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Shares in Trainline fell after the UK government outlined plans to launch a state-backed rival, triggering investor concerns that the London-listed company could lose its dominance of the domestic rail-ticketing market.
The government said on Wednesday that it planned to launch a new online service that would bring together individual train operators’ ticket websites, as part of the wider reform and nationalisation of the UK railway.
Shares in Trainline fell nearly 7 per cent by afternoon trading in London on Wednesday, reaching their lowest levels since October.
The threat of government competition has hung over Trainline, which has built a £1.7bn business by offering passengers a simple way to book tickets on any part of the UK’s railways, which includes a bewildering 55mn different ticketing and fare combinations.
The company takes a commission on ticket sales but draws on the same open-access database as the booking apps of other railway companies.
In its announcement, the UK government said its new ticketing site would “work alongside a thriving private sector retail market, where all rail retailers can compete in an open and fair manner”.
“The private sector will continue to play a key role in driving growth through innovation and investment and encouraging more people to choose rail,” it added.
Jody Ford, chief executive of Trainline said he welcomed the government’s “unequivocal commitment to a competitive retail market, underpinned by a level playing field, and recognition of the value and innovation that brings to rail users”.
Still, investors have for years feared that long-running government efforts to modernise the railway’s complex ticketing system could erode Trainline’s market dominance.
The company’s shares fell 40 per cent in 2021 when the previous Conservative government unveiled plans to create a new ticketing hub.
But the share price gradually recovered as the Conservatives’ reform agenda stalled. It boosted further in December 2023 when the then-government said it would not launch a rival.
Mark Plowright, director of Trainline rival Virgin Trains Ticketing, said a competitive ticketing industry would “benefit rail passengers across the UK”.
“However, there’s still much more work to be done to simplify rail tickets and make train travel less confusing for passengers,” he said.
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