HAFAS Print provides the right information in trains of Deutsche Bahn

Feb. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- Hannover (22-02-2011). For over 70 years, leaflets in the trains of Deutsche Bahn (DB) provide passengers with important information about their journey. Today, the leaflet "Your Travel Guide" is distributed in long-distance trains of Deutsche Bahn. It provides information on stops, connections and all the important services on the train and at the station.

For creating the leaflets, it is essential to filter relevant information for the passenger from a large amount of schedule data. For this, HaCon with Deutsche Bahn has developed a solution based on HAFAS Print, which automates the production as much as possible and provides comfortable editing.

Automated as far as possible
Based on HAFAS plan data of Deutsche Bahn, the software HAFAS Print extracts the routes and connections of trains. Complex rules for calculations and sophisticated filtering rules ensure that changing train routes and connection types are automatically considered. Settings that editors have chosen once are automatically adopted in every issue.

Because all leaflets are composed versatilely, they differ not only in the illustrated train routes and connections. Even differences concerning the details of the service on the train and at the transfer stations and much more are managed by the software. The correction-work for the editor is reduced to a minimum. Thus, a small team of agents can produce the leaflets every month.

As flexible as possible
"With the introduction of the software “HAFAS Print Reiseplan” our customers get even more comprehensive and up-to-date information in printed form", said Sven Leuschner, Project Manager "Your Travel Guide" at DB Vertrieb GmbH. "Due to the separation of content and layout, our staff can react quickly and flexibly on changing circumstances.“ For the production of the various brochures, HAFAS Print deploys individual modules which are managed and edited centrally. This modular construction makes the software very flexible.

In a total circulation of 5.2 million copies for 820 different trains, DB places travel information where it is necessary – every month. The leaflets are published bilingually. The second language depends on the country the train heads for.

The project was jointly realised with Intranetz, a Berlin-based partner of HaCon. HaCon and Intranetz are united by a long-standing cooperation in the development of software systems for printed timetable media, for instance the timetable overviews of Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the timetable books of the transport associations in Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) and Hamburg (HVV).

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About HaCon
Right from the start in 1984 HaCon has focused its activities on traffic and logistic solutions. A team of more than 140 experienced employees in the ranges of IT and transport planning have turned the company into one of the leading players in the field of planning, scheduling and information systems.
HaCon has developed and implemented the timetable information system of Deutsche Bahn (German Railway). Furthermore, numerous European railway companies, transport enterprises and/or groups use the timetable information system HAFAS. In addition, HAFAS serves as a universal information system. Therefore, it can be applied in the flight and goods traffic as well. Another successful product developed by HaCon is the Train Planning System TPS for timetable construction and network capacity management. It convinces more and more customers across Europe.