Amtrak and VIA Rail Configuration

Owned by Malissa Olofernes
Last updated: Mar 20, 2024
5 min read

You must configure Amtrak and VIA Rail in Deem if you want users to be able to book trips with those rail providers. The steps are the same for both with one minor difference as noted in the instructions below.

Note: Rail services must be enabled; see Rail Services Configuration for steps to enable/disable.

Benefits and Need to Know

Amtrak and VIA Rail services are integrated with Deem’s online travel booking process. You can set up spending policies, take advantage of negotiated rates, and guide users to appropriate train options. Reward membership programs/numbers are applied to rail bookings. Amtrak Rail tickets are via email only, where as Via Rail tickets can be picked up at a station kiosk or emailed.

Important: Deem does not support multiple rail services under the same Agency Setting, which means you cannot combine Amtrak and VIA Rail under the same Agency Settings configuration.

  • Via Rail - You will need to open a Deem Support Case . Deem will contact SilverRail on your client’s behalf to set up customer identifiers. .

  • Amtrak Rail - TMC will configure using customer identifiers provided under Configurating Deem Settings for Amtrak and Via Rail.

If you have configured rail services on your template site, those settings clone to all sites you create from your template site. Best practice is to add your TMC Customer Identification information in your template site. You need to change the Customer Identification information in a site cloned from your template only if that site will use site payment cards (see the above section for details on opening a support case for this).

Rail passive segments are passed through to your GDS. The following GDSs are supported for both Amtrak and VIA Rail:

  • Sabre

  • Galileo (Apollo)

  • Worldspan

  • Amadeus (No passive segment PNR write back; if rail is enabled on an Amadeus site, the reservation is only viewable online and no GDS PNR is created.)

Configuring Deem Settings for Amtrak and Via Rail

To set up either Amtrak or VIA Rail, from your TMC partner dashboard, take the following steps:

  1. From the Partner Dashboard home page, click the Settings link to the right of the site you want to update.

  2. At the top of your Partner Dashboard, click the Services tab.

  3. From the Travel list, click the Travel Agency link.

  4. Click the Agency Settings link.

  5. Click the link for the agency site for which you want to set up either Amtrak or VIA Rail. The Agency Configuration Settings page opens.

  6. In the Host Information section shown on the example screen below, set the Sales Location. Important: Amtrak services require a US airport code. VIA Rail services require a Canadian airport code.

    image-20240116-203259.png



  7. In the Train Support section farther down the page, complete the following fields using capital letters for all letter entries:

Noted changes as of March 24th: Amtrak configuration changes, no need

Amtrak:

  • Channel: WEB

  • Agent Identifier: DEEM

  • Customer Identifier: SITECARD or PERSONAL

    • SITECARD - Configuring a Site Payment Card, CVN number will not be required at purchase.

    • PERSONAL - Payment from user profile, CVN number will be required at purchase.

  • Client ID Number: Enter the number to be used when optional reporting is needed.

  • Customer DK Number: Enter the number to be used when optional reporting is needed.

image-20240320-155328.png

VIA Rail:

Open Deem Support Case to obtain the TMC Customer Identification information.

  • Channel: Provided by Deem

  • Agent Identifier: Provided by Deem

  • Customer Identifier: Provided by Deem

  • Client ID Number: Enter the number to be used when optional reporting is needed.

  • Customer DK Number: Enter the number to be used when optional reporting is needed.

  1. In the Amtrak /VIA Rail Specific Support section, complete the following:

    1. For Add passive train segment to primary GDS?, select either the Yes or No button.

    2. In the box for Message for Train support procedure and phone numbers, enter the message that will display for the user on the purchase page and on confirmation messages. Do not include HTML tags or use travel lingo.

    3. If the train support number for mobile clients is different from other support numbers, enter that mobile support number in the field for Train support phone number for mobile client.

  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button.

  3. Settings on the following tabs are cloned from your template site; you may want to verify the following settings but no additional configuration should be necessary. The following links provide more information:

    • See Rail PNR Editor Scripts for Deem scripts you can add to your template site and existing sites.

    • Rail Private Rates: Click the Services tab. Under Private Rates, click Train Rates.

    • Service Rules: Click the Rules tab, the Service Rules link, and click Edit in the Travel column for each group to edit.

    • Travel Policy: Important: For Acela to appear you must allow users to book Business Class:

      • Click the Services tab and then the Travel Policy link.

      • Click the Policy Sets link.

      • Click the link for the policy set to edit.

      • Click the link for the policy to edit (under Policy Name).

      • Scroll down to the Train Policy section, and select Yes for Travelers are permitted to book business class per the example below.

  1. Commit all changes (click the # changes not applied link at the top-right and click Commit).

  2. After committing changes, test a booking to ensure you are seeing rail bookings on the configured provider and that they are being processed properly. Be sure to book refundable rates if you intend to complete a test booking.