The main objective of the project is to increase the efficiency of Public Service Contracts and align them with European and national legislation by ensuring the interoperability of ticketing systems that public passenger rail transport operators hold, which will be an important part of preparing tenders for the award of Public Services Contracts and will provide the necessary information to improve the train schedule in Romania. The implementation of the project will ensure the interoperability of ticketing systems that public passenger rail transport operators hold, which will constitute a common database managed by the ARF and an important part in the preparation of tenders for the award of the following Public Service Contracts, for substantiating the applications for the award of subsidies for the public service in rail passenger transport and for the automatic calculation of subsidies granted from the state budget, also providing information necessary for improving the train schedule in Romania. At the same time, it will be ensured that the indicator “passengers-km” is managed on the basis of data from the common database to be managed by the ARF, not on the basis of self-declarations of representatives of public passenger rail transport operators, in accordance with Opinion No 2103/12.02.2020 issued by the Competition Council. The implementation of the project will ensure: • The availability at all times of reliable data on rail passenger transport on each section of the national rail transport network, which will allow better planning and prioritisation of investments for the modernisation/extension of the network, as well as for its maintenance; • Better planning of rail passenger transport underlying the Public Service Contracts concluded with the Travel Rail Transport Operators, by assessing more precisely the rail transport needs on each transport route; in this way, public spending on public passenger rail transport services will be more efficient. The aim of the project is to ensure the interoperability of ticketing systems that public passenger rail transport operators hold, which will be an important part of the preparation of tenders for the award of Public Services Contracts and will provide the necessary information to improve the train schedule in Romania. The integrated system, the unique database and the provision of information on the ticketing system of the OTF will contribute to increasing the mobility on the Romanian rail network (including on the TEN-T network) and to the efficiency, marketing and competitiveness of rail transport. The project falls within the mandatory output indicator at project level – 2S24 – Reform measures analysed/devised/implemented. After project completion and start