Book train tickets and travel for free in uniform with the eToken app.

eToken app: free rail tickets to your smartphone

Fast and digital instead of complicated and bureaucratic: the eToken app allows soldiers to download their free rail tickets to their smartphone. BWI and the Bundeswehr jointly developed the app over the course of six months. Once a soldier has registered on the intranet, they can use the app on their private and work devices.

Hauptmann Christin Schulenburg commented: ‘Before the app came along, I used to have to log onto the Bundeswehr intranet and print out an application. Now, I can easily get my tickets from anywhere.’ With our new app, she can simply download her free rail tickets as eTokens without needing to access the intranet. This is vastly easier, as she often works from home.

Paper is a thing of the past

Since 2020, active soldiers have had access to a special booking portal offered by Deutsche Bahn that allowed them to check our their free rail tickets. Deutsche Bahn and the Federal Ministry of Defence agreed on the process in August 2019. Back then, Bundeswehr members still had to complete an application form on the intranet and print it out to access their eTokens.

But many of our 180,000 soldiers do not have daily access to the intranet, and many trips cannot be planned days and days in advance. A better solution was needed. It had to be independent from the IT infrastructure at work, easy to use and accessible from anywhere. Luckily, innovative solutions is exactly what the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub does best.

Intuitive and mobile

We developed the app together with the Business & Web Applications department of BWI GmbH, the Personnel and Cyber and Information Technology departments of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the  Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support. It is easy to use: with just a click or tap, soldiers can access their eTokens, copy them and use them to book their tickets through the Deutsche Bahn portal. The remaining number of eTokens is always shown on the screen.

On top of being user-friendly, the app is secure. Hauptmann Dr Sebastian Clauß of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub: ‘The BW-eToken app gives soldiers a modern, attractive way to avail themselves of their privilege of free rail travel in uniform, and it complies with all IT security and data privacy regulations.’ Soldiers wishing to use the app need to register on the Bundeswehr intranet once. Using the login data, they can then use the app on their private and, in future, work smartphone.

The troops enjoy the benefits:

the app has already made the daily work of many soldiers easier. They save an enormous amount of time compared to the intranet-based solution.

And the project shows where the future lies: user-centric solutions that provide genuine value, rapidly developed and made available through a collaborative approach. That is what the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub stands for, and that is how we will continue to boost innovation in the Bundeswehr in future.

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