Award for train operator

SOUTHERN Railway has received a major award at the London Transport Awards, held in London recently.

The train operator won the Technology award for its innovative Real Time Display system deployed at the Selhurst engineering depot.

Selhurst depot deals with approximately 120 trains each weekday, distributed over a 38-acre site.

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Like most depots, Selhurst had a 'make do' means of managing the berthing location and status of each train and its subsequent allocation to the next service.

This system was deemed to be 'inefficient' as it relied purely on faxes, phone calls, pencils, paper and erasers. This often led to mistakes and delays in getting trains out on time for service.

Southern's solution was to get rid of all the paperwork and the antiquated systems, replacing it with a PC based real time information system that could be updated when required with the correct information reaching the right people at the same time.

Southern say they now 'enjoy the sector's most technologically advanced means of organising the rolling stock' within the Selhurst depot, resulting in a 30% increase in productivity in some areas, and that other rail operators across the UK and Europe are planning to

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'reproduce this important innovation in train maintenance.'

On receiving the award, Southern's managing director Chris Burchell said:

"I am delighted that our new system has won this award '“ it's second within a month.

"The system really does make a huge difference to the efficient running of the depot and is ultimately beneficial for the end user '“ our passengers.

"The system has proved to be so successful, we have also deployed it at Brighton depot."

For further information visit the website at: www.southernrailway.com

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