s country manager for France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. This is a brand new position. Détrie is going to promote Trainline and represent the company.
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