The meeting of the CDF (Commercial & Distribution Forum) Commercial and Technical Working Groups were held in Paris on 15 and 16 March at UIC Headquarters in Paris. Representatives from MAV START, NMBS/SNCB, SBB, TRAINOSE, TRENITALIA, SNCF, AVANCIAL, CFL, CD, DB, ÖBB, THALYS, LINKON, ZSSK, FPC, JSC, CIT, EURAIL and RENFE were present. Rodrigo Hilario, chairman of the Commercial Group and Chris Querée, chairman of the Technical Group.
On 15 March the Commercial Group Meeting took place. It started with three presentations from the subgroups of the Commercial Group: Natascha Hooft, chairwoman of the NRT working group, reported on the activities of the NRT working group. This was followed by the presentation of the actions taken in the East West Tariff Group, given by Jan Vavra, chairman of this subgroup, and this block finished with the presentation of Laurent Pollet, chairman of the IRT group, that had met that day and the day before.
Marc Guigon gave a presentation regarding MERITS and PRIFIS, which was followed by a discussion and the new steps to be taken in this project. Jan Svensson gave an update of the latest legal aspects concerning the Passengers Activities on behalf of the CIT, and finally, Mr Rodrigo Hilario explained the project.
The Commercial and Technical Groups Joint Meeting began with an update of the work of the TAP working groups given by Dr Clemens Gantert. He announced that the graphical reservation project will launch its kick-off meeting on 13 – 14 April in Frankfurt. The next presentation was given by Dr Chris Querée about the PRISM project. Marc Guigon gave another presentation including a proposal to write a white paper stating on the MERITS strategy and the next steps to be taken in this regard. Mr Ruetger Fenkes reported on the CDF Steering Committee discussions.
Finally, the meeting of the Technical Group was held, with an update of the pilot projects of the PRISM, given by Dr Chris Querée. Fabrice Setta gave an explanation of the technical aspects of MERITS, and Dr Clemens Gantert presented the work of the TAP MD working group. Kurt de Vriendt, chairman of TAG-Ticket Security Group and David Sarfatti, chairman of the TAG-Ticket Lay Out Group, reported on the ongoing activities of their working groups. Finally, Ugo dell’Arciprete gave a presentation about Hitrail.
The next Commercial and Technical Groups will take place on 4 – 5 October, at UIC Headquarters in Paris.
