SimpleTrain
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersWallisellen, Switzerland
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
SimpleTrain firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SimpleTrain
- Legal name
- SimpleTrain
- Website
- https://simpletrain.ch
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SimpleTrain industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Travel Agency
- NAICS
- Support Activities for Rail Transportation (4882)
- SIC
- Transportation Services (4700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Rail & Intercity Bus Booking Engines (THALADAD)
Keywords
Where SimpleTrain is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Wallisellen
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
SimpleTrain business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Train Ticket Sales: Commission and booking fees from selling train tickets to European destinations. Customers book through the platform and pay a service fee on top of ticket prices.
- Night Train Bookings: Transaction fees from overnight train bookings including seat, couchette, and sleeper compartment options.
- Group Travel Services: Booking services for groups of 6+ persons with personalized offers and seat reservations.
- Interrail Pass Sales: Sales of Interrail passes (Global and Single Country) in both digital and paper formats.
- Ferry and Combined Travel: Booking fees for combined train and ferry journeys to destinations like Morocco.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard train tickets to European destinations |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Night train tickets |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Bicycle transport surcharge |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Group travel booking |
| Transaction based/ take rate | One time/ perpetual license | Interrail passes |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
SimpleTrain product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SimpleTrain sells European train tickets and travel services through its online platform simpletrain.app, aggregating fares and connections across multiple rail operators (SBB, DB, ÖBB, SNCF, Trenitalia, etc.). Customers pay a service fee on top of ticket prices and receive both self-service booking and personal consultation from rail tariff experts for complex itineraries including night trains, Interrail passes, group travel, and bike transport.
Product overview
SimpleTrain is a young Swiss startup from Zurich offering a booking platform for train travel across Europe. Its core product is a multi-provider booking platform that searches international train connections, compares prices from different railway companies, and enables direct ticket booking. The platform also offers personalized booking assistance for complex travel requests. Surrounding the core platform, SimpleTrain provides a suite of specialized add-on services including digital and paper Interrail passes, group travel booking (for 6+ persons), night train reservations, cycling holidays with bike transport, business travel, travel for reduced mobility, motorail (auto-train), dog-friendly travel, school and study trips, gift vouchers, language travel packages, and combined train-and-ferry journeys extending beyond the European rail network to destinations like Morocco.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Trainsetter: Term used to describe customers/travelers who book through SimpleTrain and discover destinations via the platform.
Products and services
- European train ticket booking (multi-operator) Core service allowing individual travelers to search and book train tickets across multiple European rail operators (SBB, DB, ÖBB, SNCF, Trenitalia, etc.) via the simpletrain.app platform, with a service fee added on top of ticket prices and personal consultation available.
- Group travel booking (10+ passengers) White-label, full-service group travel booking for more than nine passengers, including ticketing, seat reservations, and on-trip support. Used by school and study trips (Klassen- und Studienreisen) as well as corporate and club groups traveling together by train.
- Business travel (Geschäftsreisen) Rail travel booking service targeted at corporate clients and individual business travelers, offering multi-operator booking with first-class upgrades, lounge access, and flexible ticketing across European rail networks.
- Night train booking Booking service for European overnight trains, marketed as a comfortable, climate-friendly alternative to short-haul flights. Example routes promoted include Zurich to Hamburg.
- Interrail passes (digital and paper) Sale of Interrail passes in both digital and paper form, fulfilled via a dedicated Shopify store connected to the SimpleTrain platform.
- Cycling holidays with bike transport Holiday package combining European train travel with reserved bicycle transport spaces on trains, sold per additional bike unit. Targeted at cycling tourists planning multi-day rail-and-bike itineraries across Europe.
- Combined train and ferry travel Itinerary booking combining train segments with ferry crossings, enabling customers to reach destinations not directly served by rail (e.g., UK, islands, Scandinavia) via integrated ticketing.
- Travel for people with reduced mobility Specialized booking assistance for travelers with reduced mobility requiring accessible accommodations on European trains.
- Travel with dog Booking service for travelers bringing dogs on European trains, handling pet-ticket and carriage rules across operators.
- Motorail (Autozug) travel Booking of motorail / Autozug services where passengers' cars are transported on the train alongside them.
