Passenger Information: TER SNCF(Regional French Railway) on Track to Provide Real Time Multimodal, Visual and Spoken, Passenger Information

MONS, Belgium, November 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- In addition to safety and dependability, information in real time which is clear, precise and reliable is a fundamental part, for all passengers, of a quality service. TER SNCF passengers are kept abreast in real time of next departures and timely announcements by 538 information display screens equipped with Acapela synthesised voices. TER SNCF and French regions have already provided 250 stopping points with this technology, by 2012 an additional 150 stations points will be equipped.

State of the art passenger information display screens

Real time visual information display screens are particularly adapted to small and medium sized stations and to stations such as those near urban areas that are TER stopping points. They allow, thanks to a GPRS or 3G connection, passengers to know in real time when the next three TER trains and coaches are due to depart, their destination, stops made along the way and any delays.

This technology brings together information which can be both seen and heard. It is made possible by Acapela VaaS, devised by the Acapela Group, an expert in vocal solutions, which has been chosen by TER SNCF to vocalise the written information appearing on the screens.

Acapela VaaS

The text-to-speech solution provided by Acapela enables the vocalisation in real time of any written text whatsoever. Therefore all information relating to TER trains and coaches can be transformed, word for word, into voice which is broadcast through the screens. The process is totally automated but the result appears very natural. The announcements are smooth and fluid to hear and the mechanical effect of pre-recorded announcements disappears.

Technically, Acapela VaaS is a 'cloud computing' solution - a service providing on-line vocalization - which speech empowers all web applications. The screens connect to the Acapela VaaS server, send the information to be vocalised, and the server automatically transforms the text into speech. This service, available around the clock and completed in several seconds, responds very rapidly.

A partnership between Acapela, TER SNCF and the French regions

For 18 months, from the start of 2008 to mid 2009, TER SNCF in partnership with the Acapela Group, carried out trials in 18 French regions using nearly 50 screens. As part of SNCF's engagement to adapt all of its services to people with restricted mobility (Personnes a Mobilite Reduite - PMR), the project was also presented to the consultative council of the PMR in May 2008.

All station information, predictive or not, is therefore guaranteed to be delivered in real time to all passengers, including people with a sight or hearing disability.

The project has been a real success, as much for the associations for people with restricted mobility as for the regional councils. The deployment of screens with sound, jointly financed by the regions and SNCF, started in July 2009 and continues now. Twelve regions have placed orders: Alsace, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne, Franche-Comte, Haute-Normandie, Limousin, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas de Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie and Provence-Alpes- Cote d'Azur. Which means that as of today 538 screens have been installed, by 2012 this number will have risen to between 600 and 800.

'SNCF's adoption of our voice synthesis to improve its passenger information system together with its validation of our voice synthesis on line, Acapela VaaS, to assure a reliable and high quality service for passengers with sight difficulties, is very important for us. It confirms the positioning of Acapela as an established expert as well as an inventor of solutions proposing new uses for speech synthesis' said Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of the Acapela Group.

'The passenger information services offered by TER SNCF are designed to accompany the client before, throughout and after his or her journey. In equipping the TER stopping points with this technology, TER SNCF, together with the regions, is once again making the choice of providing real time multimodal passenger information. Acapela's voice synthesis technology, coupled with the specialised technology of visual information display screens, enables the provision of high quality visual and spoken information for all TER clients' said Sylvie Bourgeois, Director of Marketing and Service at TER SNCF.

About TER SNCF: TER SNCF is the true solution for mobility across the regions' network and represents the public transport offered by SNCF in 20 French regions (outside of Ile-de-France and Corsica) TER SNCF comprises 260 lines on which circulate each day 6,300 trains used by 800,000 passengers. TER SNCF offers local government transport solutions adapted to everyday passengers: wide range of connections, schedules, personalised services...to keep pace with regional dynamics and meet the challenge of quadrupling TER traffic by 2030. http://www.sncf.com / http://www.ter-sncf.com

About Acapela Group, http://www.acapela-group.com

Acapela Group, the leading voice expert, invents text to speech solutions to give your content a voice in up to 30 languages. Our speech solutions allow you to turn any written text into natural speech files, using any of our 50 High Quality standard voices or your own synthezised voice talent. Acapela can answer all text to speech needs and provide perfect vocalization whether for voice integration and development, online & on demand use, audio files production, or ready to speak products for personal accessibility use.

Check out http://www.acapela.tv - the sparkling laboratory of Acapela Group, http://www.acapela-for-iphone.com to develop talktative apps and http://www.acapela-vaas.com, the acapela on-line service for smart vocalization

SOURCE Acapela Group