{"id":13302,"date":"2024-02-20T01:37:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T15:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=13302"},"modified":"2024-02-20T01:37:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T15:37:10","slug":"northern-using-ai-to-trial-british-sign-language-announcements-on-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=13302","title":{"rendered":"Northern using AI to trial British Sign Language announcements on trains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern<\/a> customers travelling between Manchester and Leeds as well as Leeds to York will be able to see some of the train operator\u2019s announcements in British Sign Language (BSL) thanks to a trial involving AI.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The train operator has been working with software experts InfoTec and Signapse on the scheme, which \u2018knits together\u2019 individual words signed by a BSL interpreter and displays the complete sentences on customer information screens onboard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Census data in 2021 showed that in addition to spoken languages, BSL was the main language of 22,000 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, the announcements will only be operating on some of Northern\u2019s fleet between Leeds to York Via Harrogate and Leeds to Man Victoria via Rochdale. \u00a0<\/p>\n

To begin with they will focus on station names, however Northern hopes to expand the scheme after customer feedback. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Marc Silverwood, onboard systems manager at Northern, said: \u201cWe know that rail travel can be daunting for anyone with specific access needs, and I really hope this makes a difference to give people confidence to travel by rail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to expand this trial further and we can only do that with help from our customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking people to have their say on the scheme, so we are urging them to visit our website to give feedback.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To fill in the feedback form visit\u00a0https:\/\/forms.office.com\/e\/ZYxwjtE6fK\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo credit: Northern<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern customers travelling between Manchester and Leeds as well as Leeds to York will be able to see some of the train operator\u2019s announcements in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-13302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t