Rail Europe 4A celebrates its 10th anniversary

Rail Europe 4A, created in 1995, is in charge of commercialising, on behalf of the European railways, its services on an international basis.  Rail Europe 4A covers the four continents – Asia, Africa, Middle-East, South America and Australasia. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in July 2005.

In 1994, Rail Europe was conceived with the launch of the Eurostar service. Its potential international market led its partners to develop a worldwide electronic sales system, which corresponded to the growth and development of the internet. As a result, the French and Swiss railways decided to merge their manual sales network and to equip all their agents with Euronet. The latter was initially developed as an electronic distribution system by the Rail Europe Group for the North American market. Consequently, Rail Europe Australasia was set up in July 1995.

The new Rail Europe Australasia grew from a tiny team of 3 people who posted a turnover of 51 million $ in their first year of operation. The company continued to grow and develop international tourism and entered new markets: Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India.

In 1998, Rail Europe Australasia opened its first direct representative office in Tokyo and took a 50% share in the Rail Plus Australasia Pty Ltd, which is the leader in rail sales in Australasia.

In 2000, Rail Europe Australasia merged Africa and the Middle East into its sales perimeter. In the same year, bought out Rail Europe America Latina and thereby recuperated all of South America. The company operated a name change to Rail Europe 4A, encompassing Asia, Australia, Africa and South America.

The company is 50% owned by the SNCF Group (French Railways), 50% by CFF (Swiss Railways) and posts a turnover of 110 million $ and sells over a million tickets (including passes and point-to-point tickets) in over 40 markets. The company’s head office is in Paris and employs 25 people. The growth strategy is to continue to develop new markets while keeping a close eye on new trends in existing markets. In February last, a new representative office was opened in Seoul, Korea and more recently, in Mumbai, India. These openings will reinforce the company’s presence in strategic markets.

Commenting on the company’s development, Véronique Peccoud, managing director, declared: “Rail Europe 4A is a strategic development tool for its shareholders in new, important markets. The company has a flexible and pioneering spirit which enables it to withstand major challenges, including the 1997 Asian economic crash, the SARS and other unforeseen external events. The past has proved that we can overcome challenging situations. Now we need to develop our presence on the internet in a wide variety of languages and integrate diverse and complex purchasing patterns.”