The corporate voice "Chris Lohner" as the foundation for modern passenger information

In 2014, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB ) commissioned Aristech GmbH with the development of a Text-to-Speech (TTS) solution based on the corporate voice "Chris Lohner" - the unmistakable voice that has been ÖBB's acoustic trademark for years. The goal was to maintain the voice digitally and to make it flexible in use. Aristech developed a TTS base system with a comprehensive linguistic workflow that defines the concept for maintaining and distributing phonetic transcriptions and pronunciation specifications.

Today, this technology forms the basis for numerous ÖBB communication systems – always using the authentic corporate voice of Chris Lohner.

Our technology is in use throughout Austria:

• 959 operating locations use the corporate voice
• Over 300 million passengers per year hear Chris Lohner on trains
• An audience that is reached every day – reliably and authentically

Voice2Train – the voice on the train

Building on this foundation, Voice2Train (V2T) was developed and has been in use in ÖBB passenger transport since 2018. With Voice2Train, text messages are automatically converted into voice announcements and transmitted to trains in real time. This allows passengers to be informed directly on the train about current disruptions or timetable changes. Around 10,000 announcements per year are created with V2T – in addition to the everyday station announcements throughout the ÖBB network, which are also generated with the corporate voice “Chris Lohner.” Mobility with voice and system.

Photo: ÖBB - Harald Eisenberger