On 11 and 12 March the Commercial and the Technical Groups of the Passenger Forum held their meetings for the first half of the year. On the afternoon of 10 March, the meeting of the Commercial Group took place; it was chaired by the Passenger Forum Chairman, Mr Ruetger Fenkes, and the Chairman of the Commercial Group, Mr Rodrigo Hilario. Several topics were discussed during this first session, such as the latest updates on the different subgroups for NRT (Non integrated Reservation Tickets), EWT (East West Tariffs) and IRT Groups (Integrated Reservation Tickets). There was also a presentation regarding EURAIL activities.

During the morning of 12 March, both Technical and Commercial Groups held their traditional joint meeting, Mr Fenkes reported on the current status of TAP TSI, and he talked about some of the proposals he would make at the following Forum such as the revitalisation of the Steering Committee. There were also reports of other UIC activities, such as MERITS, PRIFIS and PASSAGE.

Finally, during the afternoon, all the activities and projects of the technical groups of the Passenger Department were discussed during the Technical Group Meeting, chaired by Mr Chris Queree: TAP-TAG (Telematics Applications for Passengers, Ticketing Action Group), TAP-MD (Telematics Applications for Passengers, Maintenance and Development), and the (REG (Reservations Working Group) that had recently changed its name – formerly known as Team Messages Group – and finally the project URT (Universal Railway Ticketing).

The next meetings of the Commercial and Technical Groups will take place in Paris on 8 and 9 September. Before that, the Passenger Forum will take place on 16 April.