Netherlands
Nationwide fare collection
OV-chipkaart, the nationwide fare management system based on contactless smart cards, covers all modes of transport – metro, train, bus and tramway – and ensures revenue collection and distribution to the five major Dutch operators. State-of-the-art fare collection equipment has been installed across more than 400 railway stations, 100 metro stations, 3,000 buses and 520 tramways. OV-chipkaart processed nearly 2 billion transactions in 2013 and there are now 13 million cards in circulation with 44 million transactions per week.
Worldwide market first
Thales put the first NRBC (Neighbour Radio Block Centre[J1] ) interface into operation for the first high-speed ETCS Level 2 cross-border link, between the Netherlands and Belgium.