Digitalization and innovation
Passenger information of the future
As part of the renewal of passenger information systems, a new central management and publication system (IRIS+) is being developed. In combination with the passenger information (Reisendeninformations; RI) platform, it will be used to provide passengers with information at the station. In 2021, the number of stations operating with the new systems increased to 387.
In 2021, regional and long-distance stations and platforms in particular were added in Berlin, in the area around Erfurt and in the Darmstadt and Mannheim regions. In addition, the conversions in North Rhine-Westphalia continued with the stations around Aachen and Düsseldorf as well as stations in Münster. This means that about 40% of all major stations have been converted to the new system.
The ability, established at the end of 2020, to communicate between multimodal connections, i.e. to provide a display of local timetable-linked connections, was tested at several stations in 2021.
The software development for the next generation of the Dynamic Visual Display (DSA+) is also being driven forward with a view to operational testing in 2022.
Smart City at DB Station&Service
With Smart City | DB, we are seeking to improve everyday life through smart and environmentally friendly services and to better integrate stations into municipalities and cities. In 2021, we were able to take further innovative development steps, for example:
- Increased quality of stay: The specially developed “Freiraum Kit” improves the quality of stay on the forecourts. The Freiraum Kit offers a combination of seating with shading elements, a playground for children and green islands as an urban plant laboratory.
- More flexible mobility options: In October 2021 we launched the first DB Mobility Hub at the Stuttgart-Vaihingen station. This allows us to bundle all of our sharing offers into one place, and commuters can reserve car parking spaces directly at the station. The Mobility Hub is a joint project of Smart City | DB, DB BahnPark and the Stuttgart S-Bahn (metro).
- Sustainable last mile: The idea of the micro-hub is to make the last mile of a journey sustainable and provide climate-neutral onward journeys using small vehicles. In 2021, another micro hub was opened in Berlin in cooperation with logistics partners.
- Coworking offer: In October 2021, the coworking service everyworks was opened at Hanover central station. The first two locations were opened in cooperation with an external partner (Design Offices).
New services at future stations
Our project “Future Station” (Zukunftsbahnhof) stands for a test of innovative offerings at 16 future stations. We are doing this to find out how to make life for passengers or station visitors easier and improve the comfort of their stay
at the station. We use various offers and services to better integrate the stations into their surroundings and to make them pleasant places to stay. In 2021, we implemented the following measures, among others:
- In cooperation with Edeka Südwest, the first 24/7 digital supermarket was opened at the station in Renningen in February 2021.
- In Ahrensburg, a digital 24/7 service store was also opened in 2021 on the station platform.
- In Halle (Saale), a new waiting area was opened with new furniture and greening elements.
- At Coburg station, there are new design elements and waiting furniture in the reception hall and the station has been connected to the Rad+ app.
- In Heilbronn, a new hall lighting system with strip lights provides a pleasant atmosphere and a clean appearance.
We are working on the holistic design and implementation of successful products from the future stationsno. 74 and Smart City projects at more than 100 stations across Germany. Funds from the economic stimulus package were also used to this end in 2021.
