Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress
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| System Information | |
| Full name | Scheidt & Bachmann FAA-2000/TS (ATOC) |
| Machine type | Self-service machine |
| Type of ticket stock | Fan-fold |
| Manufacturer | Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH, Mönchengladbach, Germany |
| History | |
| First introduced | 2003 |
| Machine number range | 2000-2950 |
| Window number range | Upwards from 21 |
| Machines in use | 747 |
| Locations/Areas/Train Operating Companies | |
| Current users | Arriva Trains Wales Central Trains First Capital Connect First Great Western First ScotRail Merseyrail Midland Mainline Northern Rail 'one' Railway Silverlink Southeastern South West Trains |
| Former users | None |
The Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress system is a passenger-operated, self-service railway ticket issuing system developed and manufactured by the German systems development and production group Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH, based in the city of Mönchengladbach. Since 2001, British company The Needham Group Ltd has been the sole agent and distributor within Britain for all products and services in Scheidt & Bachmann's Fare Collection Systems division. [1] Since the first trial installations in 2003, seven Train Operating Companies (TOCs) in Great Britain have adopted the system as their main passenger-operated ticket vending method, while four others have installed machines at certain stations on their networks.
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[edit] History and origins
[edit] The company
Scheidt & Bachmann was founded in 1872 as a manufacturer of textile machinery and small steam-driven engines for industrial use. Its earliest diversification was into railway signal control systems, which became its main area of business until 1932. At that time, the company developed and began to manufacture a new type of hand-operated petrol pump. Further diversification occurred in the 1960s, with the development of control, access and management systems for public car parks and, subsequently, public leisure facilities such as swimming pools and council-owned leisure centres.
The company's first entry into the ticket issuing and fare collection systems market came in 1978, with the technology initially being derived from the successful car park control systems before being developed further and refined.
The company is now organised into four largely autonomous divisions, corresponding to the different business areas:
- Signal Technology
- Petrol Stations
- Car Parks and Leisure Centres
- Fare Collection Systems
[edit] The situation before Ticket XPress
In the last years of British Rail, before privatisation, the main passenger-operated ticket issuing system (POTIS) on the network was the "Quickfare" B8050, developed in the late 1980s by Swiss company Ascom Autelca AG. These machines were geared towards high-volume, low-value transactions: they only accepted cash, offered a small and mostly unchanging range of destinations, and were a minor evolution from similar earlier machines whose computer technology was based in the early 1980s. Quickfares were widespread, especially in the erstwhile Network SouthEast area, but their limitations were increasing as technology became more sophisticated.
[edit] Installation programme
The company had initially gained experience in the design and manufacture of self-service ticket machines during the 1990s, when the FAA-2000 system, popular on continental European railway networks, was developed. [2] By the early 2000s, a refined design, marketed as FAA-2000/TS, had been launched. Its modern touch-screen technology, flexible and easily customisable interface and ability to accept cash or card payments made it a popular choice with transport operators in urban areas including New York City, Cologne, Copenhagen and Dublin. A version of this newer design, with the codename FAA-2000/TS (ATOC), was put on trial in August 2003 at Twickenham, a South West Trains station. In conjunction with the redesign and rebuilding of the station forecourt area, two Ticket XPress machines - numbered 2000 and 2001 - were built into a wall next to the main station entrance.
At this stage, three companies were competing for trials and, ultimately, contracts from the Train Operating Companies for their systems (the Ticket XPress, Ascom's EasyTicket system and the FASTticket from Shere); Scheidt & Bachmann was the last entrant to the self-service machine market, as Shere's FASTticket product had been installed either permanently or on trial at various locations from as far back as 1996, and an Ascom EasyTicket machine had been operating for nearly six months at one of Britain's busiest stations, Gatwick Airport. The start of the trial at Twickenham meant that all three systems could now be compared properly, taking note of passenger reactions and feedback.
The earliest large-scale adopters of Ticket XPress machines were ScotRail, which subsequently became First ScotRail, and South Eastern Trains (now Southeastern (train operating company)). ScotRail introduced machines at Glasgow Central and Queen Street, and Edinburgh's Waverley and Haymarket stations, in January and February 2004. These were followed by further machines in central Scotland, and at smaller stations on the North Berwick Line and Edinburgh to Bathgate Line. More were added elsewhere in 2005 [3], and the installation programme is continuing gradually as of January 2007, with a machine being placed at Stirling and South Gyle.
 A standard Scheidt & Bachmann ticket |
 S&B machine on Bedhampton railway station |
 The machine can even give a computerised receipt |
.JPG/60px-S&B_(Long_Buckby).JPG) An S & B machine in Silverlink livery at Long Buckby |
[edit] External links
- List of known Ticket XPress machines as of February 2006
- Scheidt & Bachmann Fare Collection Systems main page
- Examples of the FAA-2000/TS (ATOC) and its predecessors
- Article in Rail Professional, March 2006
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