From 10 to 13 October 2022, 30 railway representatives took part in the Ticket Security Group (TSG) meeting chaired by Kurt De Vriendt, the Ticket Layout Group (TLG) meeting chaired by David Sarfatti, and the Passengers Services Solutions (PSS) Group meeting chaired by Clemens Gantert. They were all hosted by CD at Prague Main Station in the Czech Republic.

In TSG, the barcode ticketing experts updated the audience on the UIC Flexible Content Barcode (FCB) used by DB, ÖBB, NS and Eurail. On the customer’s phone, FCB is secured with Elliptic Curve DSA through which encoding and double asymmetric encryption is carried out by both the ticket issuer and by the railway app.

Experts also discussed the enhancements of the UIC Public Key Management Website (PKMW) (railpublickey.uic.org) and the control app updates for Ticket Layout Barcode and FCB developed by Eurail.

The TLG participants have just finished a new rail ticket layout named the Universal Rail Ticket (URT) allowing the customer to print or display all of the information for the whole journey and each passenger on one single ticket, with or without a through ticket. IRS 90918-8 and TAP-TSI TD B11 will be updated accordingly at the end of 2022.

In the PSS meeting, CD held a very interesting presentation on the enhancements of their distribution system ARES, and Hitrail’s Enrique Ruiz presented how the XML-Binary HERMES translator is extensively used, given that it currently processes 1.6 million messages per day. He then brought the audience up to date on the UIC eTicket Control Database (ETCD), which was followed by a spirited discussion led by Bob Vinke (NS) on the challenges of extending booking horizons. In the last afternoon, the companies shared their OSDM Project updates.

The next TSG, TLG and PSS plenary meetings will take place on 7 to 9 February 2023 in Vienna.