On 19, 20 and 21 September, 30 tariff experts met in Zagreb at the SPG meeting chaired by Christian Walkling (DB) and perfectly organised by Miroslav Fumic (HZPP). A further seven experts attended online via Teams.
On the first day, all the participants came together and very much appreciated seeing each other face-to-face after three years of digital Teams meetings. The discussions quickly turned more technical and moved on to the many challenges faced by European railways. The first was the UIC-CER Ticketing Roadmap to deliver harmonised tariffs conditions, followed by the impacts of the new EU Disability Card on conditions for passengers with disabilities and their companions. DB then presented its latest developments on the “Goodwill-Gesture” for ticket use on domestic and international journeys. Later, Anton Pylypchuk (UZ), UIC East West Tariffs group chair, presented meeting results and the latest SCIC-EWT updates.
David Sarfatti (UIC) presented all the latest IT developments, including MERITS real-time workstream, OSDM online and offline, FCB and URT fulfilment, and eTCD control and AJC capabilities. At the end of this first day, Jan Vavra (CIT) informed the audience about the latest CIT legal document updates, such as AIV, MIRT, CIT Glossary, Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC), and good practices for static and dynamic information towards passengers for conditions of carriage.
On the second day, Christiane Kraus (DB) discussed IRS 10106 enhancements regarding VAT, reservation fees and glossary chapters. Then as NRT Chair, Mrs. Kraus provided an update on the SCIC NRT document which describes common rules for international rail tariffs. In the afternoon, Zsuzsanna Selmeczi (MAV) chaired the NT meeting, which was followed by the IRT group, chaired by Daniela Gualtieri (TI).
On the third day, the status of OSDM technical implementation was shared. This constitutes the backbone of the UIC-CER ticketing roadmap. The commercial impacts and increasing capabilities of international sales via OSDM were then introduced by Jonas Glanzmann (SBB) and Kubilay Cevik (DB) presenting the project Dynamit (Dynamic International Tariffication):. This project should constitute the first step towards a larger-scale exchange with all European SPG experts.
At the end of the conference, all participants agreed on the high-quality level of exchange during the sessions.
The next meeting will take place on 30 January to 1 February 2024 in Bern, Switzerland.
