The Merits TimeTable Expert Group (TTEG) meeting was held on 31 March and 1 April 2016 at the invitation of RENFE.
35 participants representing 15 railway companies were present.
UIC was represented by Marc Guigon, Senior Advisor for Passenger Transport, Fabrice Setta, Senior Advisor for eBusiness and Joachim Baars, Expert on timetables.
The TTEG is the community of Railway Undertakings that publishes consolidated timetable, services and station data (MERITS data) to be used by railway undertakings in information systems to support journey planners and booking activities.
Mr Francisco Cañamero, Commercial Director of RENFE Viajeros presented the organisation of RENFE Operadora under which RENFE Viajeros has its activities. He gave details on RENFE’s high speed activities, commuter rail network and regional services. He highlighted RENFE’s sales evolution by distribution channels.
Joachim Baars (UIC) presented data quality and explained the new 4.8 version of Merits with minimum Connecting Times (MCT). He informed the meeting about the future adaptations to the MERITS process (multiple MERITS supplier with same home territory, missing border stations, messages…).
Andreas Jung (DB Vertrieb) reported on the MERITS data management activity. He gave an overview of data deliveries, presented the quality insurance report available on the Google Earth application, focused on the quality of timetable deliveries and suggested improvements for the MERITS tool.
Robin Siep (Eurail) presented the Eurail activities, their use of MERITS data and the Eurail challenges.
Frank Martini (HaCon) presented the available report and highlighted some common questions and delicate situations for cross boarding trains.
Dominique Margottin (TAP-TSI) presented the current state of the TAP-TSI regulation and the consequences of the obligations on MERITS activities (tool and railway undertaking behaviour).
Henrik Nyman gave information about new Scandinavian requirements. Sweden has its own local regulation for PRR which is more favourable for customers. He underlined the interest of Scandinavian railway undertakings concerning timetable information.
Maria José González (Elipsos) gave details on the direct trains linking France and Spain within the RENFE-SNCF joint venture.
Fabrice Setta (UIC) gave information concerning UIC leaflet 916.1 and the system code list downloadable on the UIC website.
Marc Guigon (UIC) presented the wishes of the Commercial and Technical groups, and the need to write a white paper on timetable activities. He asked for the support of all Railway Undertakings to achieve this task.
The next meeting will be held from 20 – 21 October 2016 in Krakow at the kind invitation of PKP.
