Hi, I’m Johan, the creator of Traindrop. I build and maintain this AI-powered train search engine and journey planner in my free time—without a team, investors, or venture capital. This is a passion project, not a business, and it has never generated a profit.
I’m a Swedish expat living in Prague and a lifelong train travel enthusiast. I’ve crossed European borders dozens of times, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, but also on multi-day journeys spanning the entire continent. My experience as both a traveler and industry insider shaped the vision behind Traindrop.
The journey to building Traindrop
I first launched Traindrop as a web app in 2021, aiming to create the first true “Skyscanner for trains.” But due to time constraints—and, admittedly, self-doubt—the project was put on hold.
Two things brought me back in 2025:
- There is still no truly complete, unbiased, and helpful train search engine that covers European rail travel comprehensively.
- The rapid evolution of AI, especially in late 2024, made it possible to solve challenges that previously seemed insurmountable.
Traindrop has been AI-powered from the start, long before ChatGPT became a household name. However, early AI tools were unreliable, and I couldn’t consistently achieve the accuracy this project required. Today, AI capabilities have dramatically improved, and I believe we can finally create the train search experience that travelers deserve.
My background in the rail industry
Before Traindrop, I spent 4+ years in the rail industry, managing online ticket and travel pass sales at Trainplanet. I also led the design and development of their booking platform for domestic and international tickets. This experience gave me deep insight into the challenges of rail ticketing—and why no one has yet built a true “Skyscanner for trains.”
Why hasn’t a “Skyscanner for trains” been built yet?
The biggest reason? Rail travel is fragmented. Unlike the aviation industry, which relies on the Global Distribution System (GDS) for centralized flight schedules and fares, train operators across Europe each have their own booking systems.
- Some rail operators don’t provide API access at all.
- Others impose high fees, strict limits, or partial data access.
- Fare structures, ticketing rules, and seat reservation requirements vary wildly between operators.
The lack of a universal ticketing system is another major obstacle. Airlines have seamless e-tickets that work across multiple carriers, but with trains, each journey may require different booking processes, ticket formats, and seat reservation systems.
Many have tried to solve this problem. No one has succeeded.
Can Traindrop? Maybe, maybe not. But we’re taking a different approach.
How Traindrop solves this with AI agents
Unlike traditional rail search engines that only show routes where tickets are available, Traindrop focuses on how to get from point A to point B—regardless of ticket availability.
When you search on Traindrop, our AI agent analyzes:
- A mix of public and proprietary data sources.
- Enriched datasets designed for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) that allow us to find 20 million possible train journeys across 45,000 European train and bus stations.
- Several cross-referenced layers with reseller data, carrier data, and travel pass validity logic.
This means Traindrop can provide more route options than any other train search platform today. And when ticket availability is limited, we help you find alternative options, including:
- Which carriers offer fares for your journey.
- Which travel passes can cover part or all of your trip.
It’s not perfect. Some long or complex journeys may still have gaps due to limited data availability. But Traindrop is already the most comprehensive train search engine available today—and it will only improve over time.
The best place to start your journey
Whether you’re planning a short trip or a cross-border adventure, Traindrop is the best starting point for train travel planning in Europe.
- Most travelers will find everything they need within seconds.
- For the rest, we provide the key information you need to continue your planning or book tickets elsewhere.
Thank you for visiting and using Traindrop. I’m excited to make it even better in 2025 and beyond.