On 3 November the Commercial and Distribution Forum was held at the UIC headquarters in Paris. The forum was attended by representatives of NMBS/SNCB, ZSSK, TRAINOSE, CFR, ATTICA, TRENITALIA, RENFE, DB, SNCF, SBB/CFF/FFS, BLS, NS, DSB, ČD, ATOC, SŽ and ÖBB and UIC (Inaki Barron, Director, Marc Guigon and Luis Casado, Senior Advisors). CIT was also represented.
The meeting started with a welcome speech of the Chairman of the Commercial and Distribution Forum, Mr Ruetger Fenkes (DB). Two steering committees met before the forum, and the results were reported.
This was followed by a discussion about the budget and the good result of the opt-in procedure for the project URT-PRISM (Passenger Railway International Security-based Mobile App) and the UIC App.
A report of the activities of the Commercial Group and the Technical Group was given by their presidents, Mr Chris Querée and Mr Rodrigo Hilario.
Mr Marc Guigon, UIC Senior Advisor Passenger Transport, reported on the Merits and Prifis activities, as had been requested by the steering committees such the organisation and project stakeholders. He also reported on the quality of the results and the technical actions proposed during the last TTEG (Time Table Expert Group). The geographical extension of Merits membership will be discussed during the next forum on the basis of a document describing the ways to extend the project.
Mr Rodrigo Hilario, presented the conclusions of the document concerning the diagnosis of the Merits and Prifis activities.
Version 7.2 of the UIC standard has been approved.
The new phase of the URT (Universal Railway Ticket) project and the new developments of the PRM ABT (PRM Assistance Booking Tool) were approved. The current status of the Merits/ Prifis activity was also discussed.
Luis Casado, UIC Senior Advisor, reported on the Passage project and PRM assistance booking tool.
CIT presented the different legal actions of the last few months.
The next Commercial and Distribution Forum will take place at UIC headquarters in Paris on 20 April 2016.
