CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 7 2024 12 Rail Europe provides train booking services across a multi-national catalogue of railway networks. Across France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and beyond, it makes ticket booking a simple experience with a seamless digital platform, firstclass customer support, and competitive pricing. Founded in 1932, the company was originally intended to fulfil a specific purpose: to promote French rail routes to North American Travellers. The first route was sold between Paris and Lyon, and this remains one of the service’s most popular journeys to date, together with the Paris to London route operated by Eurostar. In 1959, the first Eurail passes were added, expanding travellers’ opportunities using the service. It’s since modernised, grown a thriving customer support team, and continued to improve its array of railway networks. Appointing Björn as CEO is among its latest developments. Rail Europe’s mission is to make train travel easy, and under CEO Björn Bender, it’s striding confidently into the future. Fuelled by a culture of continuous improvement, the company has sprung to become a global entity in the rail booking industry and an answer to European sustainability concerns. Björn is a mobility expert, having spent 20 years improving rail travel and gaining valuable experience across a breadth of roles including sales and management positions. He’s regularly invited to lecture at the University of St. Gallen, owing to a blend of first-class education, career success, and sector experience. Today, he’s proud to steward the future of Rail Europe’s remarkable journey. “For me, this transformation combines today’s strengths with tomorrow’s opportunities, that’s what makes us special.” As CEO, Björn considers it a responsibility in all he does to act according to the company’s values. As a business strategist, leader, and even in day-to-day interactions with the team, he promotes a passionate, diverse, and sustainable workplace. It’s Björn’s view that passion breeds creativity, and that building a culture of diverse individuals and voices is key to understanding a wide variety of customer needs, from all over the world. As part of the company’s mission under Björn, Rail Europe operates as sustainably as possible. Simply by advertising rail travel and expanding the convenience of booking services, the company plays a role in aligning Europe’s travel habits with environmental demands and continent-wide sustainability goals. It’s a viable option for many travellers instead of relying on more polluting modes of transport, and the business enthusiastically promotes this benefit. “Rail is already the most sustainable mode of travel, and we believe rail travel has the potential to become the mobility backbone for all of Europe, replacing more and more air travel and individual transport in a very convenient way.” Promoting sustainable travel is an industry challenge that Rail Europe embraces. They demand that a business understands the evolving needs of travellers and aligns its offering to both these and current regulations. Björn is confident that by bettering its offering, the company will continue to affect real change, swaying consumers towards a more convenient rail service, and ultimately act as part of the wider solution to environmental concerns. Rail Europe’s goal is simply to become the best rail booking platform. Through constant technological innovation allowing travellers to book seat reservations for rail passes and maintaining excellent relationships with its customers, its services are constantly improving. Alongside this, it also boasts a renewed, ultra-modern website and app, and it has recently incorporated providers iryo and Regiojet, making constant strides to provide the best possible service and largest inventory. The company has grown 60% over the past year, and this appears to be a forecast of things to come. The team’s continued motivation is only fuelled by this success, and its members all work towards the shared goal of leading the market in train travel booking. Björn, the team, and its partners all look forward to shaping the future of European train travel. When the stakes are as high impact as encouraging eco-friendly habits across the continent or as personal as facilitating memorable journeys, it’s Rail Europe’s pleasure to be a part of. Contact: Justine Rohée Company: Rail Europe Web Address: www.raileurope. com / agent.raileurope.com Rounding off a Century in European Train Travel
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