New European Union rail legislation set
for introduction next April ultimately will result in through-ticketing and a
vastly improved ability to book rail journeys, according the project leader at
the European Commission's European Rail Agency, which is tasked with creating
standards. Meant to help create a standardized trans-European rail network, the
legislation will require rail operators to harmonize their data exchange.
EC's Railway Interoperability &
Safety Committee on Oct. 20, 2010, gave approval for creating throughout the
European Union, Norway and Switzerland a "telematics" standard for
messaging and communicating information, called Telematic Applications for
Passengers-Technical Specifications for Interoperability, or TAP-TSI.
ERA telematics applications project
manager Mickael Varga told BTN that
the TAP-TSI standard could lead to an airline-style billing and settlement plan
for the rail industry. "That will very likely be one of the deliverables
of the project," he said. "It will provide all the elements for
interlining and a BSP."
Officials from Amadeus and travel
management company HRG also told BTN
that they hope TAP-TSI would lead to much easier rail bookings and data capture
within standard corporate travel processes.
At present, said Varga, state-owned
rail operators in continental Europe and the numerous private train companies
in the United Kingdom operate proprietary information systems that "have
difficulty talking to each other."
This lack of interoperability is the
root cause of many frustrations concerning international rail travel. An
inability to share timetables and tariffs often leads to difficulties in booking
rail journeys outside a traveler's country of residence. TAP-TSI would
prescribe protocols for exchanging data related to timetables, tariffs,
reservations and fulfillment, as well as live train performance information.
The protocols would be shared not only among train operators but also with
global distribution systems and ticket vendors.
Varga said TAP-TSI officially will be
published in March or April 2011, after which the rail sector would have
approximately one year to work on a master implementation plan. ERA would then
recommend to the European Commission whether to accept the master plan. Varga
estimated that if the plan is accepted, it would take 18 to 24 months to
implement.
Amadeus Rail head of marketing Philip Martin
welcomed the imminent arrival of TAP-TSI. "This is what the industry has
been waiting for," he said. "It gives most people some hope that the
E.U. is putting a process in place to create a standard. It should make it
easier for us than having to start every time with a new interface. It is like
the Airline Tariff Publishing Company [the airline industry body that coordinates
fare filing to GDSs]. We can now build the same interface."
One potential major barrier to progress
is that coordination of tariffs and fulfillment would require commercial
agreements between rail operators. However, Varga said European legislators
will not tolerate failure to strike commercial deals as an excuse for
inactivity. "We are confident this will work because we have legal powers,
including a fining schedule for those who do not comply," he said.
HRG director of distribution services
Tony Berry also was enthusiastic, although he expressed concerns about how long
it might take TAP-TSI to transform international rail distribution.
"Without the E.U., it is difficult to see how European rail companies
could come together on this issue," he said. "Today, international
rail is in the hands of a few experts within our company. We want to put it in the
hands of as many of our consultants as possible. It would be ideal to manage
rail in the same way as air, hotel and car hire. This will go some way to
achieving that, but it remains to be seen how quickly systems are
changed."