Rail infrastructure company Infrabel is set to replace announcers in 270 Belgian train stations with a computer voice, after the success of a test project in Mechelen and Charleroi. The computer voice has already been installed in Leuven and Zaventem airport stations.

Flanders’ most popular station announcer, Hugo De Mey, is taking it on the chin. De Mey, 55, makes the announcements in Lier, Antwerp province. His smiling face and shiny bald pate are unknown to the public, but his voice is famous. “He always lifts my spirits,” one passenger said. “Except when the trains are running really late.”

“I try to announce delays in as positive a manner as possible,” De Mey told Gazet van Antwerpen. “As seldom as possible, of course, but if there are delays, that’s the way it is.” His computer replacement, he says, will bring an end to forgetfulness and mistakes. “And a computer doesn’t lose its voice at the end of a hectic day.”

De Mey’s fans, meanwhile, have honoured him with a page on Facebook.

Mechelen city council, meanwhile, is to launch a webcam council office, where residents will be able to pay a virtual visit to city administrative departments instead of having to go to the town hall in person.

According to Kristl Strubbe, the city’s alderwoman in charge of ICT, the new virtual window is the first of its kind in the world. “We are experimenting with the technology of tomorrow,” she said. “We want to make the internet experience human and personal.” Mechelen is already at the cutting edge of admin technology, with tablet and smartphone apps putting city information at your fingertips.

Mechelen’s new system will come into operation next month, with webcam links to the youth service, the financial services for businesses and, naturally, the city’s webmasters.