MERITS is a UIC tool which provides a database containing the timetables of European railway undertakings (RU). Each RU sends its own information to the database, and receives the timetables of other RUs.
This tool is now being developed to upgrade the quality of data and technical exchanges. It is the “new MERITS”.
Ahead of the implementation of the new MERITS that is planned for July 2013, two half-day training sessions on the new MERITS system were held at UIC headquarters on 23 and 24 May. 17 participants representing 9 railway companies attended the training sessions.
The training was provided by HaCon, the company that is currently developing the new MERITS, and gave the MERITS members the opportunity to become familiar with the new MERITS web interface and its functionalities.
Focus was placed on:
- Uploading, downloading and importing timetable and location data;
- New editing possibilities for location and the services information;
- Administration of data, lists of codes needed to properly to publish timetables and locations information;
- Exercises were proposed by the trainers and performed by the participants to offer a live experience;
- The presentations and exercises generated many questions, especially with regard to the MERITS news web interface.
Another training session is planned in Zagreb on 27 and 28 May for the eastern European MERITS members with extra focus on data editing.
