Shortening Consultation Phase Pilot

Why this pilot?

Within the future TTR timetabling process, it is anticipated that the available time for providing observations/comments in the Consultation Phase of the Annual Timetable is reduced from 4 to 2 weeks. This raised concerns of more RUs, as it is not certain whether it is possible to perform a proper and comprehensive consultation within this limited period. In order to find this out, FTE planned and executed a pilot among volunteering RUs. 8 companies joined the pilot in total, with a good mixture of freight and passenger RUs taking part.
 

Aim of the pilot

The FTE community would like to have a clear view of whether a two-weeks consultation phase period is feasible, and if not: which issues have to be solved to make this shorter consultation phase feasible. This has been done by simulating the two weeks period within the current annual timetable process, and specifically focusing on issues that occurred.
 

When did we do the pilot?

The pilot project was launched in the spring of 2022. The key part of the pilot was executed during the standard annual timetable consultation phase period in July 2022. This was followed by data analysis and individual talks with the involved participants until the end of 2022.

Pilot outcome:

The results of the pilot were summarised in the pilot report, which you can download below:

TTR Pilot Shortening Consultation Phase FINAL REPORT v1.0 (PDF)