Passenger train services • Customer and client service
Note: For educational purpose only. This page is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. It is not a substitute for the official page of the operating company, manufacturer or official institutions. It cannot be used for staff training, which is the responsibility of approved institutions and companies.
Railway stations
Railway stations are central to the railway industry. Its development in the second half of the 19th century required the creation of imposing buildings, located at the start or finish of a main line serving the town, within the limits of urbanisation at the time, i.e. at the gateway to today’s town centres. Today, stations are interconnections between passenger trains, the town or city they serve, and other means of transport, whether public or private. Stations can also be shopping plazas, a part of a neighbourhood. Nowadays, their role is becoming increasingly complex as new elements of our society are taken into account, such as the social sciences, urban planning and sustainable development.
Information, tickets
In the past, train information came in the form of heavy timetables several hundred pages long, accessible to all, but requiring a certain amount of ‘railway’ dexterity to use. Nowadays, fare and timetable information has moved on to electronic applications for PCs and smartphones, with real-time departure/arrival information, station by station.
As for the good old cardboard railway ticket, it’s long gone. Train tickets have evolved considerably, and are now a simple piece of paper that can be printed at home, or smart cards for regular season tickets. The advent of chips and QR codes is already heralding another form of distribution. The future… 🟧
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Passenger train services • Lexical