Madrid Metro Upgrading Passenger Info Platform To Make Screens Smarter

May 2, 2023 by Dave Haynes

There are stories all the time about big mass transport venues that undergo renovations, upgrades and expansions, putting in big screens and flashy experiential set-ups. We hear far less, though, about infrastructure upgrades – like efforts by Madrid’s subway system to integrate more data and make its system smart for both passengers and operators.

The Spanish publication ABC has a post up about how Madrid Metro system is undergoing a 2.4 million Euro renewal program for what is called its Centralized Traveler Information Platform, which is now roughly 20 years old.

The new system, reports ABC, will synchronize and integrate the passenger messaging on screens around stations with the public address system, and add multiple languages.

“It is the evolution of the passenger information system,” Fernando Morales, Metro’s coordinator of Systems Engineering and critical infrastructures, told ABC.

The new system, being developed by a third-part software firm, will also integrate real-time data from parallel services, like regional rail and bus systems that connect into stations.

ABC notes that the traveler information platform upgrade is needed both because the current one is at the end of its life cycle, and also because the existing one is a closed system that can’t readily integrate outside data or add new functionality.