On 4 June 2026, the Passenger Services Group Innovation Workshop ‘From tickets to accounts: designing account-based journeys’ took place at the UIC Headquarters in Paris, with representatives from Benerail, China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS), Entur, FSTechnology, Hungarian Railways (MÁV), Dutch Railways (NS), Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE), Swedish Railways (SJ), National French Railways (SNCF), Slovenian Railways (SŽ), Trenitalia, Trenord, and UIC participating.
Bertrand Minary, UIC Passenger Director, opened the Innovation Workshop and welcomed the participants, who attended both in person and online.
Following a quick round of introductions, Stefano Scarci, EY, delivered an introductory presentation – “The Why, What and How of Account-Based Mobility”, as account-Based Ticketing (ABT) changes how customers travel and how travel providers operate and cooperate. The Deployment of ABT is growing globally and has been quickly embraced by users, with adoption rates exceeding 70%. There are a variety of possible ABT models (e.g., pre-paid vs post-paid, open-loop vs closed-loop) and the most suitable model depends on the context. Interoperability is both the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity.
Representatives of leading railways shared their experiences and lessons learned about ABT.
Federica Follesa and Simone Angelici, Trenitalia, gave a presentation on “Tap&Tap experience in Trenitalia: a new way to travel”. Tap&Tap is the digital purchase channel of Trenitalia Regionale that allows passengers to travel using a physical or virtual payment card as a travel ticket. There is no need to purchase a ticket in advance: passengers simply tap their card on the validator at the departure station (Tap in) and tap again at the arrival station (Tap out). Customers will automatically get the best rate by registering their card.
Daniel Strobel-Folk, ÖBB, then described “SimplyGo!”. ÖBB offers check-in/check-out closed-loop ticketing integrated in its app. Users enjoy a highly convenient, fast, flexible, and automated ticketing solution with tariff optimisation. SimplyGo! covers ÖBB regional and long-distance trains, ÖBB buses within Austria, and many other regional and city transport services by other operators in Austria.
Bob Vinke, NS, discussed the evolution of the OV-chipkaart to OVpay, which offers full coverage in the Netherlands across multiple operators and modes of transport (including train, bus, tram, metro, taxi, parking, bike, and scooter). Alongside the open-loop experience offered by OVpay (in which customers can travel with a bank card), the new OV-pas, the successor of the OV-chipkaart, offers a closed-loop digital experience.
In breakout sessions, participants brainstormed ideas around three questions:
1. How can railways leverage open-loop ABT to enhance the experience of visitors, tourists, and infrequent resident travellers?
2. How should railways use closed-loop ABT or identity-linked open-loop ABT to improve the experience of commuters, students, concession-eligible riders, and other frequent travellers?
3. How can UIC advance common standards and initiatives so that railways can realise the full benefits of account-based mobility?
Following the breakout sessions, several potential actions were identified, aimed at enabling interoperable access rights, managing open European IDs in accounts, linking accounts among partners, improving automation, facilitating identity linking with open-loop accounts, and improving information for travellers.
The next Innovation Workshop ‘From chat to action: will agentic AI transform the travel experience?’ will take place on 10 September 2026 in Rome.
