Fully automatic passenger information for through stations

Although originally introduced on British Rail´s Southern Region a number of years ago, there is now an increasing requirement for automatic passenger, now customer, information systems at wayside stations which may only be manned over the morning rush hour. The primary requirement is to display the next train that is due to arrive at each platform in sufficient detail for the customer to ascertain that it is the train he requires, and to put it on display sufficiently far in advance of its arrival that he will wait patiently. The author describes how the method chosen to achieve this is a combination of timetable data and train movement information in conjunction with signalling inputs from the train detector covering the area