FirstGroup will tweet if your train is held up

The next time First Capital Connect passengers are delayed on their journey into King's Cross, they might find it more fruitful to check Twitter than search for a platform information board.

That's after Tim O'Toole, boss of transport giant FirstGroup, said he's converted to tweeting.

"We spent too much time trying to spread more message boards around stations when people are looking at their phones," he said. "Passengers want real-time communication, and Twitter has that capability."

FirstGroup, which also runs the First Great Western route into Paddington and the TransPennine Express, had a 15% rise in profit on its rail division to £55.7 million in the half year to October.

First's UK bus business also improved, but its student division, running yellow school buses in America, continued to be a drag.

operating profit of £5.5 million was down from £28 million a year earlier, but O'Toole said it had stabilised in the new school term.

Overall, adjusted pre-tax profit at First rose 9% to £84.5 million.