Skip to main content

UK railways to benefit from information upgrade

More than US$13.44 million funding will be spent by train companies to boost passenger information at stations across the UK. The funding will pay for a national roll-out to link customer information screens at stations to the latest live real time train information data, fed from a database developed and maintained by train companies. The upgrade will be rolled out in around 2,000 National Rail stations. The first stations will be switched on in summer 2014 and the whole project is anticipated to be comp
January 3, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
More than US$13.44 million funding will be spent by train companies to boost passenger information at stations across the UK.

The funding will pay for a national roll-out to link customer information screens at stations to the latest live real time train information data, fed from a database developed and maintained by train companies.  The upgrade will be rolled out in around 2,000 National Rail stations.  The first stations will be switched on in summer 2014 and the whole project is anticipated to be complete in 2015.

The scheme follows successful trials at seventeen stations managed by Virgin Trains along the West Coast Main Line and across all the stations operated by Chiltern Railways. The funding is provided through the National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) and the data will feed through from National Rail Enquiries (NRE).

Alec McTavish, NSIP lead for the Association of Train Operating Companies (1998 ATOC) said: “This funding is good news for passengers as it means every National Rail station with a customer information screen will be using the most up-to date ‘live’ train running information.

“With train travel more popular now than it has been for 90 years and over 1.4 billion trips made last year, operators know that passengers want the most up to-date information about their journey.

“Significant amounts of time and money have been invested in providing better, more consistent information for passengers. But we know that we can always improve, which is why operators are working with the rest of the industry and listening to passengers to find ways to keep on improving things even further.”

Train companies are working hard to continuously improve the information they give to passengers. Earlier this year NRE launched its own free smartphone app for iPhone and Android operating systems, offering UK passengers even more choice over how they access real time information about train journeys.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Hyperloop: from sci-fi to transport policy
    April 16, 2020
    The future is here. While it has long looked like something from a sci-fi movie, Graham Anderson investigates a technology whose time might have come.
  • Getting real with fleet management and passenger information
    September 2, 2013
    UK ticketing technology company Parkeon has partnered with information specialist Cloud Amber to develop a new way of using the in-built GPS/GPRS functionality of an electronic ticket machine to improve the scope and accuracy of real time information systems while reducing system cost, complexity and maintenance requirements. Newport Transport is to take advantage of the alliance to become one of the first bus operators in the country to take direct control of its real time information systems, using the t
  • Getting real with fleet management and passenger information
    September 2, 2013
    UK ticketing technology company Parkeon has partnered with information specialist Cloud Amber to develop a new way of using the in-built GPS/GPRS functionality of an electronic ticket machine to improve the scope and accuracy of real time information systems while reducing system cost, complexity and maintenance requirements. Newport Transport is to take advantage of the alliance to become one of the first bus operators in the country to take direct control of its real time information systems, using the te
  • UK TransiT Hub to lead digital twinning for decarbonisation
    September 2, 2024
    University-led project looks at how digital twins can build more efficient infrastructure