TheTrainline app lets travellers buy train tickets via mobiles

Thetrainine has launched a free app that lets users buy tickets via their mobiles to collect at the station.

The app will be available to download for free for use on iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Android and many other mobiles, ensuring that train times and tickets can now be accessed and purchased through most mobile phones and devices such as the iPod.
Currently in pilot testing with a small group of users, thetrainline.com app will enable travellers to buy train tickets quickly and easily from the convenience of their mobile phone for the very first time.
Richard Rowson, product development director at thetrainline.com said: “thetrainline.com app is an exciting innovation in the rail industry which we’re confident will bring about a step change in how people buy train tickets. We’ve not just replicated the website on the mobile, but completely tailored the proposition for the mobile traveller. Taking advantage of the personalised nature and location awareness of phones, it becomes possible to buy a train ticket by simply tapping “next train home” – far quicker and easier than any website or ticket machine can currently offer.
“With over 750,000 downloads of our iPhone app already, people clearly find it really useful for train information and journey planning but our customers tell us that they want to be able to buy train tickets via an app too. That’s why we’ve extended the scope of the app so that people can buy train tickets and collect from any of nearly 1,000 stations. Soon we will also be enabling the ability on selected routes for the ticket to be delivered directly to the phone as a secure barcode, replacing the need for a ticket altogether.”
The thetrainline.com app first launched via Apple’s app store in October 2009 with free instant train timetabling and journey planning functions so ground-breaking it has rarely been out of the top 5 free travel apps since.
The new app will be available to download this month. Users of the existing iPhone app from thetrainline.com will be automatically notified of the free upgrade once it has gone live.
The existing iPhone app is currently available to download via the Apple Store or www.thetrainline.com/tools/iphone-app/.