Viriato as a system is not limited to rail traffic. It can also support urban and regional bus traffic planning. Local transport services need increasingly sophisticated coordination between trains and buses – particularly in the evening and at weekends, when service intervals of more than 15 minutes occur.

New organizational forms mean new information flow

In 1991, the European Commission issued a major reform of the European railway system. One of the core elements of the reform is to separate the management of the infrastructure and the companies operating trains on it. This generates an open market, thus allowing operators to compete for the first time in railway history. At the same time, ordering and payment of regional transport services were delegated to regional and provincial authorities. To ensure successful operating in the future, all parties involved have to be able to exchange information and data simply, quickly and to the right degree of detail. Each area has to be able to access exactly the right information – neither too much nor too little – from his partners for its own internal plans and processes.

This exchange of information is especially required to plan short, mid and long-term timetables. Viriato is a versatile tool able to meet these needs.