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bobm
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« on: February 23, 2011, 19:06:58 » |
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The staff at Twyford are having to do manual announcements while the new CIS▸ is being installed. Nice to hear Norman Topson announcing one of the stops on the Banbury service as Cholsey & Moulsford.
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BBM
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« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2011, 20:48:28 » |
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The staff at Twyford are having to do manual announcements while the new CIS▸ is being installed. Nice to hear Norman Topson announcing one of the stops on the Banbury service as Cholsey & Moulsford.
Just before the 07:22 5-car through train from Henley to Paddington arrives he announces which way round the units are to help people find (or avoid!) the First Class areas. I don't think the new CIS is capable of doing that! |
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inspector_blakey
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« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2011, 20:54:54 » |
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There's plenty of guards in south Wales who will announce Swansea as "Swansea High Street" , I've also heard the odd conductor in the Bristol area announcing "Keynsham and Somerdale". Never heard "Reading General" though...
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paul7575
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« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2011, 23:04:05 » |
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Just before the 07:22 5-car through train from Henley to Paddington arrives he announces which way round the units are to help people find (or avoid!) the First Class areas. I don't think the new CIS▸ is capable of doing that!
It's pretty standard stuff for the current info systems AFAICT▸ . SWT▸ 's PIS▸ displays it, with the necessary announcements added, if the 444s are in 'reverse formation'. For Voyagers it displays the formation, but doesn't make any announcements, as they are sort of 50/50. I know the new displays at Reading can warn of HSTs▸ being in reverse, and include the Voyager info 'on arrival' as they reverse, haven't heard an audio version of teh HST info yet though. Paul |
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inspector_blakey
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« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2011, 01:14:42 » |
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The "old" FGW▸ system installed at the "high-speed stations" (for want of a better phrase) can also handle reverse formation announcements, although I believe the annotation has to be made manually by someone in the control room.
Unfortunately no-one seems to bother to phone the control room to ask them to amend the system when the information is incorrect: last time I travelled to Swansea the train was announced as being wrong way round at Reading (it wasn't) and then at every single station call until it terminated. Bit sad that no-one did anything about it because it caused a few headaches for dispatchers with bikes being in the wrong place.
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willc
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« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2011, 02:05:01 » |
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Just before the 07:22 5-car through train from Henley to Paddington arrives he announces which way round the units are to help people find (or avoid!) the First Class areas. I don't think the new CIS▸ is capable of doing that!
It's pretty standard stuff for the current info systems AFAICT▸ . SWT▸ 's PIS▸ displays it, with the necessary announcements added, if the 444s are in 'reverse formation'. For Voyagers it displays the formation, but doesn't make any announcements, as they are sort of 50/50. I know the new displays at Reading can warn of HSTs▸ being in reverse, and include the Voyager info 'on arrival' as they reverse, haven't heard an audio version of teh HST info yet though. Paul But I think the point BBM is making is that the announcements are about where, across the five cars of two coupled Turbo sets, you will find the first class compartments - not something that the CIS can handle, so far as I'm aware. It's rather more straightforward with an HST/Voyager/Pendolino, where it's all at one end of the train. |
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readytostart
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« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2011, 02:06:28 » |
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For Voyagers it displays the formation, but doesn't make any announcements, as they are sort of 50/50.
I know the new displays at Reading can warn of HSTs▸ being in reverse, and include the Voyager info 'on arrival' as they reverse, haven't heard an audio version of teh HST info yet though.
Station staff at Basingstoke (for Southbound if different to that displayed) and Bournemouth (for Northbound) generally let SWT▸ CIS▸ know the formation of Voyagers and the number of coaches. CIS these days also announces 'First class accommodation is available and can be found at the XX of the train'. FGW▸ seem to be slowest at altering CIS in my personal experience. |
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bobm
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« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2011, 02:13:41 » |
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Mind you it all fell down coming home. Norman had gone home and there's engineering work on the relief lines tonight so we came into platform 2 and with no working CIS▸ that meant a few people waiting on the usual platform 4 for London Paddington missed the train.
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JayMac
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« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2011, 04:29:50 » |
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FGW▸ seem to be slowest at altering CIS▸ in my personal experience.
Don't get me started on the announcements and CIS for XC▸ Voyagers at Bristol Parkway. Despite it being a 50/50 chance of announcing the correct formation, the FGW auto announcements and CIS always seem to be 100% wrong! Many's the time I've heard 'first class is at the rear' only to see the Class 220/221 approach with the yellow stripe on the front coupler. |
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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dog box
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« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2011, 08:53:48 » |
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The "old" FGW▸ system installed at the "high-speed stations" (for want of a better phrase) can also handle reverse formation announcements, although I believe the annotation has to be made manually by someone in the control room.
