The MERITS Time Table Expert Group (TTEG) meeting was held from 1 – 2 March 2018 in Utrecht at the kind invitation of NS International.
The TTEG is the community of Railway Undertakings that publishes consolidated timetables, services and station data (MERITS data) to be used by railway undertakings in information systems to support journey planners and booking activities.
24 participants representing 13 railway companies were present including two representatives from EURAIL GIE.
UIC was represented by Marc Guigon Director of the UIC Passenger Department, Fabrice Setta, Senior Advisor for Passenger Transport and Joachim Baars, Expert on Timetables.
Mr Henk Hoppener from NS International presented the NS overview and its organisation for timetable publication.
Marc Guigon welcomed the participants and outlined the latest developments within the UIC Passenger Department and the UIC Passenger three-year work programme 2019-2021.
Angelina Rotolo-Piazza (DB Vertrieb, as data manager) reported on the Merits data management activity and proposed improvements to enhance the quality of MERITS.
Henk Hoppener presented the current status of the MERITS Steering Board (MSB).
Fabrice Setta presented the outcomes of the MSB meetings until now, including:
- Data provider Agreement
- User General Terms & Conditions
- MERITS catalogue
- MERITS business & financial model
Frank Martini (HaCon) provided a quick overview of the current version of the MERITS tools, encouraged the MERITS members to test the TAP-TSI functionalities. Then he explained in depth the configuration for the Meta stations and how these data are used within journey planners.
Joachim Baars (UIC) presented some issues concerning quality of data and encouraged members to review their warnings and errors within the import and integration reports to enhance the data quality.
The next meeting will be held from 4 – 5 October 2018 (to be confirmed) in Frankfurt at the king invitation of DB.
