Rail passengers will be able to avoid overcrowded carriages under plans for technology that provides real-time information about the busiest trains.
Images from on-board CCTV cameras will be analysed by artificial intelligence to count the number of people in each carriage.
For the first time, passengers will be given a live data feed on levels of crowding on trains, with a traffic-light system being deployed that allows them to avoid the busiest, red, carriages while prioritising those marked as green.
The technology is being tested by South Western Railway, one of the busiest networks, on trains between London, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Southampton and Weymouth. The information will be introduced to the company smartphone app and website in coming months for specific routes.
It could then be expanded across the South Western network, which carried 204 million passengers in the year before the pandemic struck. The new system is designed to maintain social distancing on trains as town and city centre businesses reopen, leading to a rise in rail commuters. Carriage capacity has been limited since last March.
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Peter Williams, the South Western commercial director, said the system would help “improve customer comfort and confidence”.
“We know that there are lots of things that feel uncertain at the moment, that’s why we’re doing all we can to help make travelling with us as smooth and safe as possible,” he said.
The system, developed by the London technology firm PoS Insights, and the Swedish train wifi provider Icomera, uses artificial intelligence to “count” the number of passengers in each carriage based on the feed from on-board CCTV cameras.
The company can set thresholds on the maximum number of people in each carriage, with lower numbers being used during the pandemic with higher capacity when social distancing is eased. Each carriage is then assigned a red, amber or green rating based on real-time usage.
Passengers can see the colour code for each carriage on the website and app, using the information to either avoid certain trains altogether or stand in an appropriate place on the platform to board at the quietest point.
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The system will be initially deployed on the company’s class 444 and class 450 fleets which operate long-distance as well as suburban routes. The trial is being funded through the company’s contract signed with the Department for Transport.
The company said it would use existing CCTV cameras on South Western trains and that passengers would not be identified.
Last year, it was announced that Govia Thameslink Railway was introducing a new system that uses weight sensors inside carriages to provide a similar reading of capacity, although this is not being made available to passengers through the app and website.
