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On 11 and 12 October, the 5th Internet Club Forum hosted by the International Union of Railways (UIC) brought together more than 170 participants representing 68 different companies from 27 countries.
The title of this year’s gathering was "From e-procurement to electronic marketplaces", a broad topic which saw the Forum organised for the first time in conjunction with UNIFE (Union of European Railway Industries).
Since the UIC Internet Club Forum was first staged in 1997, electronic commerce between railway companies and their customers (B2C) has grown substantially on a par with its economic significance for the development of corporate image and marketing strategies. It is a fact that most railways now have their own websites offering a wide range of services to customers both in the field of passenger and freight traffic.
In Europe, rail transport operators, the supply industry and infrastructure managers recently began exchanging information on Business-to-Business (B2B). Indeed, in the new economy, B2B transactions already exceed B2C volumes and are forecast to progress considerably over the next five years.
At this year’s Forum, experiences from businesses such as Cordiem.com for the aircraft/airline industry and Railmarketplace.com, the North American railfreight marketplace, illustrated the challenges the European rail sector might have to clear when introducing joint e-business platforms.
These challenges mainly concern the use of different e-procurement methods and hardware/software standards for exchanges between rail sector stakeholders, the high investment costs for platforms and the need for mutual commitment. The fact is that common platforms can only be successful if a large number of players participate.
From a technical point of view, new protocols or concepts such as XML or EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) will reduce the complexity of data interchange between companies but these new technologies will not solve all B2B problems.
The key challenges faced in this respect are:
• the need to define global business standards (even in the rail sector), an area in which UIC and UNIFE can offer their members a value-added service
• the technical maturity of companies to design XML distributed architecture.
At present, most suppliers and railway companies are working independently to establish their e-business portals, which boast advanced tools and hold out the promise of lower costs. The pitfall is that many of these portals are geared towards the national level and do not provide multilingual services.
Railway operators and the supply industry are moving rapidly to adopt e-business solutions, as clearly evidenced by improved Business-to-Customer relationships through fully-fledged travel portals hosted on the major railway operators’ websites.
Business-to-Business applications are drawing major technological investment in a bid to enhance competitive edge. This commitment on both sides has prompted the railway supply industry and railway companies to examine new opportunities for mutual understanding and collaboration.
With e-business topping the agenda for UIC and UNIFE members, the two organisations have decided to set up a taskforce on e-procurement/marketplaces, following the signing of an MoU in June 2000 in Paris.
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