Hit Rail introduces HEROS, the new message interoperability service for the European Railway Industry

Utrecht, 18 November 2013 - Thanks to Hit Rail’s new HEROS web services, the Swiss railway undertaking Rhätische Bahn is the first rail organisation in Europe to become interconnected to all other European railways using the modern XML protocol. Live since October 28th, HEROS message interoperability provides translation services for fast and seamless communication between the “old style” reservation messages and the modern XML version.

Until now, the existing passenger reservation systems of the European railways exchanged reservation requests via a proprietary set of messages, which are technically complex and increasingly expensive to maintain.

Rhätische Bahn, having only recently created its own reservation system, wanted to implement its state-of-the-art solution, but knew this could become incompatible with the existing systems of the other railway organisations. Therefore no other European railway or travel agency would have been able to book the RhB trains (including the world famous “red trains” – the Glacier Express and Bernina Express).

Hit Rail has supported Rhätische Bahn by providing its brand new HEROS translation service so that the older style reservation messages and the modern XML version can interoperate.

“We are delighted with the new HEROS services,” said Beat Drittenbass, IT analyst at Rhätische Bahn. “The Hit Rail staff are always available to help and the communication paths are now very short. Compared to the former implementation by transactional MQ systems, HEROS allows the implementation by Web services with significantly lower implementation costs in hardware and software.”

Hit Rail BV, a private Dutch company created in 1989 and currently owned by 12 European railway companies, has been responsible since its foundation for managing an international private data communication network, providing reliable, secure and cost effective transport of messages between rail partners.

By taking advantage of the latest Open Standards and Web Services technologies, Hit Rail is now introducing HEROS, the message interoperability service for the European Railway Industry. HEROS is compliant with the objectives of TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) mandated by the European Commission, and provides a fast and cost-effective means for railways to be TSI compliant. In fact, HEROS is a truly any-to-any messaging solution that will reduce technical complexity and save money for its users.

The HEROS services are immediately available to HIT Rail’s existing customers as part of the routine offering. For new customers, a highly attractive package for early adopters is available upon request.

For more information please visit http://www.hitrail.com/ or send a mail to [email protected].