IRIS: Information system for railway station staff

We propose a new kind of information system for frontline station staff called "IRIS: Information system for railway station staff" to enhance communication and their experience in stations. Particularly, IRIS digital display equips staff with a 2-way communication mechanism, as well as integrate richer, faster, and more accurate information from different sources into one single view. Also for the first time real-time passenger count at platform will be reported in the system. These new features will allow staff to quickly understand the situation in the station in a quick glance, and to report new development back to control offices. As a result, staff can focus more on speaking to the customer rather than spending time reporting and reconciling information from different sources via different means such as telephone, walky-talky, colleague, internet, and several mobile app. IRIS customer-centric display will also help staff to speak in passengers’ language, and thus improve ease of understanding for passengers. The simplified way of automatically reconciling all additional information such as number of passengers, real-time position of trains, list of all stops, expected arrival time etc. of all relevant journeys will allow staff to help passengers in making travel decisions/planning more effectively. The presence of IRIS portable device or digital display will create an impression of ownership and authority to passengers, allowing them to trust staff’s ability to be helpful. Staff can also share the view on IRIS display with passengers to improve understanding further.