Don't people look or listen ??

[HST Power]

Woke up as we were leaving Sandbach, the conductor that i had for it was very good natured about the whole affair, and got the platform staff there to help me get to my destination (Northwich).

You should take a look at the 'Never fall asleep and miss your stop again' thread.

 

[Pete2210]

There have been times when making a PA to our wonderful travelling public that I have prayed for the assistance of a couple of Border Collies ie. Away! & Come by!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This is one for the forum members who work in the rail industry.

Is it possible for an automated train information board on a station to show another train information display, after the time that the previous train WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPART even though it had not yet arrived due to late running...or is this not possible?.

 

[Buttsy]

Substitute the daytime London Midland service from London Euston to Birmingham New Street and Crewe, two lots of four-car 350s, splitting at Northampton, on Saturdays - same thing.

I've been sat there, listening to repeated announcements on board and booming in from the platform, watched apparently sentient people look at the screens, get on board, stand underneath the scrolling display unit and STILL ask 'is this the Birmingham train?'. I know not everyone travels frequently, and not everyone is familiar with such operating procedures, but, really, some people just aren't safe to be out on their own.....

Now, there's no excuse for staff being rude, but I can thus understand why they must be sorely tempted.

As a regular user of trains from Reading to Oxford I've only ever got on the wrong train twice and that was down to my own idiocy in not checking before I got on.

Expecting a Liverpool train on platform 8 one Friday in the early 90s, jumped on the train there (I had only seconds to when the train should have left) I hadn't realised it was the Friday when rails warped and everything was late. I enjoyed Basingstoke...

Last time was about 6 years ago. Saw that the Newcastle train was due on platform 3 on time. Jumped on the train, walking through it, saw work colleagues who lived in Southampton...It was a late running bournemouth train that was given the right of way as I ran down the platform at 17.03. Basingstoke's lovely...

I take full responsibility for getting on the wrong trains, though it was nice to get a push from a Duff towards London before shooting through P4 at Reading on the way to Basingstoke.

 

[EM2]

Are you saying that train A is late and has not yet arrived, the display shows train B, due to arrive after train A but in fact arrives before it?
In that case, yes I have seen certain screens that can do that.

 

[LE Greys]

This is one for the forum members who work in the rail industry.

Is it possible for an automated train information board on a station to show another train information display, after the time that the previous train WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPART even though it had not yet arrived due to late running...or is this not possible?.

I've been caught out by that one a few times (I'm not a railwayman BTW) and not just by the King's Cross flap board getting stuck. Sometimes, the system just takes time to catch up, and at places such as London Bridge P6 with 24 tph, that can cause problems. Apart from Thameslink passengers ending up at Charing Cross, that is generally not too bad. On the other hand, going the other way might be awkward.

 

[BestWestern]

This is one for the forum members who work in the rail industry.

Is it possible for an automated train information board on a station to show another train information display, after the time that the previous train WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPART even though it had not yet arrived due to late running...or is this not possible?.

In short, yes they can do. There are many different systems in place which pass information around the industry, both internally and to the travelling public, and some are better than others. It's not uncommon for the station display screens to lose the plot, and when you stand on stations watching this happening every day you start to appreciate just why some people need so much reassurance of where a train is actually going! That doesn't excuse the ones who just can't be bothered to even try and find out, however :roll:

A good example of 'screen stupidity' is when a train arrives and terminates, before heading back out again on it's next service shortly afterwards. The screens will display " 1st: XX:XX TERMINATES" or something similar, and then the train's next service will show up underneath as train no 2. However, due to the wonderful technology it's all based on, if the train is late coming in the screens will often switch it all round and show the incoming train as 'no 2' and arriving after it has already left again on it's next service! This sort of thing confuses those people who aren't too familiar with it all, and demonstrates to those who are in the know just how unreliable the systems are :roll:

 

[Tim R-T-C]

My favourite example was at Rugby. A posh woman bustles up to the guard standing on the platform and briskly asks if the adjacent train was for London Euston. He said that it was, but as he tried to explain that it was a stopping train and that she should wait for the next fast train if she was going to London, she just turned tail and boarded the train with that typical "my time is too important to listen to you" sort of attitude. He rolled his eyes at me and waved the train off.

 

[gnolife]

My favourite example was at Rugby. A posh woman bustles up to the guard standing on the platform and briskly asks if the adjacent train was for London Euston. He said that it was, but as he tried to explain that it was a stopping train and that she should wait for the next fast train if she was going to London, she just turned tail and boarded the train with that typical "my time is too important to listen to you" sort of attitude. He rolled his eyes at me and waved the train off.

