Business Release
Industry report calls on the rail industry to
adopt a shared approach to IT systems to
drive growth and expansion
Madrid, Spain, 24 January 2012: A new
report launched today entitled Back on
Track calls on the international rail
industry to embrace a shared approach to
customer IT systems in order to meet the
multiple challenges of growing passenger
numbers, increasing financial pressures and
rising customer expectations.
Authored by Professor James Woudhuysen, a
world-renowned professor of forecasting and
innovation, and sponsored by Amadeus, a
leading travel technology partner and
transaction processor for the global travel
and tourism industry, the report aims to
help the rail industry understand how
outsourcing can help drive modernisation so
that the objectives laid out in the EC
Whitepaper - 'Roadmap to a single European
transport network' - can be achieved.
Back on Track argues that the rail
industry, which has long been held back by
legacy IT systems, should consider adopting
next generation IT solutions, similar to
those used by airlines, to raise
productivity, cut costs, and improve the
customer experience. The concept of an
outsourced community platform, a shared
system used by rival rail companies to
manage customer processing, means rail
companies would benefit from the latest
technology whilst remaining free to
innovate and differentiate. This approach
would see the rail experience transformed,
allowing for personalised journeys, the
selling of ancillary services and multiple
options for ticketing.
According to the report, adopting the
community platform across the rail industry
would allow rail both to compete and
cooperate more fully with airlines, making
a single ticket for a multi modal journey a
reality for the first time. In addition,
the sharing of IT systems would mean that
rail companies could rely on a business
community with similar interests to support
commercial developments such as alliance
and network collaboration.
The report's author, James Woudhuysen said:
"The entire rail sector has an interest in
IT systems that are collectively developed
and collectively applied. Coherent,
accurate and single-source data, speedily
acquired and transmitted, intelligibly
displayed, will make a big difference to
every passenger. This approach is proven to
support companies take advantage of next
generation IT without having to pour
millions of euros into the development of
new proprietary systems."
The report pays particular attention to how
outsourcing IT systems to a community
platform will free rail companies to focus
on improving the customer experience both
onboard and in the station and to fully
take advantage of the significant growth
opportunities for international rail.
Thomas Drexler, Director of Amadeus Rail
commented: "When it comes to major
developments in passenger transport, the
next decade looks set to be the decade of
rail. However, from our discussions with
rail companies, one area threatening to
hold back progress is technology. Drawing
on the insights and expertise of Professor
James Woudhuysen, we hope that this paper
will promote new thinking and stimulates
discussion about how best to capitalise on
the abundant opportunities present in the
rail sector over the next few years."
- Ends -
Notes to the editors
Amadeus is a leading transaction processor
and provider of advanced technology solutions
for the global travel and tourism
industry.
Customer groups include travel providers (e.g
airlines, hotels, rail, ferries, etc.),
travel sellers (travel agencies and
websites), and travel buyers (corporations
and individual travellers).
The group operates a transaction-based
business model and processed 850 million
billable travel transactions in 2010.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid
(corporate headquarters and marketing), Nice
(development) and Erding (Operations - data
processing centre) and regional offices in
Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai. At a
market level, Amadeus maintains customer
operations through 73 local Amadeus
Commercial Organisations covering 195
countries.
Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona,
Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and
trades under the symbol "AMS.MC". For the
year ended 31 December 2010, the company
reported revenues of EUR 2,683 million and
EBITDA of EUR 1,015 million. The Amadeus
group employs around 10,000 employees
worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented
at the central offices.
.
To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations
centre please go to .
Contact details
Amadeus
Corporate Communication
tel: +34 91 582 0160
fax : +34 91 582 0188
e-mail :
mediarelations@amadeus.com