Amadeus has launched a new version of Amadeus’ Internet Track, the company’s direct channel booking interface for railways.

The Australian railway carrier CountryLink, which implemented the solution in December 2010, is Amadeus’ launch partner for the solution. Since then, CountryLink has seen a booking volume growth of 9% compared to December 2009, which raised web bookings to 22% of total bookings, and cancellations decreased by 60%. The solution has been launched to CountryLink’s direct online B2C and B2B customers.

Amadeus Internet Track has enhanced CountryLink’s overall booking experience, making it comparable to that featured by competing full service and low-cost airlines. The booking procedure has been simplified with an efficient four-step booking process (Search, Select, Pay and Confirm) and now includes an easily navigable customer interface which offers additional functionalities. These include a new side bar screen allowing the user to see a booking summary at any time during the booking flow and a Fare Shopping screen that combines fares and availability in a single display for both rail and coach services offered by CountryLink.

“We have worked in close partnership with CountryLink and are delighted to be able to develop this solution in conjunction with them. It shows how two leading companies can combine their expertise for the benefit of the travelling customer” commented Diane Bouzebiba, Head of Amadeus Rail. “As railway providers are struggling to maintain their legacy operations and looking for ways to reduce the cost of maintaining them, the Amadeus Total Rail concept and its community model can only serve to help railways maintain the most advanced technology possible in a cost efficient way, while permitting the railway to concentrate on expanding services for the traveller.”

Nadine Clench, Acting General Manager, CountryLink said: “This solution has allowed us to provide our public and business customers with an easy to use, dynamic booking tool, which is comparable with those of airline websites and allows us to offer the level of service our customers require.”

The Amadeus Internet Track is a vital component of Amadeus Total Rail, a unique concept that enables railways to manage their operations and to sell seats across several sales channels. Amadeus Total Rail incorporates a complete range of efficient solutions to enable railways to reach multiple points of sale (including agency, corporate, web, mobile, kiosk and on-board), as well as manage passenger operations and streamline schedules, inventory, fares, pricing, reservation and customer data.