February 17, 2025
Evolvi testing international rail content as it marks 20th anniversary
In a significant upgrade for the company, UK rail booking tool Evolvi is in the process of adding European rail content.
The platform, which is used by some 130 travel management companies, celebrates its 20th anniversary this week but until now has focused on offering UK rail content.
That is set to change, with the company in the midst of integrating content from “key European rail markets” and aiming to commence user acceptance testing by the end of Q1.
“It’s the big project for this year. We’ve had a hole in our content so this is a real milestone,”
said Darren Williams, Managing Director, Evolvi.
“Our bread and butter will remain UK rail – we were the first doing it and we’ve been in this market a long time – but this is a significant departure for the business. It’s extremely exciting.”
Williams, who joined the company last August, indicated Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and Eurostar are potentially three of the six operators whose content is being tested. “Progress is going well,” he added, but did not commit to a go-live date.
The additional content will be delivered via Evolvi’s existing API meaning TMCs will need to do only limited development work to access the new content. “The three things we wanted to avoid were a new API, [the need for] licensing, and [TMCs] having to have direct contracts with operators,” said Williams.
Asked whether the addition of European rail content would enable Evolvi to move into new markets, Williams said:
“That is the vision. But first things first, let’s get a product that works and is scalable in the UK, then we can think further afield.”
The company changed ownership in 2023 as part of Clarity Travel Management’s acquisition of Agiito, but Williams said the upgrade had been funded and undertaken by Evolvi.
“Clarity has been very supportive, but they have been pretty hands off as there has to be that separation because we serve others in the market. Thus far we’ve done all the development inhouse and within our own budget,”
Also in the pipeline for the company this year are the addition of seat maps and of more granular carbon emissions information at the point of sale.
In a significant 2024 update for the company, Evolvi introduced split-ticketing functionality that enables users to make savings by dividing journeys into multiple fares without passengers necessarily needing to change trains.
“That was another important upgrade and it’s been performing really well”
said Williams.
More than half of its TMC customers have implemented the functionality for their customers, with total savings of £5.7 million recorded from July to December last year and 12 per cent of all bookings now split.
Evolvi will mark its 20th anniversary with a series of events including a customer celebration in May.
