'Smarter Information, Smarter Journeys'- a new initiative coming soon to keep travellers informed of any advance changes to their rail journeys.

The Smarter Information, Smarter Journeys Programme (or Smarter Information Programme) which is being led by RDG and Network Rail aims to improve traveller experience through the provision of better information.

One aspect of this Programme is focused on pre-travel information, with the aim to promote confidence by communicating details of service changes to all customers who have booked journeys in advance. A new central timetable comparator tool has been developed which will communicate details of all service changes to retailers, to be shared with customers as appropriate.

The Evolvi team are currently enhancing the Evolvi system to receive and process the service changes data, it is anticipated that this scheme will be rolled-out to our customers at the end of June 2022.

What does this mean for your business?

At a high level, the changes are as follows:
• Each day Evolvi will collect a file from the timetable comparator service, containing details of published service changes which may include:
o cancellations
o stop and platform changes
o onboard facility changes
o changes to departure and arrival times
• Having identified all bookings which are impacted by the changes, Evolvi will create a csv file for each TMC containing the details and deliver it via email each morning.

What does this mean for you?
Each day, the CSV file should be examined and you are required to inform your customers if their journeys have changed or are no longer viable.

Can any of this be automated?
Yes. Evolvi is also developing a new web service which will allow 3rd party systems to retrieve details of impacted bookings via the API, process the changes and send out customer notifications automatically.   Additionally, we are also updating our existing booking retrieval message to include details of changes which have been published since the booking was originally confirmed.

What if a customer is unable to travel?
If the service changes have impacted a booking to the extent that the customer can no longer travel, the tickets are eligible for a fee-free refund via TARS. This also applies to Advance tickets.

Tell me more
Evolvi plans to enable this functionality by the end of June. As the project progresses, we will publish a user guide which will provide more information regarding the configuration of email recipients and the content of the csv files. We will also publish an updated API specification as soon as it is available.  This information will be distributed to all Evolvi customers
Further information about the Smarter Information Programme can be found here on the RDG website: https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/uk-rail-industry/sisj.html

If you have any queries relating to this or any other matter, please contact support@evolvi.co.uk