What is the Rail Settlement Plan? (Please state where I can find
further information)

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 18 Aug 2004 09:06 PDT

Rail Settlement Plan is actually a London-based company.  Are you
seeking information on it and it's mission?

We ask because Google Answers researchers don't know where you're
located -- and many different countries have types of settlement plans
involving railroads, over rights-of-way, pensions, operating issues,
etc.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by jwelch-ga on 18 Aug 2004 09:16 PDT

I am in the UK. "Rail Settlement Plan" is written across National Rail
tickets in the UK. I want to know what the "Rail Settlement Plan" is
for the UK's National Rail network.

JWelch --

When the U.K. started privatisation of the rail system in 1995, 25
companies were formed to operate the trains (and I'm sure that you
know there's a separate company, Railtrack, maintaining all of the
rails and stations).  However, the Association of Train Operating
Companies set up a single entity to handle the reservation system
called Rail Settlement plan, which is based at 40 Bernard Street,
UK-London WC1N 1BY

Rail Settlement Plan basically provides the information systems to
support the trains and is now even providing route maps and other
materials.  It is also responsible for a New Reservations Service
(NRS) being developed, which replaces the current system (called CRS):
PublicTechnology.net
"Tender: UK Rail National Reservations Service," (Aug. 16, 2004)
http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1596

You may find Rail Settlement Plan Limited's data license agreement
with the railroads and Railtrack interesting -- or too much detail but
it's at the Association of Train Operating Companies site here:
ATOC
"Rail Settlement Plan and RSP Data License," (undated)
http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Rail%20Industry%20Data/docs/RSPDataLic.pdf

You may also find interesting a case study published by Metaskil, a
Reading-based consulting firm.  It outlines some of the processes
involved in putting together the services needed by the rail operating
companies.  This is a web page link to a general description, the full
case study's linked on this page as a PDF file:
Metaskil
"ATOC:  Business Case Development and Strategic Planning" 
http://www.metaskil.com/CaseStudies/ATOC2.asp



This is one instance in which a Google search in quotes helps restrict
the search for the relevant company, as the 3 terms are used often
enough that you'll find hundreds of thousands of pages unless you tell
the Googlebot that you want them together:
"rail settlement plan" -- 343 results
rail settlement plan -- 461,000 results

Other searches:
Railtrack + ATOC


Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Dear JWelch,

As you may know, Omnivorous's answer is just a whisker out of date, in
that Railtrack's former responsibilities have now been taken over by
Network Rail.

I trust this helps.

Carnegie