Corporate train travel: are you on track or off the rails?

Your plans don’t have to be up in the air when it comes to travelling for business — at least, they don’t have to involve getting on a plane.

Though many don’t consider booking rail tickets, travelling by train can be more economical and more comfortable when going on certain routes. But it is a totally different experience to flying, so what do you need to know about corporate train travel?

Here are top tips for booking train tickets for corporate travel:

How does FCM source fares and book rail tickets?

The UK rail industry is operated across multiple franchises, each with different operators. Therefore, FCM’s job as a travel management company (TMC) is to demystify and simplify the process for travellers, so they can get from A to B with zero fuss.

Corporate rail is supplied through aggregators, so ensuring our clients have full access to all operators and fares is key. Once the right product is in place, it’s all down to conversations with each client to understand how they want it delivered.

Any top tips and tricks for cost saving and behaviour change?

This really comes down to education and travel policy enforcement. Working with online booking tools and aggregators, to persuade travellers or bookers through 'visual guilt’ into selecting the lower fare classes, is effective, as is having the initial discussions with clients about policy.

For instance, do clients want to simply block First Class bookings, or allow advance bookings in First Class if they turn out to be cheaper than Standard?

Do rail operators offer any deals or soft perks, based on volume?

There are a few ways that TMCs and train operators can work together to benefit clients along these lines. Identifying clients who use routes at particularly high volumes can open discussions not just about route deals, but also the extras that can add to a business journey. For instance, offering free wi-fi to business customers is a useful perk that means they can continue working on the go – which is obviously a little trickier when flying on a short domestic flight.

Train operators are also always keen to draw more business to routes that are traditionally dominated by air, such as London to Edinburgh/Glasgow and vice versa. Diverting more of their travellers onto rail instead of air could also help support a client’s green credentials and CSR targets.

Are all the best deals on routes where there is competition?

Absolutely! Many routes are essentially only used by one operator, so there is less scope for deal negotiation. However, routes such as those in and out of the northern hubs like Leeds, which are used by multiple key operators, open more room for identifying which clients use the route consistently and using that as leverage for route deals.