NXP powers CRIS' drive for effortless railway travel

BANGALORE, INDIA: NXP Semiconductors today announced that its secure microcontroller-based chip technology MIFARE DESFire has been selected by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), an IT organization under the Ministry of Railways, to power contactless smart cards for automatic fare collection using ATVMs (Automatic Ticket Vending Machines) across various cities in India.

Indian Railways, one of the largest and busiest rail transport networks in the world -- carrying over 18 million passengers every day -- will utilize NXP’s technology solutions to improve the overall passenger experience and drive operational efficiencies.

These announcements confirm NXP’s strategy to focus on its leadership position in the Identification business in India. On a global basis, 75 percent of all electronic tickets in public transport use NXP MIFARE technology.

CRIS developed an Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) as part of an Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), for which it has won a Prime Minister’s Award for excellence in public administration from 2006 to 2008. A 28-member project team, led by Vikram Chopra, Director (Operations), CRIS, received the award on behalf of the Indian Railways from the Prime Minister last year.

CRIS had initially in 2007 developed the smart card based contactless ticketing solutions using NXP’s MIFARE 1KB Classic chip in Mumbai Suburban Railway & Chennai, wherein approximately 5 Lakh Cards were issued to passengers in the Central/Western Railway at Mumbai & Southern Railway at Chennai.

These user-friendly ATVMs will be rolled out across five major cities in India, namely New Delhi, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Pune. Together with card and inlay-manufacturer Siepmann’s Card Systems, NXP will provide MIFARE DESFire-based ICs for approximately 6.5 Lakh contactless cards over a period of one year. This project is expected to go live in September 2009 and will initially be rolled out in two cities.

The smart card ticketing solution developed by CRIS using NXP’s MIFARE DESFire technology is based on the international ISO 14443A standard, and provides industry-leading levels of security.

This solution in its entirety has been conceptualized, designed and manufactured in India to meet Indian commuter needs under the guidance and vision of CRIS, enabled by NXP’s technologies and ecosystem partners.

The vision of CRIS and its development of the ATVM have been instrumental in upgrading the ticketing systems; thereby replacing traditional paper based ticketing with smart cards.

The adoption of contactless ticketing will greatly reduce queues at manual ticketing counters, prove economically viable and ultimately drive process efficiencies. This partnership with NXP and Siepmann’s Card Systems will help CRIS provide a secure, cost-effective and superior offering to commuters on Indian Railways.

P. Vishwanath Bhas, Managing Director, Siepmann’s Card Systems Pvt Ltd, said: "We are pleased to partner with NXP who have supported us in creating a state-of-the-art, secure and scalable solution for Indian Railways. We have worked closely with NXP to develop a cost-effective, manageable product that will withstand Indian conditions and provide innovative solutions to transport systems."

Ashok Chandak, senior director, global sales and marketing for India for NXP Semiconductors added: "We see a significant growth in the use of contactless smart card technology in transport systems in India, and are well positioned to cater to the needs of current transport infrastructure upgrades, especially road and rail projects.

"The project with CRIS reiterates our position as a leading player in the field of contactless smart card ICs used in public transit networks and access management worldwide."

"NXP’s secure technology platforms are ideal for multi-application smart cards in transport schemes, e-government and identity applications, and have been used in several projects such as the multipurpose national identity cards with the Government of India," he added.