Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corp and Intrex India have introduced Itz Cash pre-payment cards to provide access to on-line booking to customers without credit cards.
FS launched its second TrenOK low-cost passenger service (RG 1.05 p13) on March 15, with tickets for the 5h trip between Roma and Bari available from €9.
Indian Railways is planning a frequent traveller scheme to compete with airlines, and print-your-own ticket on-line service is to be introduced.
Mott MacDonald and Jacobs Consultancy are carrying out a £140000 survey of public transport use in Birmingham to develop public transport authority Centro’s forecasts of future demand. This will be used in planning extensions to the Midland Metro tramway.
Russian Railways has introduced a through train from Irkutsk to the Chinese border at Zabaikalsk. The service will be extended to Beijing from June 1, and a luxury class is planned, to be marketed as The Barguzin.
Central Trains has equipped platform staff at seven stations with 81 handheld computers giving access to real-time running information using wireless LAN and GPRS technology developed by Atos Origin.
Eurostar has begun selling electronic gift vouchers in denominations from £1 to £100 on its www.eurostar.com website
From February 27 fare capping was introduced on Transport for London’s Oyster smart card. The value of each journey made in a day is deducted each time the passenger travels, until the price of an all-day Travelcard ticket is reached, at which point no further charge is made for that day’s travel.
