The Association of Train Operating Companies has announced the new commercial arrangements which will apply to ATOC-licensed Travel Agents and Travel Management Companies from April 1st 2016.

This announcement follows a six-month period of consultation between senior representatives of the TA/TMC community - drawn from the membership both of the GTMC and the Advantage Travel Partnership – and of the train operating companies, supported by ATOC.

The agreement will see the current commission arrangements extended for a further three years, until March 31st 2019, then renewed annually on a three-year rolling basis.

This means that TMCs will have a three-year view of commission rates when they enter into new agreements with their corporate clients.

During the consultation, TMCs and TOCs also identified a number of initiatives – in addition to the industry-wide arrangements – which could be used to target specific opportunities to drive mutual growth.

These have been brought together in a toolkit of potential bilateral arrangements which TMCs and TOCs can choose from as they wish.

Following the success of the consultation process, all parties have agreed to continue their dialogue through the establishment of a new TMC-TOC Liaison Group, which will meet two to three times a year and cover a broad range of industry issues, such as technology, product development and training.

Both GTMC and Advantage will be represented on the group, together with participants from the TOCs and ATOC.

Welcoming the new arrangements, Nick Bamford, head of third party retailing at ATOC, said: “We are very pleased to have agreed this new rolling deal with the GTMC and Advantage, which we are confident will bring longer term stability and new growth opportunities for both TOCs and TMCs.”