Case Study | Mindera x Trainline Platform One

Trainline: The PlatformOne Migration

Trainline is Europe’s leading independent rail platform, processing 300 searches per minute and over 100 million visits per month. We’ve been lucky enough to work with Trainline’s rail tech solutions team, Trainline Partner Solutions (TPS), for over five years. A key milestone in our collaboration over this period has been supporting the successful rollout of Platform One - Trainline’s industry leading technology platform that powers ticket retailing for Trainline and multiple Train Operating Companies (TOCs) as well as B2B agreements across the UK and Europe.

The development of Platform One was in response to increased demand for more efficient and reliable customer services, and specifically, the need for Trainline to offer a fully scalable and available service to the TOCs that rely on its retail and technical capabilities.

With this in mind, Trainline appointed Mindera to work with the TPS team to help it migrate all its TOC clients from a legacy technology platform onto Platform One.

What did the project entail?

Mindera was briefed to migrate all TOC clients onto the new platform within just 9 months. This was no simple task: Platform One is the single biggest undertaking TPS has undertaken. A multi-stage project with many dependencies, Mindera took a phased approach to ‘test and learn’ as the new platform was bedding in. Ensuring project delivery was as seamless as possible was paramount in order to avoid disruption for customers.

A smooth and on time delivery

Over 18 months Mindera’s engineers were integral partners to the TPS team who built the foundations of Platform One, migrating the TOCs and their products - many of which operated on legacy solutions - onto the new platform. The team in London began the project by first ensuring the Trainline desktop was responsive before any white labelling began. Following this, they then started migrating the old white-label solutions for season tickets followed by point-to-point ticket sales.

Through a carefully crafted and collaborative approach, we ensured there was no disturbance to end users. All clients were migrated successfully, on time and to the agreed budget of the project. The booking experience looked the same throughout, with all previous versions of tickets still valid.

Outcomes: Trainline reinforces its position as an industry leader

The successful delivery of the project marked a significant milestone in our relationship with Trainline. Together our work helped increase the TOCs monthly active customers via TL the platform, to scale as demand increases and also support the increasing shift towards mobile app usage.

Providing access to the extensive features set of PlatformOne has also proved especially popular. With the system including customisable features tailored for specific needs, TOCs are better positioned to address common industry issues such as disruption. This positive experience has led to longer-term contracts with clients - a key lever of success for Trainline.

Other key technical outcomes achieved during the migration, for both B2B and B2C clients included:

B2C

• New responsive Seasons web with its own ‘Backend for Frontend’ (‘BFF’) over Platform One
• Migrated TOC React Native APPs using Platform One gateway services
• Added TOC email templates and configurations into Platform One
• White-labelled the TTL Desktop, My Accounts and COJ solutions

B2B

• White-labellled Trainline Desktop for Trainline Business
• Migrated SME corporates to new Platform One Trainline Business Web
• Added B2B capability to native mobile Apps.

Ultimately, the migration benefits members of the public who are seeking an ever more frictionless user experience and to explore the UK and Europe by train. Enhancements such as adding app notifications for TOCs and the ability to split fares using the ‘Split’ function means Trainline is now better positioned to meet customer demands, even amid the busiest periods or industry disruption. We’re already seeing proof of this - the average TOC app rating has jumped from 2.9 (out of 5) to 4.5.

Importance of collaboration

The success of this project is a testament to the power of teamwork and partnerships.

From the start, it was clear that our shared cultural values and Mindera’s emphasis on high-quality work, would give us a headstart. The Mindera team quickly became an extension of the Trainline team, frequently travelling between its hub in Bangalore and Trainline’s UK headquarters.

Our collaborative approach was essential in the swift completion of the project in late 2022. Now, two years on, we have continued to strengthen our relationship with Trainline, supporting them with further additions to Platform One as they continue to expand their services across Europe.

More About Our Partner

Trainline is Europe’s leading train and coach booking operator, with a market cap of over £1.5bn. The group operates through three business segments: UK Consumer, International and Trainline Solutions in 45 countries with 30 million active users per month. It transacts with more than 270 train and coach companies, covering about 80% of rail routes in Europe. Routes, prices and travel times are aggregated to create a seamless user experience and allows for time and cost savings for their consumers. Live and personalised travel updates, along with AI-driven information, are also provided on the app, offering users a smooth journey with less worry.

Get in touch today if we can assist you in your software development journey, as we do for our partners like Trainline.