Highly automated passenger information systems for the new Cologne-Rhine/Main line

摘要

Germany's first highly automated passenger-information system was installed to serve the stations in and around Hanover to coincide with the major "Expo 2000" exhibition. A second such system has now been set up to serve the Greater Cologne region. It was installed in conjunction with the completion and entry into operations of the northern section of the new high-speed line linking Cologne and Frankfurt am Main in December 2002 and serves a bigger territory. The approach adopted for the Cologne region differs from the Hanover one in that, to a large extent, the new system represents an additional tier on top of the existing infrastructure. For this reason, its functions and structures have been broadened in such a way as to make it much simpler to graft it onto the system environments typically encountered today. Further development has also been done on the operator interface, which now provides optimum support for working in an integrated manner in different operational situations.