Rail Settlement Plan
Rail Settlement Plan (RSP) is a division of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) in the United Kingdom. It provides a wide range of common services to the UK's franchised passenger rail operators and third party providers of information and retail services.
The company was established on the privatisation of British Railways primarily for the purpose of distributing the revenue received from the purchase of generic, non-company specific train tickets. This revenue is split between the retailer and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) that run trains along the route. For example, the same railway ticket is valid from London Bridge to East Croydon on all services. The RSP provides a process to share the revenue between the three train operating companies who run trains along this route (Southern, First Capital Connect and Southeastern).
Since privatisation the company has increased the range of services it provides to train operators. The company now:
- collects retail sales data from 10,000 points-of-sale
- carries out the correct allocation of ticket revenue to train operators
- settles that revenue to the operators
- sets standards and accredits all industry points of sale
- maintains the central industry fares database and provides tools for train operators to set fares
- distributes fares, timetable, station and other industry data to points of sale and other information systems
- provides the National Reservations Service enabling retailers to book reservations on all trains with reservable seats
- provides the cabability to pick up preordered tickets at station ticket machines (Ticket-on-Departure)
- provides all the industry ticket stock
The green background of all UK rail tickets is made up of the words "Rail Settlement Plan" repeated.
