Skyscanner Makes Tracks in Canada with Rail Launch

Skyscanner partners with VIA Rail Canada


- Travellers in Canada can now compare trains and flights in a single online search, with the launch of a rail travel information service by leading global travel search site Skyscanner. Through a partnership with VIA Rail Canada, national passenger rail service in Canada, Skyscanner has integrated major inter-city rail search into its existing flight search capability. For increasing numbers of travellers, rail is viewed as a favourable alternative to air, particularly in short to medium travel routes between cities and other key hubs.

Travellers searching for flights on the Skyscanner site between Toronto and Montreal, for example, will see the air and rail travel alternatives in the search results. When choosing the rail option, the customer can click through to the VIA Rail Canada site to make the booking. For passengers who are flexible on their dates of travel, Skyscanner will show the cheapest price to travel, making it easy and stress-free to plan travel around the country.

The integration of rail into the Skyscanner booking system is powered by SilverRail, an innovative rail search and booking platform that removes the complexities of rail booking around the world.

Gareth Williams, CEO and Co-founder of Skyscanner says:

“Finding the best price for travel can be complex and frustrating. By including rail and air options in a single search, travellers can make an informed choice on the cheapest, most convenient and even greenest options for any given journey across Canada. Rail is a priority for Skyscanner and part of our ultimate goal to become the first website in the world to show the cheapest way to travel from A to B - wherever you are and wherever you want to go.”

Steve Del Bosco, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of VIA Rail, says:

“We are excited to partner with Skyscanner to enable our rail services to be displayed along with the flights for major Canadian destinations. While offering a superior on-board service and a comfortable trip, VIA Rail allows its passengers to make productive use of their travel time because of its robust on board Wi-Fi service. This new partnership will entice people to select the train as the most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable mode of transport and to realize how, with VIA Rail, their trip is hassle-free as they arrive at their destination ready to go.”

Aaron Gowell, CEO of SilverRail, says:

“We’re thrilled to see our technology provide customers more choice by making it easy to compare rail with air in one place. SilverRail simplifies the process for rail carriers like VIA Rail Canada to sell their products in channels where customers want to buy them.”


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Skyscanner
Skyscanner is a leading global travel search site providing instant online comparisons for millions of flights plus hotels, car hire and holidays. Founded in 2003 by three IT professionals, Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, Skyscanner is the no.1 travel search website in Europe and no.3 worldwide, receiving 30 million visits per month. The site is available in 30 languages and its suite of free mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry have been downloaded over 10 million times. The company has a global headquarters in Edinburgh, UK with offices in Singapore and Beijing.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada’s national passenger rail service, VIA Rail Canada (www.viarail.ca) has a mandate to provide Canadian travellers with safe, efficient, and cost-effective passenger transportation services in the country’s two official languages. VIA operates intercity, regional and transcontinental train services linking 450 communities through its 12,500-kilometre network. Winner of the 2011 RAC Safety Award, VIA Rail safely transports more than four million passengers annually. In 2007, the Government of Canada invested almost a billion dollars in VIA Rail. Follow our transformation on viarail.ca/transformingVIA.

About SilverRail Technologies
SilverRail has built the first global distribution platform specialising in passenger rail, allowing rail operators and travel sellers to easily connect with each other. The SilverCore platform aggregates global rail content into a single, unified system through direct supplier connections, standardising the search, booking, and fulfilment processes. By removing the complexities of selling rail, SilverRail enables global rail search irrespective of operators, geographies and currencies. www.silverrailtech.com