"I sit on the train to work and I see printed confirmation slips, the App and you can see that people see the value in what we do. On our mobile offering travel is just three clicks and that is transformational if people do that rather than jump in their car. We are beginning to transform the customer experience," he says.

Transformation of travel experience looks set to be a continuing theme for Jack, Thetrainline and TOCs over the coming years. For the TOCs there is the need to extract value from legacy ticketing infrastructure, while consumers and the government desire a nationwide equivalent to the London Oyster smartcard used by Transport for London operates. Mobile phone based solutions may well be the answer everyone seeks.

"It's fair to say they see it as an opportunity, but there are challenges as they have concerns about parallel technology, but they are deploying mobile at a rate they can consume. I expect certain routes will see its deployment more rapidly than others. We can only encourage and support the journey.

"The technology nirvana is near field communications (NFC) as consumers will be able to walk through a gate as the ticket has been delivered onto their mobile device.

"Rail travel is still growing, £20 billion is being invested in increasing capacity," he says. While capacity at Thetrainline.com continues as the organisations departs into new relationships with Google and Skyscanners, making its service the leading online platform.