Passengers at Glasgow’s Queen Street Station can now benefit from travel advice and printable maps from two new hi-tech 'Smart Point' machines.

Transport Scotland has invested £129,000 to install six Smart Point machines across Scotland, with two at Queen Street. The equipment provides interactive travel services, real-time journey updates and information via the internet, allowing passengers to plan their journeys better.

The Smart Points feature a broadcast screen at the top of each terminal providing real-time travel information and BBC news and weather, while the easy to use interactive touch screen offers free access to journey planning, timetables, planned rail engineering works, bus information, cycle guides and routes and local area information.

An in-built printer also allows users to take travel information with them for later reference.

-- Advertisement --

Smart Points have also been launched at stations in Stirling, Aberdeen and at Waverley in Edinburgh.

Dougie Andrews, Franchise Projects and Investments Manager at Transport Scotland said: "These new Smart Points are part of our ongoing commitment to make rail travel an easier, more efficient travel option for passengers.

"Smart Points have proved popular with passengers at other stations and we are confident they can play a significant role in helping people make the switch to public transport."

Kirsty Watson, ScotRail’s manager for the project, said: "The high-tech Smart Points are very easy to use, include a built-in printer, and will play a major role in helping customers plan their journeys. They provide information on all forms of transport at our key interchange stations as well as good local area information."

Queen Street Station’s appearance has also been transformed in recent weeks with the new unified ScotRail brand rolled out at Glasgow’s largest ScotRail station.

The roll out of the unified brand, which is being undertaken in tandem with normal maintenance and repainting cycles, has transformed Queen Street station’s interior and canopies.

The branding scheme is one of 28 new initiatives ScotRail is delivering which will directly benefit rail users throughout the country. The delivery of these 28 schemes follows Scottish Ministers’ decision to re-invest the £70m returned as a result of extending the rail franchise contract with FirstGroup out to 2014.

This investment is in addition to the £40 million programme of improvements to be delivered by October 2011 which ScotRail committed to upon winning the current franchise.

(GK)