The STAR Solution

STAR = Station Terminals for Advanced Rail retailing.

STAR is Fujitsu’s ticket issuing system. It has been developed from our experience in the rail industry, gained from the Rail Journey Information Service (RJIS) and Travel Trade and Warrant Services (TTWS) projects, and from our extensive knowledge of the retail sector - where we are proud to have some of the world’s leading retailers as our customers.

Building on Fujitsu’s Retail Investment

Over the last 30 years Fujitsu has been developing IT equipment and systems that are robust enough to function in the demanding environments of stores: corner shops, hypermarkets, post offices and petrol stations. There are as many different retail environments as there are varieties of stations. Rail can benefit from the initiatives being driven by retail, by basing their solutions on Fujitsu’s industry standard, point of service solutions. Our systems have been developed to support initiatives such as:

• Chip and Pin support
• Customer Loyalty schemes e.g. frequent traveller schemes such as ‘rail miles’
• Joint promotions e.g. travel ticket combined with admission to an event
• Extend the reach of the brand e.g. higher TOC profile
• Integration with other industry standard components, e.g. a new ticket printer or a season ticket application, or smart card and ticketless travel
• Access to other supporting applications at the point of service e.g. TOC specific front office applications.

Benefits of Fujitsu’s Approach

Fujitsu believes that the introduction of modern retailing practices into the rail retailing arena will deliver many of the benefits that other retailers are already enjoying:

• Improved Customer Service - a faster service from journey enquiry, to payment and ticket issuing. With add on benefits such as the ability to print a complex journey itinerary as an integral part of the sales process.
• Improved Productivity - The speed of service and front office capability allow business processes, such as cash management and ticket issuing, to be carried out more quickly with the potential to reduce operating costs.
• Better Information - STAR provides a suite of reports enabling staff to evaluate key areas of business performance. This information is available in real time giving management the opportunity to take timely action.
• New Marketing opportunities - Enhanced customer displays to promote branding and new linked promotions give opportunities to drive up revenue.
• Investment protection - New functionality such as Chip and PIN capability already provided, so avoiding costly system upgrades and refits in the station. The system will also support the sale of other retail merchandise should this be required in the future.

The STAR Offering

STAR is more than a ticket issuing system; it is a comprehensive package of services from Fujitsu. The primary components include:

• A modern Ticket Issuing System software application, closely integrated with Rail Journey Information Service (RJIS).
• Supporting Retail software that enables innovative TOCs to transform the customer interaction with their passengers.
• Robust retail Point of Service equipment for installation in manned ticket offices.
• Specialised printers to produce Accredited Rail Industry
• Tickets in Credit Card Sized Tickets (CSST) and/or ATB formats.
• Central connections to integrate the ticket issuing system to National Rail administration and settlement services such as Reservations, Lennon, Credit Card Authorisation, and the Customer Transaction Record database for Ticket on Departure.
• A comprehensive range of support services to cover Roll out and Implementation, Training, Integration with a TOC’s systems and processes, ongoing day-to-day operation, and future developments.

STAR is a complete solution that supports 21st century retailing, creates opportunities for customer service improvements and offers efficiency savings. Building an effective ticket issuing system takes a lot more than simply adding a ticket printer to a PC.