OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2011. South West Trains and East Midlands Trains, both part of the Stagecoach Group, have enhanced their contracts with Fujitsu for ticket issuing systems. The contracts, which will see Fujitsu undertake a technical refresh and upgrade of the STAR Point of Sale (POS) ticketing system to Team POS 3000, run to the end of each of the company's franchises (2017 for South West Trains and 2015 for East Midlands Trains).

The enhanced system will enable both Train Operating Companies (TOCs) to further increase the speed at which tickets are issued to customers as well as have a technology platform that enables them to add ancillary products to their service at a later stage, such as contactless card payments and dual customer displays to support full-motion video advertising Fujitsu is currently responsible for the STAR ticket issuing systems in 164 stations for South West Trains and 30 for East Midlands Trains.

The enhancement of Fujitsu's equipment is a mark of the success achieved since the original contract signing for South West Trains in October 2004 and East Midlands Trains in September 2009.

Paul Chick, head of retail systems for Stagecoach Rail, said: "We're pleased to be continuing our successful working relationship with Fujitsu and are looking forward to working with them on the upgrade of the STAR ticket issuing system. This will provide our passengers with a faster service when buying tickets at our stations."

Nick Chisnall, head of rail at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, added: "Increasingly TOCs are demanding a more 'retail-like' experience for their ticket issuing systems. We’re confident that our significant experience and heritage in both rail and retail means we can support the TOCs in driving innovation in the way they issue tickets and work with them to ensure that key innovation in this area forms part of their franchise proposals when the time comes."
About Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach's 8,100 buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company's business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge.
Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
Stagecoach is also Britain's biggest tram operator, running networks in both Sheffield and Manchester.