On the 18th of December Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC General Director and Mr Marcel Verslype, Executive Director of the European Railway Agency (ERA) signed a contract for the TAP TSI ERA Technical Documents related to Passenger Telematics. This TSI (Technical specification for Interoperability) concerns the telematics applications for distribution of tickets and information for passenger service on the trans-European rail system. The aim of the TSI is to strengthen the market position of interoperable rail transport service and create clear and transparent rules for all actors in the rail passenger domain such as passengers, railway undertakings, station managers, infrastructure managers, local authorities and licensed ticket vendors.

The contract is an important step in the relationship between ERA and UIC and is an acknowledgement of the existing work of the UIC and it members. The technical content of the TAP TSI will be based on existing UIC leaflets that have been especially prepared to become a part of the European legislation. UIC will together with ERA ensure that the concerned UIC leaflets in the future will remain synchronized with the ERA technical documents thereby ensuring that UIC members that already comply with the existing UIC leaflets will automatically comply with the TAP TSI requirements covered by the leaflets.