- Language travel by train Booking service combining rail travel with language-study trips, connecting train itineraries to language-course destinations.
- Gift vouchers for train travel SimpleTrain gift vouchers usable toward booking services on the platform, sold as standalone gift products.
Quantifiable outcome
- Train travel produces approximately 10x less CO2 than flying
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use SimpleTrain
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
SimpleTrain technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
SimpleTrain partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Schweizer Tourismus Verband (STV-FST)minorSwiss Tourism Association membership provides industry network and credibility for the travel service provider.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
SimpleTrain competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Trainline: Largest pan-European independent rail and coach booking platform (publicly listed on LSE). Direct competitor — same core product (multi-provider international train search and booking), overlapping European route coverage, and same transaction-fee business model.
- Omio: European multi-modal booking platform (trains, buses, flights, ferries). Comparable on the rail-booking core, with broader modal scope; competes head-to-head for the same Swiss and European travelers.
- RailEurope: Specialist in European and North American rail pass/point-to-point booking. Overlap with SimpleTrain's Interrail and international ticket offering; comparable reseller-only model with no owned inventory.
Emerging players
- European Sleeper: Open-access night-train operator with routes through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond. Both a potential supplier for SimpleTrain's night-train offering and an emerging competitor for the same sustainable long-distance rail customer.
- Busbud: Intercity bus and rail booking platform with comparable transaction-fee model. Partial overlap on European ground transport booking; smaller scale than Trainline/Omio but similar reseller-only structure.
Broad incumbents
- SBB (Swiss Federal Railways): Dominant Swiss rail operator with its own direct booking app and Swiss Travel Pass. Operates the same Switzerland-as-gateway corridor SimpleTrain is built around, and represents the primary direct-booking threat to SimpleTrain's Swiss customer base.
- ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways): Operator of Nightjet and European night-train network. SimpleTrain resells ÖBB night-train inventory and competes indirectly for the same sustainable-travel customer; ÖBB's growing direct booking in DACH is a structural threat.
- SNCF Connect: French national rail booking platform. Direct overlap on Paris, Strasbourg, and other France-bound routes marketed by SimpleTrain; large incumbent competing for the same Swiss-outbound traveler.
- Deutsche Bahn (DB Vertrieb / bahn.com): National operator of Germany's rail network with one of Europe's largest direct booking platforms. Significant overlap on routes from Switzerland into Germany and beyond; represents both a supply partner and a direct-booking competitor.
Others
- Schweizer Tourismus-Verband (STV): Swiss tourism industry association of which SimpleTrain is a member. Adjacent ecosystem participant — not a direct competitor but a relevant peer for distribution, credibility, and partnerships in the Swiss sustainable-tourism value chain.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
SimpleTrain social profiles
Digital presenceSimpleTrain financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SimpleTrain leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
SimpleTrain funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SimpleTrain M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SimpleTrain
What does SimpleTrain do?
SimpleTrain sells European train tickets and travel services through its online platform simpletrain.app, aggregating fares and connections across multiple rail operators (SBB, DB, ÖBB, SNCF, Trenitalia, etc.). Customers pay a service fee on top of ticket prices and receive both self-service booking and personal consultation from rail tariff experts for complex itineraries including night trains, Interrail passes, group travel, and bike transport.
Is SimpleTrain a public or private company?
SimpleTrain is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was SimpleTrain founded?
SimpleTrain was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is SimpleTrain based?
SimpleTrain is headquartered in Wallisellen, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does SimpleTrain make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Train Ticket Sales are the primary driver. The others are night Train Bookings, group Travel Services, interrail Pass Sales and ferry and Combined Travel.
Who are SimpleTrain's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Trainline, Omio and RailEurope. Emerging players are European Sleeper and Busbud. Broad incumbents are SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways), SNCF Connect and Deutsche Bahn (DB Vertrieb / bahn.com). Schweizer Tourismus-Verband (STV) is listed as an others.
Does SimpleTrain have an API?
No public API is recorded for SimpleTrain.
What industry is SimpleTrain in?
SimpleTrain's product category is Online Travel Agency. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THALADAD, Rail & Intercity Bus Booking Engines. Its NAICS code is 4882 and its SIC code is 4700.