Unfortunately no-one seems to bother to phone the control room to ask them to amend the system when the information is incorrect: last time I travelled to Swansea the train was announced as being wrong way round at Reading (it wasn't) and then at every single station call until it terminated. Bit sad that no-one did anything about it because it caused a few headaches for dispatchers with bikes being in the wrong place.
And you have evidence to prove that no one bothers to contact control to advise them of alterations which could affect right time running? its actually in the Guards duties to do this during train prep and as far as i know everyone does it whether this information for one reason or another fails to appear on the CIS▸ screens is a completley different matter |
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« Last Edit: February 24, 2011, 09:01:54 by dog box »
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All postings reflect my own personal views and opinions and are not intended to be, nor should be taken as official statements of first great western or first group policy
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Louis94
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« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2011, 09:27:45 » |
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The "old" FGW▸ system installed at the "high-speed stations" (for want of a better phrase) can also handle reverse formation announcements, although I believe the annotation has to be made manually by someone in the control room.
Unfortunately no-one seems to bother to phone the control room to ask them to amend the system when the information is incorrect: last time I travelled to Swansea the train was announced as being wrong way round at Reading (it wasn't) and then at every single station call until it terminated. Bit sad that no-one did anything about it because it caused a few headaches for dispatchers with bikes being in the wrong place.
And you have evidence to prove that no one bothers to contact control to advise them of alterations which could affect right time running? its actually in the Guards duties to do this during train prep and as far as i know everyone does it whether this information for one reason or another fails to appear on the CIS▸ screens is a completley different matter Staff at Plymouth always ring up control and advise them when a train is the other way around than the screen says, mainly because information other than the Calling at pattern is manually added on all systems, as the system can't detect which way around the train is facing. Also regarding CrossCountry services, they have the "Please Note: CrossCountry service. First Class..." added automatically by default (At least on the FGW HSS▸ stations) for any XC▸ service, so its bound to be wrong sometimes. |
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #11 on: February 24, 2011, 13:17:26 » |
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But I think the point BBM is making is that the announcements are about where, across the five cars of two coupled Turbo sets, you will find the first class compartments - not something that the CIS▸ can handle, so far as I'm aware. It's rather more straightforward with an HST▸ /Voyager/Pendolino, where it's all at one end of the train.
It's not quite as necessary though either is it? With the worst case scenario being that you're two carriages away from a first class compartment, whereas it could be up to five carriages with a HST. Also there's no need to hunt down the guards van if you have a bike - which is a bigger reason for station delays. |
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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BBM
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« Reply #12 on: February 24, 2011, 14:44:07 » |
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But I think the point BBM is making is that the announcements are about where, across the five cars of two coupled Turbo sets, you will find the first class compartments - not something that the CIS▸ can handle, so far as I'm aware. It's rather more straightforward with an HST▸ /Voyager/Pendolino, where it's all at one end of the train.
It's not quite as necessary though either is it? With the worst case scenario being that you're two carriages away from a first class compartment, whereas it could be up to five carriages with a HST. Also there's no need to hunt down the guards van if you have a bike - which is a bigger reason for station delays. Agreed that it's not as necessary but it's a nice helpful touch. From my own point of view as a standard class commuter the end vehicle without first class is also without a toilet so there's more chance of finding a reasonably decent seat (or even a seat at all!). |
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inspector_blakey
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« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2011, 16:18:43 » |
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And you have evidence to prove that no one bothers to contact control to advise them of alterations which could affect right time running? its actually in the Guards duties to do this during train prep and as far as i know everyone does it whether this information for one reason or another fails to appear on the CIS▸ screens is a completley different matter
The train in question ran all the way from London to Swansea, calling at 8 intermediate stations, every single one of which announced that the train was in reverse formation, and picking up a delay minute or two at each calling point. I've asked a friend who works for FGW▸ about this before, and his reponse was that control could amend these announcements assuming they were provided with the correct information. I'm not blaming the guard specifically (indeed, why would I? Seems a bit strange that he would have gone out of his way to tell control the train was back-to-front when it wasn't) but from a customer's point of view something clearly has gone wrong when there are eight opportunities to correct it but nothing happens. So if you're asking for proof, I think this is proof that, on the day in question, no-one working for FGW bothered to update the information that could have helped right-time running. Where the weak link in the chain was, be it the guard, eight different sets of dispatchers or control, I couldn't say. |
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Oxman
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« Reply #14 on: February 24, 2011, 16:33:26 » |
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There is another possibility. Its not unknown for the software that controls the CIS▸ to "freeze" and stop operators making changes to the system. The CIS will continue to run automatically, but without the facility for manual intervention. This would explain why so many staff apparently were unable to have the formation amended.
Formation information is set up in the various CISs overnight by the CIS operators in Swindon, when any sets in reverse formation have been identified. They also get formation information sent to them by AXC» and set up the systems with this each night for Cross Country services.
This is usually fairly accurate, until of course things go wrong and trains are diverted, deliberately turned, or sets are swapped.
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