His determination to support disadvantaged travellers on the NSW rail network has earned UNE PhD-Innovation candidate Charles Chan a prestigious award.
The Senior Manager of Audio Visual Services at Transport Sydney Trains has won his organisation’s Staff Excellence Award in the innovation and solution category for 2022.
The award recognises Charles’ efforts to support travellers from non-English speaking backgrounds and those who are hearing-impaired, through his work on the free mobile phone app Multilingual Announcer and a program called SpeechMagic.
The first program converts train announcements into eight (and counting) languages, including English, Russian, German, French, Chinese Mandarin, Japanese and Hindi. “There are technically no limitations to the number of languages we can include,” Charles said. “From feedback we have received from customers, it’s likely that we will see more languages added.”
There are technically no limitations to the number of languages we can include.
SpeechMagic similarly converts manual announcements, but into text displayed on train platform screens for the hearing-impaired.
The groundbreaking products have spun out of Charles' PhD-Innovation research, which is investigating how state-of-the-art technology can improve rail travel experiences for all.
“We have discovered that some rail users can be scared to travel, out of fear they won’t be able to get the information they need in the event of rail disruptions,” Charles said. “These programs have been developed in consultation with community groups and users, who we hope will have the equivalent experience to others.”
We have discovered that some rail users can be scared to travel, out of fear they won’t be able to get the information they need in the event of rail disruptions.
In his role with Transport Sydney Trains, Charles is always exploring new products and architecture to support customers. And his UNE Doctor of Philosophy - Innovation is providing the perfect pathway to a doctoral degree while making valuable contributions in his workplace.
“I have a passion for delivering services to help people,” Charles said. “My intention is to provide more personalised information targeted to their needs, so they enjoy their train journey just like anyone else.”
I have a passion for delivering services to help people.
After live trials of both programs, Charles hopes they will be available to NSW rail customers in 2023. He expects that Multilingual Announcer will be useful to non-English-speaking tourists as well as a variety of Australian residents from culturally diverse backgrounds.
