Challenge and context
Eurostar is the high-speed train operator linking the United Kingdom to France, Belgium and the Netherlands via the Channel Tunnel. Every day it carries thousands of passengers to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Lille, Disneyland® Paris and other destinations.
Since its launch in 1994, Eurostar has carried over 150 million passengers, changing the way people travel between the UK and the continent. However, in 2017, Eurostar realised the need to move away from the old booking solution to a more modern and flexible platform that would meet the future needs of the business. Their ‘Horizon’ programme was then put in place to overhaul these outdated systems, improve the customer experience and deliver cost savings, but it encountered a number of challenges, including:
- Supplier selection
- Complex planning for the technological transition
- Ensuring that critical systems could be switched over without affecting ticket sales.
Moorhouse, an Expleo affiliate, was chosen to assist Eurostar throughout this multi-year process, starting with the supplier due diligence, before providing assurance to the Eurostar board that the programme would be delivered.
Outcome for the client
To begin with, our report and advice to the board helped the Horizon programme to successfully conclude the supplier contract. Once the Horizon transformation programme launched in 2019, we provided a series of recurring delivery assurance reviews that included:
- Programme and project delivery
- Governance
- Change management Supplier management
- Technical workflow assessment for architecture design
- Messaging architecture
- Integration with back-office systems and external channels
- Web and mobile architecture design
- SaaS service integration.
In addition, the Expleo and Moorhouse team also provided specialist technical advice to complement the assurance reviews. This included topics such as Agile development techniques, change management frameworks and test strategy development and planning. A quarterly report and presentation to the board was made, highlighting risks and recommended remediation actions.
Since Horizon went live for all customers, agents and employees, a merger programme between Eurostar and the Franco-Belgian high-speed train operator, Thalys, has taken place. Eurostar’s Horizon platform is now the single solution for both rail services.
You have kept all your promises. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of understanding you showed, not only of the programme and the technology, but also of the transport distribution market, the supply chain and their drivers.
CIO, Eurostar
