TCS and NMBS-SNCB partner to make train travel accessible to everyone

TCS has been the digital transformation partner of the Belgian Railways — NMBS-SNCB — since 2018.

NMBS-SNCB plays a crucial role in the daily lives of many Belgians. On a daily basis, it welcomes more than 750,000 passengers. TCS is a strategic partner for IT operations as well as for the development of digital solutions and the overall digital journey. TCS also works closely with Ypto, a 100% daughter company of NMBS-SNCB. Ypto is dedicated to providing NMBS-SNCB with performance-friendly and customer-friendly IT services.

Train services for everyone

NMBS-SNCB gets roughly 60,000 requests per year from people with reduced mobility to get support when they want to travel by train. 

Traditionally these requests were handled by phone and had to be made days in advance. 

“We thought it was a good idea to develop an app, in order to better serve travelers with reduced mobility and to make sure that NMBS-SNCB can provide access to all train services for everyone,” says Pierre-André Rulmont, CIO of NMBS-SNCB. The Belgian rail company partnered with TCS to develop this app, called SNCB Assist.

User input played crucial role

To develop the SNCB Assist app, it was crucial to understand the needs of the travelers with reduced mobility.  

Several organizations for people with reduced mobility were asked to give input, which was collected and analysed to develop an app for everyone, whether someone is in a wheelchair or has a visual impairment. The user feedback was crucial to understand the needs of the end users and determine which features should be included. 

Booking travel made easy

With SNCB Assist, people with reduced mobility or their friends and relatives can now easily book assistance for travel. 

The app indicates the stations where assistance is available and enables passengers to repeat a journey or book several days at once. The app remembers when or where assistance is requested. Travelers can even indicate which carriage they will be in, and people with physical challenges that are less visible can add a comment on how to be recognized by an NMBS-SNCB employee for assistance. 

NMBS-SNCB gets roughly 60,000 requests per year from people with reduced mobility to get support when they want to travel by train.

Next steps for TCS and NMBS-SNCB

TCS and NMBS-SNCB are currently making major changes to the backend of the application that will allow NMBS-SNCB to process requests in a more efficient way.

The new back-end will also add flexibility. It automatically responds to changes during the passenger’s journey, such as a delay. It also provides real-time updates to all the parties involved. 

Pierre-André Rulmont, CIO of NMBS-SNCB: “This app contributes to one of the key objectives of NMBS-SNCB, to make sure that all our services are accessible for everybody.”