Booking platform receives new funding

The technical development of further innovations at Modility, the booking and brokerage platform for Combined Transport, has received funding from the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) in the context of its ‘Future Rail Freight Transport’ programme. The funding will be used to accelerate the development and integration of new features and thus attract new customer segments on the supply and demand side. The project will run until October 2024.

Managing Director Hendrik-Emmanuel Eichentopf considers the funding of Modility to be a recognition of the positive development over the past months. “Since the market launch in March 2021, we have made tremendous progress with Modility. The successful pilot phase as well as increasing user and booking numbers have shown the great demand and potential for our solution in the market. With the new funding, we can now take Modility to the next level in terms of functionality and thus facilitate the switch to more climate-friendly CT for our users.”

The BMDV also funded the pilot phase of Modility as part of the ‘Future Rail Freight Transport’ programme.

Technical innovations

The objective of the demonstrator project that has now started is to attract additional customer segments on the supply and demand side through new innovations. “During the pilot phase, we spoke to a range of different companies that would like to use Modility but have very specific requirements,” says Eichentopf. “We have to take these into account to ensure that our online platform can be used in day-to-day operations and becomes a market standard.”

Therefore, Modility has scheduled the implementation of three sets of measures which consist of functional and modular innovations as well as market opening actions. Specifically, this involves more precise illustration of transport prices and available train capacities, acceleration and simplification of the booking process, and mapping of processes for major client organisations. In addition, it will implement an option for the technical integration of other transport platforms.

Platform continually growing

Since its official market launch in March 2021, Modility has been growing continuously. As of today, 40 train operators are already registered, offering a range of more than 650 bookable rail connections throughout Europe with around 2,500 departures per week via the portal. In total, Modility has more than 350 users registered on its platform.

“We are increasingly noticing that with the growing range of transport options at Modility, we are not only an information site, but also a matchmaker between supply and demand,” states Eichentopf. The company exceeded its targeted booking volume in the four-digit range for this year. In 2023, it should continue to grow – also with the help of the new funding.