As long as she got there though :roll:
I wonder what her response to getting overtaken would have been...can imagine it woulda been quite funny

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Actually can I just have a bit of a rant here. We all complain about the endless, unnecessary automated announcements at stations, but how about those relayed via the LCD displays. You are running for a train and look up at the platform board to make sure you have the right train and it is displaying a message telling you not to leave your bags unattended. Incredibly frustrating.

 

[43167]

My favourite example was at Rugby. A posh woman bustles up to the guard standing on the platform and briskly asks if the adjacent train was for London Euston. He said that it was, but as he tried to explain that it was a stopping train and that she should wait for the next fast train if she was going to London, she just turned tail and boarded the train with that typical "my time is too important to listen to you" sort of attitude. He rolled his eyes at me and waved the train off.

And you can bet at once the train got going she would be complaining about all the stops.

My opinion is I have long believed normals cant read, listen or use common sense when it comes to the railways. I was at York today and was trying to go down the stairs to platforms 10/11. despite signs asking passengers to keep to the left, some insisted on going to the right with huge cases.

Then at Leeds the old favourite, my train rolls in and people on the platform waiting to board stand in the way of those getting off.

 

[Skimble19]

Actually can I just have a bit of a rant here. We all complain about the endless, unnecessary automated announcements at stations, but how about those relayed via the LCD displays. You are running for a train and look up at the platform board to make sure you have the right train and it is displaying a message telling you not to leave your bags unattended. Incredibly frustrating.

The boards along the FCC route (installed by WAGN) are good (well, when they aren't telling you to go to wagn.co.uk!), they can display messages like that on the bottom line of text (4th one down) instead of displaying the calling pattern of the second train should they need to. They simply flick between the timetabled time and predicted time as well.

 

[jon0844]

But I have to agree, that there seem to be a lot more people these days who simply don't bother looking at the information that is available to them at the station. I wonder whether this is more to do with familiarity, in that they are so used to going to the same platform they do not check what train is there, or an over reliance on mobile phone apps for platform numbers!

Quite possibly.

I change trains at Finsbury Park a lot, and all the slows on the down line stop at platform 6. The others on platform 5. Some, rarely, stop on platform 3.

There's a platform 4 but it is never used. However, after a recent signal problem on the approach, I was being told that my train (always platform 5) was going to be platform 4! And, in reality, as it approached, you got a last minute platform change from 5 to 3. And I mean last minute, as it's now within 30 seconds or so of arriving.. and it's not easy to get people waiting for an 8-car service to go down the stairs and come back up to board!

A manual announcement was made as the ATOS system seemed incapable of announcing the platform change, and I have to assume they delayed it a bit to wait for people to rush over.

Thankfully I am told the problem has been fixed, but people do get into a routine and if you're at the far end of the platform (the quiet bit of the train) then you are too far from the screen to see any changes. If there's no audio, or it's busy announcing a train coming in on platform 6, you'll just see a train arrive at platform 3 and not realise until it's far too late to change. If you're in any way disabled, forget it even if you ARE given a bit more notice.

 

[GodAtum]

People arent stupid if any only make mistakes rarely. I've got on the wrong train 1 in 10 years.

 

[Asian Demon]

Tbh I have only made two mistakes in the entire time I've travelled but then again I've always made a point to be as prepared as possible. One mistake was jumping on a train on an advance ticket for the same train but the following day because I got dates mixed up. I was very lucky that the Train Manager saw the funny side and said don't worry about it. The other was sleeping through my stop at St Albans and ending up at the end of the route. I do believe some things could be made easier from a passenger standpoint but I also think that some people have become so used to having things immediately that any sense of rationality, common sense or patience have gone out the window. Sadly I don't see this changing any time soon.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

It is of course easy to forget that as rail fans we have a big inbuilt advantage that the average commuter will not have.

Leeds station is a good example, a mix of local and long haul trains on the same platforms, often using sub-platforms as well (eg. 6b). Obviously we would know that a Class 91 set is not running a local service to Huddersfield, anyone unfamiliar with the route might not appreciate this.

 

[BestWestern]

It is of course easy to forget that as rail fans we have a big inbuilt advantage that the average commuter will not have.

Leeds station is a good example, a mix of local and long haul trains on the same platforms, often using sub-platforms as well (eg. 6b). Obviously we would know that a Class 91 set is not running a local service to Huddersfield, anyone unfamiliar with the route might not appreciate this.

