In the summer of last year, the FIFA World Cup was held in Russia. The event drew millions of tourists to the country, and Russian Railways, the main rail carrier of the country, faced a difficult task: to break down the language barrier between train conductors and foreign guests. They were helped out by specialists from PROMT who developed a unique application.

Nowadays most passengers buy electronic tickets, as the procedure is fast, convenient and reliable. To check that tickets are genuine, conductors use special devices which resemble smartphones and use the Android OS. In preparations for the World Cup, Russian Railways and PROMT realized a project to integrate a special translation app into these devices allowing conductors to communicate with foreign passengers.

The mobile translator supports six European languages and does not require an Internet connection. The PROMT app also includes the Dialogue regime which allows conductors to serve foreign passengers in their native languages. It also features a function for translating text from pictures and photographs, and contains a phrasebook with train-related topics.

Russian Railways and PROMT are developing a unique project, with a mobile application that has become an important tool for providing services in foreign languages in trains all over the country. This is important both during major international events – such as the recent world cup – and in regular work with foreign passengers.

“This is a unique project with no equivalents in the world. The application takes into account the specific nature of working with foreign guests on Russian railroads, and helps conductors to cope with everyday difficulties and tasks. Their successful work at the recent world cup was an illustration of this,” said Nikita Shablykov, commercial director at PROMT.