.png)
WEST MIDLANDS RAILWAY
TRANSPORTATION - BSL ACCESSIBILITY as a SERVICE
West Midland Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. Running trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and East Midlands, with 1,300 services transporting over 200,000 passengers per day.
Company overview
The West Midlands is home to one of the UK’s largest Deaf populations. With over 59,000 BSL users in Birmingham alone, thousands of Deaf passengers rely on West Midlands Trains every day to access work, education, and healthcare.
Facts
200k Passengers per day
146 Stations
6 Weeks Initial pilot implementation
Xsigns? Directions translated
Key Statistics
With several of it’s stations near schools and facilities for the hearing impaired, West Midlands Trains wanted to improve accessibility to its services for Deaf passengers.
Access to qualified BSL interpreters
Ability to leverage existing digital signage
Speed of implementation
Requirement for visual first capabilities
Dynamic station environments
Continually changing schedules
Station maintenance
Challenges
Key Results
InSign physically surveyed each station to capture real-life imagery for use with InSign Travel Wayfinder implementation. InSign developed written Wayfinding instructions which are translated and signed in British Sign Language (BSL) on-demand by InSigns AI 3D Avatar. The total implementation was completed in 6 weeks and is accessible via a custom mobile friendly website.
WMT customers can simply scan a QR code on posters or screens to be immediately directed to the Website. They can select a specific destination, and see real-life images with directions signed live in BSL. With InSign WMT is now on-track to implement real-time dynamic BSL translations for station announcements.
Outcome
Image source: Visit Birmingham – West Midlands Railway (visitbirmingham.com)