Fledgling rail search and booking site Quno is preparing for the European rail landgrab after removing its Beta label this week and setting bold plans for the continent.
Launched as a closed testing site in July 2010 at the same time as the official unveiling of its parent company, SilverRail Technologies, Quno has added a number of new features ahead of being unleashed on the UK market.
A new timetable interface has been developed in recent months and improvements to the results and bookings sections of the site.
Quno claims it will be a leading OTA for rail travel after securing agreements with all UK rail operators and coordinating ticketing through the UK’s Association of Train Operating Companies.
Figures from ATOC suggest around two-thirds of UK rail passengers are still buying tickets from a station booking office.
The marketplace is ripe for sites such as Quno to move in and grow, says managing director Jeremy Acklam, a former-business development director at market leader in online train information, TheTrainLine.
Acklam says Eurostar services will be added by the end of 2010 and the rest of the fast-growing Europe rail network (much of it now high-speed) added over the course of the next two years.