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

  • Reducing fuel consumption and CO2 with vehicle tracking
    February 6, 2013
    Satellite vehicle tracking technology from Isotrak is helping Skanska UK’s utilities business save on fuel and reduce emissions. Using the real-time system to track the company’s mobile workforce on the road enables efficient vehicle management and provides detailed reporting on individual driving styles for each driver. This has enabled the company to manage its fleet and drivers better by helping them to comply with its environmental policy and duty of care programme. According to Isotrak, the solution c
  • Is DSRC progressive enough for future connected mobility?
    February 3, 2012
    Dedicated Short Range Communications technology, says Cisco's Paul Brubaker, is not by itself progressive enough to sustain long-term innovation in the connected mobility environment - and yet IPv6 and other developments remain largely ignored by policy-makers
  • Nearly 25% of UK millennials ‘favour renting cars’ – new research
    October 9, 2018
    Nearly a quarter of UK millennials would forgo buying a car and are likely to subscribe to a car-as-a-service scheme within the next year, according to new research. The study by cloud software subscription service Zuora states UK millennials are ‘key drivers’ for the ‘subscription economy’, with 73% looking to increase subscription use over the next two years. Zuora’s A Nation Subscribed research involved 2,000 consumers and was carried out by YouGov. It shows 77% of 16-24 year olds and 85% of 25-34
  • Smart cameras offer real-time alerts
    April 10, 2014
    Intelligent traffic cameras open up a host of possibilities for traffic planners and controllers alike. If traffic management centres (TMCs) around the world are to cope with the increasing demands of growing traffic flows while maintaining or improving transport safety and efficiency, then video monitoring will have to be supplemented by automated warnings of incidents or deviations. According to Patrik Anderson, business development director at Swedish camera manufacturer Axis Communications, it is no