Virgin Trains says its new intranet will improve customer service and reduce administration costs. The train operator introduced the intranet in August to provide passengers with better travel updates and onward journey information. The Virgin Trains interactive (VTi) system has been integrated with other transport information services, allowing Virgin employees equipped with laptops or PCs at stations to give customers real time updates on train delays, planned engineering works, timetable information, and marketing promotions for customers wishing to travel on other services, such as EuroStar. By linking to the national real time train information system, station staff can also use VTi to provide passengers with up-to-the-minute information on individual train locations. 'This is really important as station staff are constantly being asked when the train is going to arrive by people waiting to collect relatives and friends,' Jeremy Acklam, IT director at Virgin Trains told Computing. 'It also gives staff and passengers a clearer picture of what is going on if there are delays,' he said. The train operator believes use of the intranet will not only improve customer services but also reduce administration costs. 'Information on engineering works can be updated as soon as changes occur and we can provide staff with more company news,' Acklam said. The VTi was designed using software from UK systems developer InfoSys. Virgin Trains is also in the early stages of rolling out a combined mobile data, GSM and WiFi system across its train fleet (Computing 22 April). Working with Broadreach Networks, passengers on trains can access the internet using laptops and mobile devices, Acklam says. 'We are currently rolling out our new tilting Pendolino trains, but we hope to have these news systems ready sometime after December,' he said. Acklam is also investigating the potential use of the on-train internet network to improve other business functions, such as stock replenishment, with train crews being able to send stock requests to stations in advance of arrival. 'We have a system already in place for logistics, which is offline. But when we can include the trains on our VPN network there will be the possibility to download the information in real-time,' he said.