A £1 MILLION investment programme to provide passengers with up-to-the-minute journey information is being rolled out on GNER's 122 daily high speed services along the East Coast Main Line.

GNER is the first train operator in Britain to equip on-train managers with palm-sized computers that download real-time information on arrivals and departures, platform changes, network disruption, journey planning and upcoming events.

It means that GNER train crew will be able to provide quicker and more accurate travel information to passengers, including the time of their connecting train, the platform it leaves from and when it arrives at their next destination.

The manager can use their smart, palm-sized computer to find the information the passenger wants within seconds.

The computers can provide information on all train services along the East Coast Main Line between Scotland and London, not just the 122 GNER trains a day between London Kings Cross, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the north-east of England and Scotland.

Previously GNER train staff had to use mobile phones to contact GNER's national control centre in York, or individual stations to find out train-running information.

The new system has already proved to be much quicker at answering passengers' questions and it means staff can deal with more questions.

GNER has issued 65 of the palm-sized computers, called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and a further 92 are being allocated to on-train staff between now and the end of May.

Jim Gilbert, customer operations director for GNER, said: "We are delighted to be able to provide real-time, train running information for staff to use in their job and pass on to customers.

"This exciting new technology will deliver real benefits for passengers and we are already looking at how other information can be received and sent using the computers."

The palm-sized computers work by using the wireless Bluetooth connection from the PDA to the managers' mobile phone, which then uses GPRS to pick up the relevant information from GNER's internal website.

The information downloaded from the web to the palm-sized computers is displayed on a small, four-inch flat screen. Users tap on the screen with a pen-like stylus to select relevant data or input information.

Updated: 12:50 Thursday, March 04, 2004