Southeastern has become the UK’s first train operator to automate the communication of planned timetable changes to passengers waiting at station on a service-by-service basis.
Implemented following a major 260,000 GBP upgrade to its Customer Information System, Southeastern customers will now be able to receive information on their train through tailored messages both on screens and via station announcements.
The system is the first to go live in the UK
© Southeastern
Before now, the process of updating information required manual work and was typically limited to services changing by two minutes or more, whilst the newly upgraded system automates the process, eliminating the risk of updates being missed and reducing time taken from days to seconds.
As a result of the overall investment, timetable changes are compared and assessed automatically, with messages generated for every revised service explaining what has changed. Supporting station-by-station reports are also produced simultaneously, allowing teams to respond to customer questions quickly.
John Till, Head of Information Delivery at Southeastern, said:
When timetables change, it’s vital that customers can clearly see what’s different about their train. In the past, creating personalised announcements and display messages for every affected service took a huge amount of manual effort, with an inevitable risk of things being missed.
We can now do this automatically, quickly and consistently, not just for Southeastern, but in a way that can benefit customers across the rail network. It’s a genuine step-change in how timetable information is delivered and is in line with our mantra of “if we know, you know.
During disruption the system can now also import new or temporary timetables automatically, providing customers with accurate information as quickly as possible when things change.
Part of a broader overhaul of Southeastern’s customer information systems; the timetable upgrade will allow delayed service explanations to be clearer, with cancellations identified faster and screens now displaying a prompt two minutes before arrival directing customers to move.
Origin station displays will now show an incoming train’s live location and expected arrival time, and, in the event of failure with live data, displays will hold the last known forecast instead of reverting to a generic ‘Delayed’ message.
The system, which is now live across the Southeastern network, has been supplied by Worldline, with all other train operators using the company’s CIS set to receive the update automatically.