Southern Railway Ltd has awarded a substantial contract to Trans Data Management Ltd for 76 Help Points to be installed at various stations throughout Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex. The contract includes standard, two-button Help Points, with an option for WebCIS units that display train arrival times, destinations and train running information. The units are manufactured by the Swiss communications specialist Ascom.

Both types of Help Points take advantage of new improved coverage of the GSM mobile telephony networks that allow voice and data information to be reliably transmitted and received to the Southern Railway stations. In some cases, the units are replacing older telephony units.

The Help Points employ technology to automatically report fault, maintenance and security information to Southern Railway's centralised control centre in Croydon. The majority of stations employ CCTV systems to enable an operator to view the Help Point, the passenger and the surrounding area so as to allow railway staff to quickly ascertain the local situation if more than just travel advice is required.

The Help Points will, where appropriate, be powered from solar panels to provide carbon neutral running, making them completely independent of any physical land connections and doing away with the need to provide conduit and trunking for wires.

The units will have the same easily recognisable aesthetic quality of those already adopted by most Train Operating Companies around the UK's railway network. They are just over half a metre round and coloured white with a high quality white epoxy paint, finished with weather and vandal resistant lacquer. The WebCIS units have toughened glass to cope and provide protection against the weather and heavy handed public use.

The units are equipped with the latest Audio Frequency Induction Loop (AFIL) technology to deliver better quality audio for the hard of hearing. The enclosures are rated to the weather proof IP65 standard and are designed to operate in the extreme temperatures we sometimes have to endure in the UK.