AI-enabled trains have started running on Northern’s network – and they’re already calling at Bolton . Northern has started using artificial intelligence technology to count the number of passengers on some of its services. Known as ‘Automatic Passenger Counting’, or APC, the system has been deployed to the company’s fleet of eight ‘Class 769’ trains – diesel and electric hybrids which run on routes between Liverpool, Manchester, Southport, Wigan and Blackpool.
From Bolton, the trains run between the town and destinations including Manchester Oxford Road, Wigan Wallgate, and Southport. Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox. The company says the new AI system is more than 98 per cent accurate.
For now, the data is only being used for operational planning, but the company says it will be deployed to passenger information screens ‘very soon’ – to help passengers choose to get on the emptiest carriage. Upgrade work was carried out at Allerton TrainCare Centre in Merseyside alongside scheduled heater upgrades and improvements to Wi-Fi and CCTV, in order to minimise the amount of time the train was out of passenger service. A team of 15 specialist engineers from Northern and technology partners Icomera and DG8 installed 88 cameras and eight computers using five kilometres (three miles) of cables as part of the work.
The new system uses cameras to count passengers on Northern's trains (Image: Northern) Follow The Bol.
