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

  • Inrix, Big Data & the fine art of anonymity
    January 9, 2025
    How do you protect personal privacy while still allowing data to be of use in intelligent transportation? Ahmed Darrat of Inrix offers some thoughts on finding that balance...
  • US pledges £250m aid to transit jobs
    June 23, 2021
    Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg is allocating funds to projects in 31 US states
  • Cubic’s director of mobile shares predictions for 2018
    December 22, 2017
    Robert Spogis, Cubic’s director of mobile shared his 2018 predictions on how the transport sector will be transformed through the adoption of a mobile infrastructure as its popularity grows and how transit apps will leverage AI/machine learning to provide more personalised commuter experiences. In addition, he estimated that mobile technology such as Near Field Communications and Bluetooth will provide simpler and more intuitive ticketing methods than traditional paper tickets.
  • Latest round of TIGER funding announced
    August 1, 2016
    Nearly US$500 million will be made available for transportation projects across the US in the eighth round of the highly successful and competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. Announcing the funding, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx highlight how this will improve safety and economic opportunity in two US territories, 32 states and 40 communities across the country. This year’s TIGER awards include US$19 million to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania fo