CUSTOMER: Interrail B.V.
CHALLENGE:
- Connect and automate a rail reservation system that originally covered 28 European countries
- Integrate various rail operators, each with their own systems and processes
- Provide a seamless passenger experience within an international network that is constantly growing
RESULT:
An integration platform based on InterSystems IRIS that orchestrates more than 50 API connections, supports millions of reservations, and serves more than 1.2 million passengers annually across 33 European countries.
Interrail makes it possible to explore Europe with a single pass that grants access to an extensive international rail network.
Behind this simple user experience lies a highly complex environment. Each railway company has its own reservation systems, technical interfaces, and commercial rules. In addition, providers of timetables, payment platforms, seat reservation services, marketing applications, and analytics tools play a key role in the traveler experience.
Interrail’s ambition is to offer a seamless customer journey - from trip planning to booking and travel - while continuously expanding its network of partners and geographic coverage.
Today, the Interrail ecosystem includes:
- 33 European countries
- More than 250 transportation companies
- More than 55,000 train stations
- More than 22,000 bus stations
- 286 ferry terminals
- 396 cross-border rail connections
- More than 100 partner organisations offering additional benefits to travelers
Technology and Implementation
To address these challenges, Interrail uses InterSystems IRIS as its central integration and orchestration platform.
IRIS acts as a digital hub that connects the various systems within the customer journey, including:
- Rail reservation systems
- Timetable providers
- Payment platforms
- Seat reservation services
- Fulfillment solutions
- Marketing platforms
- Business intelligence tools
Thanks to this architecture, Interrail can centralise communication across more than 50 API integrations while simultaneously supporting hundreds of partners, ensuring a consistent user experience across the website and the Rail Planner app.
Over the years, the platform has also enabled the expansion of self-service seat reservations, allowing travelers to independently reserve seats on an ever-growing number of European rail networks.
A Simplified Travel Experience
By automating reservation processes and integrating with railway operators across Europe, Interrail offers travelers a single point of access to a cross-border transportation network.
Today, the platform supports:
- More than 1.24 million travelers per year
- More than 2.7 million seat reservations
- More than 2.53 billion kilometers traveled per year
Performance on a European Scale
The IRIS platform continuously processes large volumes of transactions between partner organisations.
During peak periods, it processes:
- More than 1.25 million calls to reservation systems
- Peaks of more than 120,000 transactions per hour
- More than 2,000 transactions per minute
Measurable operational benefits
Thanks to automation and partner integration, Interrail was able to:
- Reduce reservation processing time from nearly one hour to about 15 minutes
- Reduce operational staffing requirements from 26 to 4 employees
- Increase customer satisfaction thanks to faster and more reliable reservation processes
The invisible engine behind the Interrail ecosystem
For travelers, it’s simple: one pass to discover Europe.
For Interrail, that promise requires an integration platform capable of coordinating hundreds of organisations, thousands of connection points, and millions of interactions per year.
As Wouter Wolff of Interrail put it:
“IRIS is the spider at the heart of our web—connecting all the threads to solve the most complex challenges facing Eurail and Interrail.”