That's a very good point, particularly bearing in mind the unsuitable rolling stock used on some routes now. I've had people ask me if a Class 150 is the London service from Bristol, or if a 158 is the XC to Manchester. Might sound daft to us, but if the same 150 can appear on a Brighton - Malvern or wherever, with a journey time of about 5 hours or so, then really one could be going just about anywhere! What also doesn't help is the use of any train in any livery, which just makes a nonsense of announcements detailing the operator of a particular service. As one of the more prevalent 'borrowers', FGW's daily roster currently includes 150's from Arriva, 158's from SWT and 153's from London Midland, all in their own respective liveries and branding, and up until recently their own fleet included 150/1's in Silverlink colours with no fleetnames at all! Just not helpful! :roll:

 

[kennethw]

You can make something foolproof, but it's harder to make it damn fool proof.

In the early days of the Tallyllyn, main line connections were added to try and make journey planning easier. It was dropped due to the number of passengers who expected to be taken to these destinations.

I get the same thing all the time, at farm gate are 2 signs. One says farm access only, the second says Bridleway. Invariably a committee meeting will be held by the gate, and the conclusion is that the bridleway runs through the farm.and if you advise them of the way they should be taking , you're wrong
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

This is one for the forum members who work in the rail industry.

Is it possible for an automated train information board on a station to show another train information display, after the time that the previous train WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPART even though it had not yet arrived due to late running...or is this not possible?.

I've seen display boards at Brockenhurst for the Lymington branch continue to show a cancellation after the next service due to scrolling, and I did query when the next depature would take place

 

[telstarbox]

That's a very good point, particularly bearing in mind the unsuitable rolling stock used on some routes now. I've had people ask me if a Class 150 is the London service from Bristol, or if a 158 is the XC to Manchester.

I once had a hard time convincing a fellow passenger at MAN that the "tiny" (their words) 2-car 158 pulling into the platform really was the EMT service all the way to Norwich!

 

[jon0844]

At Finsbury Park, trains to King's Cross can stop on platforms 1 and 2, but if it's not a 313 then you know 100% that it isn't a Moorgate train - but people will still run off their KGX-bound train on platform 2 to get on the train on platform 1, also going to KGX, assuming it's going to Moorgate!

Most people clearly can't identify that it can't be their train if it's a 365/321/317! Now if it's a 313, you still can't be 100% sure but it's most likely going to be.

 

[stut]

I once had a hard time convincing a fellow passenger at MAN that the "tiny" (their words) 2-car 158 pulling into the platform really was the EMT service all the way to Norwich!

I can remember helping a Polish woman travelling from Bedford to Harrow by showing her the Bletchley service on platform 1a. She saw the 153 pull in and burst out laughing (having assumed it was the main London train...)

 

[T163R]

People...just...don't...CARE !!

 

[Sceptre]

As ungreat so rightly said, people are too busy hammering rock music into their skulls and scanning the News of The World to find out who Rooney's been sleeping with to actually bother looking up and taking a glance at the departure boards. The departure boards say that a train stops at Royston. The annoucements say that a train stops at Royston. The sign on the front of the cab says 'Royston.' But you still get people walking up to you and saying 'does this train stop at Royston?'

A few years ago, I took a fast service from London Kings Cross, calling at Letchworth and Royston then going non-stop to Ely. As we were leaving Royston, a youngish looking fellow walks up to me and asks if the train is stopping at Foxton.

I wonder how long it took him to get back.

In defence, if I don't have my glasses on (as happened recently when they were nicked), I have difficulty reading the departure boards. And I have had times when there have been multiple Sprinters in 10 and 13 at Leeds so I had to ask which one to board. Or last Friday night, where about 100 people (99 from Take That and me from a different gig at the Academy) had to shuffle along Platform 3 at Piccadilly to get to the 23:38 MIA-YRK, most people not being aware that it set off from MIA and that the train already in the platform wasn't going anywhere.

 

[185]

"Railway Lobotamy"

The description of passengers who upon entering railway premesis immediately, just like the 70s film 'Scanners' have their heads open and their brain fly away.

 

[HST Power]

In defence, if I don't have my glasses on (as happened recently when they were nicked), I have difficulty reading the departure boards. And I have had times when there have been multiple Sprinters in 10 and 13 at Leeds so I had to ask which one to board. Or last Friday night, where about 100 people (99 from Take That and me from a different gig at the Academy) had to shuffle along Platform 3 at Piccadilly to get to the 23:38 MIA-YRK, most people not being aware that it set off from MIA and that the train already in the platform wasn't going anywhere.

If you haven't got your glasses because some dumb moron has nicked them that's different. My case is with the people who intentionally don't pay attention and are fully aware of the actions surrounding them, they simply choose to dissolve their brains and flow into their own worlds.