8 November, 2012 - i:FAO, the developer of cytric, Europe's most widely used software for planning, booking, expense reporting and managing business travel, has announced a new partnership with SilverRail Technologies to provide multi-country rail booking and ticketing to its corporate customers around the globe.

Using SilverRail technology, i:FAO, will be able to offer fully integrated rail pricing, availability and ticketing to its 3,200 corporate customers and 50 distribution partners, through its corporate online booking tool, cytric. This partnership with SilverRail extends cytric’s coverage of global rail markets to include Amtrak (United States), Via Rail (Canada), Renfe (Spain), and SJ (Sweden), with additional rail providers to follow during the course of 2013.

A global explosion in high-speed rail, awareness of the environmental impact of travel, hassles associated with air travel, and industry deregulation have made passenger rail the travel industry’s most dynamic and fastest-growing sector. i:FAO is meeting the demands of travel managers to have a fully integrated solution that can provide booking efficiencies, integrated data for traveller tracking and marketing intelligence, all combined with full expense management. “Travellers are choosing rail travel as the preferred mode of transport for short-haul travel in order to enjoy the comfort, increased productivity, convenience, and environmental benefits on offer,” said Cameron Jones, VP Commercial of SilverRail.

i:FAO was attracted to SilverRail for the ability to perform a single technology integration into SilverCore, SilverRail’s global rail platform, to access to multiple rail carriers, without the need for multiple integrations and managing multiple technology relationships.

“SilverRail has provided us with a great opportunity to add incremental rail markets quickly and efficiently into cytric.  Rail is a continued focus for our customers, and we continue to add rail content in order to meet their demands,” said Louis Arnitz, CEO of i:FAO.

“We’re thrilled to be working with i:FAO, a leader and innovator in products for business travel,” said Cameron Jones. “At SilverRail, we are simplifying the complex process of rail ticketing, allowing i:FAO to expand their business into more markets at far less cost. Our global partnership with i:FAO highlights that business travel managers can meet the needs of their business travellers by using market-leading technology.”