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

  • Government funding to get hydrogen cars moving
    October 10, 2014
    The arrival of hydrogen cars on UK roads is a step closer today as Business Minister Matthew Hancock announced up to US$17.6 million of funding from Government and industry to help prepare the UK for the roll-out of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The investment will help establish an initial network of up to 15 hydrogen refuelling stations by the end of 2015. It includes US$3.2 million of funding for public sector hydrogen vehicles. The announcement follows news earlier this month tha
  • Telent and Cisco to set up Greater Manchester One Network
    December 18, 2023
    Traffic control signals will benefit from faster and more resilient data connections
  • Indra to equip Buenos Aires train network with access control and ticketing
    February 16, 2016
    Spanish multinational Indra is to deploy its access control and ticketing technology across the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (BAMA) rail network, one of the world's largest with more than 200 stations. The contract also includes system maintenance during a two-year period. Argentina's national rail operator has awarded Indra the contract, worth US$39 million, under which the firm will equip eight lines with 1,400 access control machines, or turnstiles; 170 disabled entrances; 200 automatic recharging m
  • Xerox to upgrade Florida’s toll processing systems
    December 9, 2015
    The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has awarded Xerox a seven-year contract for the implementation of a state-of-the-art customer service system for processing toll transactions across the state. The deal involves processing more than one billion transactions per year and managing over five million accounts. Xerox will consolidate multiple tollway operations into one efficient back-office system, which it says will reduce costs, drive operational efficiencies and provide a better customer exp