About us

With the goal of convincing people in Switzerland to travel by train, SimpleTrain was founded in January 2019 as a simple booking platform. The project has since become a small start-up, providing affordable train tickets and enabling people to book a journey to any train station in Europe. The young team is committed to making a difference in the world and has booked 2500 train tickets to 37 different countries in 2023 thanks to the support of the Migros Pioneer Fund.

Our vision

At SimpleTrain, we strive for a more sustainable world. We dream of a shift towards environmentally conscious travelling and being a role model for future generations. We want to encourage people to choose the train as their preferred mode of transport for travelling abroad by providing inspiration for train travel and sharing our enthusiasm for it.

“People often talk about later, 2030 or even 2050. I want to make my contribution to sustainable mobility with SimpleTrain now.” – Austin Widmer, 2021

Your SimpleTrain team

Marius

Management and ticket booking

Favourite destination: Hamburg

Saskia

Management, innovation, IT, international relations and marketing

Favourite destination: Vieste

Austin

Management, communication and accounting

Favourite destination: Paris

Sabeth

Ticket booking

Favourite destination: Scotland

Linus

Founding member

Favourite destination: Scotland

Karin

Visual communication

Favourite destination: Netherlands

Raffaela

Communication

Favourite destination: Budapest

Nicola

Software Engineer

Favourite destination: Norway

Ladina

Marketing

Favourite destination: Venice

Lena

Ticket booking

The story of SimpleTrain

Marius talks about how an idea and a hobby turned into a start-up and a vision:

“Trains have been with me all my life. Not only because I grew up less than 50 metres from Männedorf station, but also because we didn’t have a car back then and I knew all the stations on my S7 by heart and could tell the difference between the different types of train even before I started kindergarten.

I travelled all the SBB routes with my parents from an early age and travelled to many European countries by train on the Eurocity, ICE and TGV. Thanks to my father’s knowledge, we were able to travel at unbeatably low prices even back then.

Over the course of time, I have also acquired this knowledge. In the course of the climate debate, the train became the number one means of travel for my own trips. Whether for the month-long hiking trip through Scotland or for the annual trip with the football team, it was always my job to organise the journey by train.

However, reading through comment columns in online newspapers, I realised that for many people, travelling by train still seemed too expensive, too complicated and too old-fashioned, and that even within Europe flying was the only option for them. I wanted to change this. So in January 2019, the SimpleTrain project was born.

Initially with just a simple Facebook page, flyers designed by Karin and an email address, I tried to sell tickets as a hobby and a little extra income alongside my studies – always trying to provide cheaper tickets than when booked the usual way and to make the booking process as simple as possible.

The project took off surprisingly quickly and I soon had to recruit my friends Austin and later Linus, both of whom I knew from my time at high school, as my employees. In the first business year, we were able to sell train tickets to 35 countries and inspire over 500 people to travel by train across Europe.

Thanks to the support we have received from the Migros Pioneer Fund since October 2020, we can bring our vision to an even wider audience. Our team has also grown with the addition of communication expert Saskia. We also developed our first website together with Samuel and Alice from Code Crush. A hobby and the strong idea we could make a difference in the world turned into a real business of a size I could never have dreamed of, thanks to our funding partner.”

Our partners

Funding partner: Migros Pioneer Fund

About the Migros Pioneer Fund

The Migros Pioneer Fund seeks out and promotes ideas with social potential. It enables pioneering projects that break new ground and test future-oriented solutions. The impact-orientated funding approach combines financial support with coaching-type services. The Migros Pioneer Fund is part of the Migros Group’s social commitment and is funded by Migros Group companies to the tune of around CHF 15 million a year. Further information can be found here.

Web development: Code Crush GmbH

Code Crush develops the fastest websites, coolest web apps and best games. You’ll love your web app as much as we love code. Click here to learn more!

Platform development: nxt Engineering GmbH

Your reliable partner for the development of your customised software solutions. Our agile way of working ensures that you are on the market in the shortest possible time, and our dedication to quality guarantees you tailor-made software products that will optimise your business processes and inspire your customers.