Swedish open-access rail operator Snälltåget has announced that it will be implementing a new system for pricing, reservation and inventory management.

The system is ‘S3 Passenger’, and is provided by Sqills, the Dutch rail software company that was acquired by Siemens Mobility in 2021.

S3 Passenger is based on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and is part of the open, digital business platform, Siemens Xcelerator, that enables customers to accelerate their digital transformation easier, faster and at scale.

Snälltåget and Sqills will implement S3 Passenger in phases. The new system will ‘go live’ shortly, and then additional functionalities will be added over the following months.

From the outset, Snälltåget will use the feature of S3 Passenger that allows it to co-operate with other operators and provide through tickets for journeys involving other rail services as well as its own, making it more convenient for passengers to book long-distance trips.

The deal between Snälltåget and Siemens Mobility follows previous collaboration between the two companies. In 2016, Snälltåget bought the Vectron locomotive from Siemens.

Since 2020, Siemens Mobility has been maintaining five Vectron locomotives in its Malmö depot, which Snälltåget uses, and which are leased from the European Locomotive Leasing Group (ELL).

Snälltåget, which recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary, operates long-distance train services between twenty-seven stations between Malmö and Stockholm, and sleeper trains between Germany and Austria. Snälltåget is the thirty-eighth transport operator to use S3 Passenger.

Kristina Nyquist, CEO of Siemens Mobility Sweden, explained that, “The rail market in Sweden clearly aims to benefit from digital solutions. As one of them S3 Passenger will significantly optimize the passenger experience. We are delighted to continue to support Snälltåget not only with our market-leading Vectron locomotives and reliable maintenance services but also by combining the real and the digital world,”

Kasper Walraven, CCO of Sqills, said, “Snälltåget values their customers by offering value for money, which is reflected in their lean product and services. We are proud to help facilitate this where possible and look forward to building on our partnership. The fact that S3 Passenger basically meets all demands of the industry out-of-the-box allows for a quick and successful implementation project.”

Marco Andersson, Snälltåget Head of Sales, added, “Our mission is to give our customers a pleasant and affordable journey, and Sqills definitely helps us realize that going forward. From dynamic pricing to adjust for capacity, to the fact that night trains are supported out-of-the-box, those are just a few instances that highlight the flexibility of S3 Passenger.”