Indra helps Renfe prevent the spread of Covid-19 and save paper on Malaga's suburban train network, with a pioneering project to enable bank card-based transport access

Indra, one of the main global technology and consulting companies, has developed for Renfe the first railway project of direct payment and access to transportation by bank card in Spain, which will allow the public to pass through the entry and exit turnstiles at the stations of the Malaga suburban train network by simply holding the bank's contactless card over the sensor. The system then automatically manages the payment for the corresponding ticket. The new payment method will be valid for one-way tickets, which are used by more than 80% of the travelers on Malaga's suburban rail network.

Indra has made the ticketing system implemented in Renfe smarter. The system, which is one of the Indra Mova Collect family of solutions, is thus able to recognize the bank card at the start and end of the journey and apply the appropriate fare, according to the different zones of the Malaga suburban rail network. This is an advanced and pioneering development that makes Malaga one of the few cities in the world that have this technology. It facilitates direct payment at the turnstile with EMV contactless bank cards, both credit and debit, and through cell phones, with NFC and virtual cards that allow payment.

Transport cards normally have all the user's information and record each time the user passes through a turnstile. However, credit card information is confidential, so, to ensure privacy, all information must be managed from the central system, which must be smart so that it can match the input and output.

Access to transportation by bank card, which came into operation at the end of July, will enable the Cercanías Málaga network to save up to 70% of the large amount of paper involved in issuing tickets, improving sustainability and making it more environmentally friendly. It will also help to improve security, reduce fraud and operating costs, thanks to this user-friendly system and to the fact that, in the medium term, fewer automatic vending machines will be needed.

In addition to making access to the suburban network more agile, comfortable, simple and flexible, the new solution will help protect citizens against possible infections by Covid-19, since it eliminates the use of cash and physical contact and reduces the time they spend in the station to purchase their tickets and to go through the turnstiles.

In this way, Indra's technology will allow Renfe to offer greater security, operational efficiency and service quality to occasional travelers and tourists who use the Cercanías Málaga suburban rail network and do not have a transportation card. It will thus become an essential tool to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and to ensure that tourists travel with confidence in public transport and with the maximum-security assurances in one of the main destinations, both from an urban and regional point of view, in Spain.

Bring your own device

The project that Indra has carried out for Renfe represents an advance towards new models of interaction with the customer, more open and more convenient for users, who can pay with their own devices, consolidating the Bring your own device trend, which is rapidly growing in the new mobility.

The new access and payment system through EMV bank cards implemented by Indra will be compatible with the current system through specific public transport smart cards.

Indra is a technological partner of Renfe, to which it has supplied the most advanced ticketing solutions in recent decades. This new development is an example of Indra's commitment to innovation in transport and shows how digitalization and the adoption of new technologies can respond to the need for better control and greater security measures to fight Covid-19, contributing in addition to transforming the user experience, improving their reliability, and a more intelligent and sustainable management of mobility.

World leadership

Indra is one of the top ticketing companies worldwide, with its own product and projects for the transport systems such as those in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Medellín, Santiago de Chile, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Calcutta, Mumbai, St Louis, Austin, Buenos Aires and Mexico City, among many others.

Its Mova Collect ticketing solutions facilitate the economic management of the transport service and have a clear impact on citizens' quality of life, by making access to transport easier and more convenient, significantly reducing the time spent on payment and promoting intermodality, the combined use of different means of transport.

Indra has vast experience in Transportation, with more than 2,500 projects developed in more than 100 cities and more than 50 countries. Its Transportation Division, Indra Mova Solutions, covers the entire life cycle of its clients' projects and combines the new digital capabilities, integration, specialization and innovation demanded by the market, with reliability, business knowledge, Indra's technology proprietary for transport and the vast experience of its team of professionals.

About Indra

Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technological partner for core business operations of its customers world-wide. It is a world-leader in providing proprietary solutions in specific segments in Transport and Defence markets, and a leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America through its affiliate Minsait. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with a high-value focus and with a high innovation component. In the 2019 financial year, Indra achieved revenue of €3,204 billion, with more than 49,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.