Draft:SABIN

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Draft:SABIN
  • Comment: Sources do not indicate that this ticketing system is independently notable from the train system it services Czarking0 (talk) 22:55, 8 August 2026 (UTC)
First demo train ticket on 9 March 1992

The System for Automation of Domestic and International Traffic (SABIN) is the NMBS ticket sales system for domestic and international train travel in Belgium released on 8 December 1992.[1] It was developed in 1991–1992 by Digital Equipment Belgium for the Belgian Railways. The ticket office system exists alongside the online system (internet and app) and ticket machines.

On 8 December 1992 the first train ticket was sold at the Brussels Leopold Station. Other pilot stations were Charleroi-Zuid en Sint-Niklaas. From 1 February 1993 till end September the system was deployed in another 255 train stations. 63 smaller train stations were not admitted to the system.[2] It was the largest project of Digital Equipment Belgium, and a major IT investment program for the national Belgian railway company. In 2026, 34 years after its conception, the system was still in use.

Modern ticket system

It replaced a smaller standalone Prodata ticket sales system, which in turn replaced the 19th century lead plate system in the 1980s.[3]

It originally ran on VAX/VMS, with a central VAXcluster and remote MicroVAX client systems. It was later migrated to OpenVMS on Itanium. The central computer administers the fares, the season tickets, the topology of the train network, including all distances between all stations. This reference data is made available to the various points of sale. Each train station has a local client system that can process most transactions independently.[4] In 2009, the system was expanded with Lisa.[3] Where there is no station, there are unattended ticket machines, or passengers can purchase an electronic ticket using the app or via the website.

The system is quite complex, due to the multitude of fare formulas and the countless discounts that travellers can obtain, group travel, or combination tickets with museums, zoos, or other events. For the customer, this means an improvement in the service provided: season tickets are delivered immediately rather than after a four-day waiting period. Errors by staff are avoided thanks to automatic checks on the validity of the route, the journey times, and the scheduling of train stations and tourist events. The tickets have a uniform format (ATB, automatic ticketing and boarding). Fifty stations also sell international train tickets. Transactions are reported to the accounts department and are also used for statistical analysis and auditing.[5]

The system was developed by around thirty engineers, analysts and programmers. The platform runs on TDMS and DECnet. The database is VAX/Rdb. VAXset, Pascal, COBOL and some MACRO assembler modules are used as development tools. VAX/Document, based on TeX, is used for documentation. The initial investment amounted to 686 million BEF, including infrastructure, software development and implementation. It was installed in 258 stations.[2] The NADIA-network of the NMBS interconnects all domestic systems, and the international booking systems.[5]

In accordance with Belgian language legislation, the central sales report is printed alternately in French or Dutch, depending on whether the date is an odd or even number.

References

  1. ^ "NMBS draait proef met "Sabin "Goed voor lokettist en voor reiziger". De Tijd (in Dutch). 1992-12-09. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  2. ^ a b Damar, Michel (1992-12-08). "Speech by Mr Michel Damar, Chairman of the Board of Directors" (PDF). nmbs.adlibhosting.com (in Dutch). pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
  3. ^ a b ‘Connect, staff magazine of the NMBS Group, p. 11’, staff magazine, September 2009.
  4. ^ "Technical operation and architecture of SABIN" (PDF). nmbs.adlibhosting.com (in Dutch). 1992-12-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  5. ^ a b "NMBS press release" (PDF) (in Dutch). 1992-12-08. pp. 3–5. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
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