Shenanigans at Paddington

[whole diary]

[CJB666]

The powers that be have switched platforms for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) locals and the Heathrow Connect. Platform !2 is now being used for the  GWR Oxford &/or Reading trains. Greenfords have been relegated to 13 / 14 - likely to get them out-of-way prior to them terminating at West Ealing.

The Heathrow Connect has been largely relegated to 11.

The problems with using 12 for GWR locals though are:

* Think ahead commuters used to touching in at 12 for the Connect suddenly find that it turns up at 11; they when have to rush round touching out of 12 and then trying to touch in at 11. The ever helpful(?) gateline staff let them through - causing many to incur a penalty fee on their Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) cards.

* Ditto for tourists with luggage heading for Heathrow

* Sometimes the Oxford is at the front of the split consist, whilst the minutes later Reading is at the buffer end. The gateline is well forward, so hapless passengers for Reading have to walk the length of 12, through the gateline, and then turn back to the buffer end.

CJB

[BBM]

May I present an alternative view as a long-term TWY^▸ (Twyford station)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) commuter? 

Admittedly it's only when I travel in the off-peak and weekends that I've had to use P13 & P14, but even so I'm rather cheesed-off at the number of times there's been a very last-minute announcement of a Reading stopper going from these platforms and I've become part of a mass sprint of people running the length of P12. On one very painful occasion I pulled a muscle in my knee and I was subsequently off work for a couple of weeks. Therefore I would welcome the Reading stoppers going from P12 even if I had to double-back after the barriers. However, yes there should be measures in place to ensure that HC passengers know where to go before touching in.

[TaplowGreen]

May I present an alternative view as a long-term TWY^▸ (Twyford station)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) commuter? 

Admittedly it's only when I travel in the off-peak and weekends that I've had to use P13 & P14, but even so I'm rather cheesed-off at the number of times there's been a very last-minute announcement of a Reading stopper going from these platforms and I've become part of a mass sprint of people running the length of P12. On one very painful occasion I pulled a muscle in my knee and I was subsequently off work for a couple of weeks. Therefore I would welcome the Reading stoppers going from P12 even if I had to double-back after the barriers. However, yes there should be measures in place to ensure that HC passengers know where to go before touching in.

BBM I agree wholeheartedly and if it means that the days of mass sprints from the concourse to P13/14 thanks to the last minute announcements of platforms are over it can only be a good thing, from an overall H & S perspective as well as for my ageing knees! 

[a-driver]

The problem with the Greenford's going from Platform 13/14 is that they have a very tight turn round, something like 4 minutes.
 
The auto announcer at Paddington will not announce the train until it has been routed into the platform and the train has passed the last signal at Royal Oak.  This gives passengers who aren't regular travellers a very limited amount of time to get from the maincourse to Platform 13 or 14.  Helped even less when the service is just a minute or two late....... unless they've found a way of working around that issue. 

[Tim]

then why leave it to the auto announcer.  Is there not a microphone somewhere in Paddington.  Staff at Bath seem generally view good about making appropriate manual announcements when needed.  Shame that they can't do it at Paddington. 

[ChrisB]

Bath announcers are GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff, those at Paddington belong to Network Rail. 'nuff said.

[insider]

Its a manually controlled system at Paddington!!! Someone has to post the platform to the system then auto voice takes over.

It is best practice not to advertise the platform until it has been routed in, just in case it gets changed which causes more annoyance.

If the control person is busy say on the phone, making the tea or otherwise engaged at the precise moment the train is routed into the platform there may be a delay until the magic button gets pressed.

[a-driver]

Its a manually controlled system at Paddington!!! Someone has to post the platform to the system then auto voice takes over.

It is best practice not to advertise the platform until it has been routed in, just in case it gets changed which causes more annoyance.

If the control person is busy say on the phone, making the tea or otherwise engaged at the precise moment the train is routed into the platform there may be a delay until the magic button gets pressed.

Oh right, when we visited the control rooms and signalling centres we were lead to believe the departure screens were all automatic for LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services, as soon as the headcode moves into the platform the departure screens are updated but there was a degree of manual control for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) services. 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Passengers running to catch their train is a well-recognised safety hazard and some years ago there was a campaign at Reading imploring passengers not to run, particularly up and down stairs.  This of course didn^t stop them doing last minute platform changes for XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))^s between P3 and P8 resulting in mad dashes through the subway or over the (old) footbridge.

The answer at Padd must be to have a rule that no train must be allowed to depart until 5 minutes after the departure platform has been announced and put on the screens.  I know operators prefer a train to leave half empty on time rather than a few minutes late with all the passengers who had been patiently waiting on the concourse for a platform announcement, but, sorry, you must allow passengers time to get to the platform safely. 

[TaplowGreen]

Any idea when this is starting? My trains from Taplow still seem to be coming into Platform 13 in the mornings.