On April 24, RailEurope.eu, the B2B website in Europe serving all trade customers of French rail giant SNCF Group outside of France and the UK, was rebranded and became Voyages-sncf.eu.
It is now the B2B presence in 30 countries for Voyages-sncf, an online travel agency that's a joint subsidiary of SNCF and Expedia.
The trade site, which offers commission-free booking and no minimum turnover, claims an improved user experience, such as better-structured product pages.
Rail Europe UK is changing, too
On the B2C side, the UK brand of Rail Europe, raileurope.co.uk, will be folded into the new Europe-wide Voyages-sncf.com brand.
A UK version of the Voyages-sncf.com website will be launched, which will feature dedicated offers for the UK consumer market. It will sell tickets in British pounds and include information relevant to passengers travelling from the UK to the continent.
The change will not happen before the end of 2013. Tnooz anticipated the move in a report last month.
"While the branding will change, the role fulfilled by Rail Europe in the UK will remain," says Amanda Monroe, a spokesperson for Rail Europe.
The current local team will continue to provide a one-stop shop for European rail ticket distribution to the UK market, via Voyages-sncf.com, a call center and a London sales desk at 193 Piccadilly.
Rail Europe Ltd has always been part of SNCF Group’s international distribution network.
In announcing the changes, Barbara Dalibard, executive manager of SNCF Voyages and Yves Tyrode, CEO of Voyages-sncf.com, noted that they anticipate greater efficiencies as RailEurope.co.uk will be united with Voyages-sncf.com, TGV-Europe.com and Rail Europe Continental under the new Europe-wide Voyages-sncf.com brand.
Meanwhile, RailEurope.com (which has a Continent-wide audience) and RailEurope-World.com (which is aimed at people living outside of Europe) will continue to operate as they have.