People: Baldwin on track

Ex-stockbroker and corporate financier Tim Baldwin claims it is full steam ahead for former AIM shell RAM Investment Group, whose core asset, software supplier Train FX, has won a £1 million contract with First Great Western and is pitching with other rail operators and rolling stock providers. Train FX has software for interactive screens on board trains that can tell their exact location, give estimated arrival times, identify hazards, forecast the weather and carry news and advertisements.

Already tried and tested on Midland trains into London, Train FX is fixing a financing facility of £2 million to £4 million and is in advanced talks with rolling stock group Angel Trains and operator First Great Western. The entrepreneurial Baldwin, whose previous involvements have included Pizza Express, health groups and natural resources, suggests Train FX could before long be contending for £20 million worth of business in the UK alone, with European Union safety rules enhancing its prospects on the Continent as well.

He argues that the technology need not be confined to railways, but could have far wider applications, including shopping centres and aeroplanes. RAM bought 49.9 per cent of Train FX from aggressive and ill-fated digital concern Vision Media Group, which went into administration earlier this year, and has an option to pick up the rest for shares.

Fans hope that RAM, which has been seeking to raise between £500,000 and £1 million at 8.5p, could reach break-even during 2010. Among the company’s other projects is a venture to raise ‘Monk’s Treasure’, buried on the bed of the River Tay in Scotland since a shipwreck in 1650.

An ever-optimistic Baldwin says its potential present value has been put at £5 billion.