The distribution of tariffs for international rail travel among railway companies and ticket vendors is set to become more advanced and flexible as UIC (the International Union of Railways) announces its new OSDM Platform which will replace PRIFIS from next year. UIC has awarded the contract for the provision of the new OSDM Platform to Hit Rail B.V., the European rail industry’s network and IT specialist. Once launched, the new service will become an important foundation for pan-European passenger travel, by distributing international travel tariffs and prices among railway companies’ distribution systems and making them available to third party vendors, like Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) around the world.
OSDM is the new industry European-wide standard for ticket sales, reservations and prices distribution, a project jointly managed by the UIC, railway companies and ticket vendors. OSDM results from the fusion of the previous FSM (Full Service Model) and nTM (new Tariff Model) projects, for comprehensive and open interoperability on the sale of train tickets. OSDM utilises state-of-the-art technologies to support the implementation of the new UIC International Railway Solution (IRS) 90918-10.
The UIC OSDM platform provided by Hit Rail will be one of the first steps in the realisation of the vision of providing seamless train sales and after-sales processes, supporting an increased role for rail travel in the 21st century. The UIC objective is to have the OSDM Platform available for railway partners and ticket vendors in April 2021.
The OSDM Platform will be provided by Hit Rail in a Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-based mode. Its architecture will enable the ongoing introduction of future UIC services related to the distributing of tariffs and prices data. The technical components of the solution are deployed in a fully virtualised, enterprise-grade cloud environment managed by Hit Rail. The contract covers the provision of the platform and services for a period up to December 31, 2025, effective from 1st April 2021.
UIC is the worldwide organisation for the promotion of rail transport at a global level and collaborative development of the railway system. It brings together some 200 members on all five continents and is headquartered in Paris. The UIC's main tasks include understanding the business needs of the rail community, developing programmes of innovation to identify solutions to those needs and preparing and publishing a series of documents known as International Railway Solutions (IRSs), that facilitate the implementation of innovative solutions.
Hit Rail B.V. provides secure telecommunications and IT services to the growing and rapidly changing European Railways community. It connects more than 60 railway companies from 28 countries through its secure IP-based Hermes virtual private network (VPN). The company also provides a range of IT services based on a cloud middleware platform directly connected to the Hermes VPN and Internet.
Antonio López, general manager at Hit Rail, said: “Hit Rail is proud to support UIC with its facilitation of the adoption of OSDM across the rail industry. The benefits of OSDM will be felt by passengers, being able to easily purchase rail and multimodal transport tickets across Europe at the most beneficial prices and tariff conditions. Hit Rail, in accordance with its mission to support the European railway industry’s IT processes, will be assisting railway companies of all sizes in adopting and interoperating with OSDM.”
About UIC
UIC is the industry association which represents the rail sector at global level, supported by regional strategies developed by railway operators and infrastructure managers. And that UIC’s purpose is to promote international cooperation between railways and global bodies, to represent and to promote the interest of rail transport at global level.
About Hit Rail B.V.
Hit Rail B.V. is a Dutch private limited liability company with registered office in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It is owned by European railway companies and offers secure IT connectivity and cloud-based services helping the European railway sector to increase its competitiveness. Hit Rail’s Hermes VPN, a pan-European IP (Internet Protocol) based VPN (Virtual Private Network) interconnects the data centres and company networks of Hit Rail´s customers. Hit Rail offers its services to more than 60 customers from 25 countries.
For more information please visit http://www.hitrail.com/ or send an email to info@hitrail.com.
Press enquiries Hit Rail:
Sheila Lashford
Tel: +44 (0) 7986 514240
sheila.lashford@hitrail.com
