Trainline Shares Down 7% After Article Casts Doubt On ‘Cheapest’ Claim

Shares in rail ticketing company Trainline (LSE:TRN) fell 7% to a give-month low on Wednesday morning, following a newspaper article which challenges the company’s pledge that it offers the cheapest rail tickets.

The Independent newspaper examined the company’s claim that “You won’t find cheaper tickets anywhere else,” and found that it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because Trainline charges fees on top of fares on about a third of customer purchases.

The article, in the newspaper’s travel section, said that “finding cheaper tickets than Trainline is simple” as train operators are not permitted to charge booking fee so “always sell at face value, whether at a ticket office or online”.

It also noted that most of the 40-plus ticket retailers available for online purchases do not levy fees, including Trip.com, Virgin Trains Ticketing and Uber.

This follows a Department for Transport update yesterday, which launched a public consultation about the formation of a new rail watchdog as part of the legal process in creating Great British Railways (GBR).

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said points of note to Trainline are that the government is committed to an open access ticketing system but plans to simplify fares and modernising ticketing, which when first flagged by transport minister Heidi Alexander led to a sizeable hit to Trainline’s share price.

 

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