Instant access to National Rail Enquiries is to become available via the 118 188 phone directory service.
The 118 118 provider The Number, a subsidiary of US directory assistance firm INFOXX, is to provide the service from October 1 in partnership with TheTrainline.
The Number claims National Rail Enquiries receives 170,000 calls a day and is “by far” the country’s most commonly requested directory number.
The company believes that providing train times on 118 118 could save millions of callers from having to redial. Callers will also be able to be transferred to TheTrainline’s call centre to make rail bookings.
Chris Moss, chief executive of The Number, said: “We got the idea from a caller who asked us if we could look up a train time to save being put through to National Rail Enquiries.”
Report by Phil Davies
