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ATRON successfully puts ITCS-system into operation with PostAuto Switzerland in the fare association OSTWIND

Munich, February 22, 2010 - In June 2009, the ATRON electronic GmbH obtained a contract from PostAuto Switzerland AG to supply a regional ITCS-system after a Europe-wide tender. Currently, the system is successfully running in test operation after a short implementation phase in the region of St. Gallen.

With PostAuto, ATRON realises an ITCS-system in the region of Eastern Switzerland for the fare association OSTWIND, which is by area the largest fare association of Switzerland. The project OSTWIND is the pilot project for PostAuto in order to gain experience in the area of passenger information systems. Thanks to a close cooperation between the project teams of the client and ATRON, the ITCS-system could be put into operation after a short project duration and the first vehicles could be added. In test operation, all system functions as well as data supply are currently being tested with a small number of clients. In April, the system is supposed to transition into regular operation. It is furthermore planned to offer ten out of 23 transport companies of the fare association the possibility of being integrated into the ITCS-system.

With this project, ATRON proves the expandability and investment security of the ATRON DEBAS-system: The AFR touch, which has been in operation for the ticketing system at PostAuto Switzerland since 2008, is used as ITCS on-board computer. Thus, it was only necessary to perform software updates at the vehicles in order to implement the ITCS-system in current operation.

A client-capable, central ITCS-control centre is the core of the system. The work stations of the individual clients are connected via secure internet connections. Each client can primarily view and operate his own vehicles. By means of specific releases, single routes as well as the complete network can be made accessible for all clients for both view and operation. This makes it possible to attend to the bus fleets of all transport companies from one single control centre during off-peak hours in order to save costs. The client capability of the system also makes it possible for each transport company to create and import their own planning programme. For this, ATRON provides interfaces to microbus and PLADIS.

For the communication between the control centre and the vehicles, ATRON builds on the existing infrastructure of the ticketing system, so that no additional costs occur. The data supply and return are based on GPRS-technology. Based on this, PostAuto has chosen the VoIP-solution ATRON Group Call (AGC) for voice communication. The advantage of this solution is that group and route calls are possible, unlike with GSM-telephony. The operator decides if he wants to address pre-defined groups (e. g. all vehicles of a client), groups with changing members (e. g. routes) or fully dynamic groups (e. g. groups which he compiles for an announcement). Classic telephony is the fallback level: the vehicles can be called via GSM or the drivers can reach pre-defined phone lines outside of the control centre if required.

Central functions of the ITCS-system are dynamic passenger information at the stops as well as automatic connection synchronisation. Depending on the client's requirements, the system provides both integrated as well as external passenger information systems with data via VDV 453-interfaces. Therefore, the passengers are provided with real-time information at the stops, as well as in the vehicles of the clients and of external partner companies. As an additional service, it is scheduled to enhance passenger information by adding dynamic timetable information via mobile phone. The client-independent connection synchronisation includes bus connections as well as intermodal connections to train companies, such as the association partner SBB (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, Swiss Federal Railways). In order to be able to integrate and coordinate the relevant data, the external systems will be connected to the ATRON ITCS-system via a VDV 453-interface in the further course of the project.

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