New Zealand

In 1998, Tranz Rail were looking for a way to deliver a consistent and reliable commentary experience on their Geyserland and Kaimai Express rail car services. The traditional use of rail personnel to deliver the commentary was no longer working. With other duties to perform, staff often found that their ability to provide a commentary was intermittent, as other duties took precedent. A new innovative solution was required.

After reading about a Kruse Globals’ world first innovative GPS commentary technology, Tranz Rail turned to Kruse Global for a solution. Kruse created a GPS solution that automatically triggered the playing of the audio commentary over the trains public address system as the train passed through GPS trigger points.

Feedback from Tranz Rail was overwhelmingly positive. Passengers loved the immersive and entertaining commentary as it helped pass the time and created the perception of a reduced travelling time; Tranz Rail’s on board staff loved the commentary as it constantly told them where the train was in its journey, which they used as “time management markers” to complete on board tasks.