The Merits TimeTable Expert Group (TTEG) meeting was held on 24 and 25 March 2015 at the invitation of NSB, the Norwegian Passenger Railway Undertaking, in Oslo.
32 participants representing 14 railway companies were present.
UIC was represented by Marc Guigon, Senior Advisor for Passenger Transport, Fabrice Setta, Senior Advisor for eBusiness and Joachim Baars, consultant for UIC.
NSB was represented by Kristin Kjøge Jansson, Head of Digital Services and Sales NSB, and Trond Elton.
The TTEG is the community of Railway Undertakings that publishes consolidated timetable data to be used in information systems to support journey planners and booking activities.
The agenda focused on technical matters, with the meeting being divided into two parts.
Mrs Kristin Kjøge Jansson presented the state of the art of e-ticketing in NSB. 90% of tickets are e-tickets. Beginning 2015, mobile sales reach 50% of the total electronic sales.
After this presentation, Marc Guigon welcomed the different Merits speakers, and participants. The following subjects were discussed:
• Joachim Baars spoke about data integration and the current problems to be solved
• Andreas Jung, data manager from DB Vertrieb, proposed some improvements on the deliveries and on the Merits tool
• Fabrice Setta explained the integration of Minimum Connecting Time within the Merits tool and other required adaptations
• Frank Martini, from HaCon, detailed the new functions of the Merits tool (performance, filters, border stations, access to workspaces, statistics reports, enhancements to improve content…)
• Henrik Nyman underlined the wish to improve the Merits tool, from the point of view of railway undertakings
• Dominique Margottin explained the consequences of the TAP (Telematics Application Passenger) regulation on the Merits community, and on the Merits tool
• Gabriel Castanares Hernandez, from UIC, described the website Ecopassenger, based on Merits data. This website provides comparison of energy, gas emissions, etc. for several transport modes. It is a key tool to show the carbon footprint and the advantages of railways among other transport modes
The next TTEG will be held from 6 – 7 October 2015 (location to be determined).
