South Western Railway (SWR) is set to trial the use of QR codes to allow passengers to access features including ‘real-time journey information.’

A select number of train services, including the London Waterloo to Weymouth service, will feature QR codes located in prominent areas of the train such as seat backs, tables, accessible areas and toilet facilities in early 2023.

With a simple scan, customers will be able to access real-time journey information as well as a suite of further modules relevant to their journey.

The innovative technology will also allow passengers to use features such as the ‘Talk to Us’ to communicate with SWR about any issues on their journey, such as on board faults and the digital service will know where the communication is coming from and be able to automatically populate areas of the report.

Peter Williams, Customer and Commercial Director for South Western Railway, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with Whoosh on this trial as we work to learn more from our customers about the information and digital services that matter most during their journeys.

“We are particularly eager to see how this technology can help streamline the way in which customers communicate with us via real-time reporting and the insight it gives our teams to act quickly upon the information provided.”

The trial will also be available on services including London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via both Eastleigh and Guildford, London Waterloo to Alton and London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids.

Edmund Caldecott, founder and CEO, Whoosh, developers of the new technology, said: “We are proud to see our trial with South Western Railway get underway and are especially interested to see how the ‘Tell Us’ module improves SWR’s knowledge of real time faults as and when they occur.

“Solving customer issues is at the heart of our work here at Whoosh, and to bring travel technology solutions to customers across new networks is incredibly exciting.

“Whoosh can provide seamless real time information to customers to improve their journey experience at a fraction of the cost to the operator, and we are excited to see this benefit customers across the SWR network.”