TRAINS, a case study of active behaviour

TRAINS is an implemented system that helps users find the fastest or most convenient train connections from any one station to any other station within The Netherlands. The entire Dutch railway services network is covered by TRAINS, including special trains, connection times, restrictions, etc. TRAINS is currently being used at telephonic information centers of the Dutch railway company NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen). Since TRAINS was intended to run on a personal computer, and had to be a high-performance and complete system, standard programming tools instead of an expert system shell were used to build TRAINS. Apart from a user-friendly user-machine interface, TRAINS has an active component supplying useful alternate solutions in addition to the first and most apparent answer to the user´s question. A common sense user model helps to select relevant information. The active component contributes significantly to the system, which is now highly values by its users and well suited for everyday use