fwsmVor
On Moderation
http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/stations/barriers.shtm has code 73 as "Emergency ticket, not valid for travel at this station". What is an "emergency ticket"?
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"Emergency tickets"
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Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
I would guess it'll be a "SILK" ( Stranded Individual Location Known ) ticket, if they still do those?
It's where someone is stranded with no resources and someone else pays for the ticket remotely through a procedure specific for the purpose. I would be very surprised if the resulting tickets were not encoded to be used only at the specified origin and destination.
Wow. It's taken me 25 years to find out what SILK meant!
Haywain
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A ticket issued as a result of a SILK arrangement is still a normal ticket, the difference is how it's been paid for.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
It sounds a bit like a "backronym" of a fairly arbitrary telegraph code to be honest! These very often are. Might not be, though.
I doubt there would be much use of these now if they do exist, particularly now the card is usually not required for Ticket on Departure - just buy online for collection and tell them the code. Or if they've still got their mobile and just not a way of paying for the ticket e.g. because their bank account is empty, buy an e-ticket and email it to them.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
In that case, we are no nearer to solving the OPs question are we?
In APTIS days, stations were supposed to retain a stock of emergency tickets to their "Top 24" destinations.
They were issued in bulk with the date and price suppressed and they were validated with a date stamp when issued.
I'd guess LU had a similar arrangement.
They were issued in bulk with the date and price suppressed and they were validated with a date stamp when issued.
I'd guess LU had a similar arrangement.
Falcon1200
Established Member
It's taken me longer than that! I dealt with many a SILK arrangement but never knew (until now) what it meant. I was a booking office clerk from 1978 to 1984.....
fwsmVor
On Moderation
What emergency were these supposed to mitigate?
Haywain
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Presumably a failure of the APTIS equipment.
Ralph Ayres
Member
Dredging my memory banks, this relates to a little-used (and possibly only on LU) "Emergency" setting which can be applied to the gates. Nothing to do with emergency open, it allows a temporary interchange mid-route catering for service interruptions, line closures etc and gives back all magnetic tickets to carry on by rail replacement bus or possibly a walk followed by another rail leg, with an "Emergency" marker bit set in the code. Any other station also set to "Emergency" will accept these tickets for onward travel, but other stations will reject them with that 73 as they're not part of the arrangement.
It's a bit clunky and - unlike a permanent OSI - specific stations are not paired and there is just one system-wide time limit. In my experience it was poorly-understood by staff on the ground and tended to cause as many problems as it solved (tickets given back that weren't needed leading to litter and confusion, mid-journey RRB travel taking longer than the maximum time allowed, the setting taking too long to take effect for an unplanned closure and other more obscure issues). I've no idea if there is an equivalent setting for Oyster or ITSO, and contactless payg is likely to be dealt with by running a more customised post-journey adjustment in the back office if significant numbers of journeys are affected.
It's a bit clunky and - unlike a permanent OSI - specific stations are not paired and there is just one system-wide time limit. In my experience it was poorly-understood by staff on the ground and tended to cause as many problems as it solved (tickets given back that weren't needed leading to litter and confusion, mid-journey RRB travel taking longer than the maximum time allowed, the setting taking too long to take effect for an unplanned closure and other more obscure issues). I've no idea if there is an equivalent setting for Oyster or ITSO, and contactless payg is likely to be dealt with by running a more customised post-journey adjustment in the back office if significant numbers of journeys are affected.
thedbdiboy
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Correct. This was firmly back in the analogue era when a power cut was not assumed to be a cause for business interruption. These days it's accepted (however reluctantly) that if there's a power outage physical retailing gets suspended - not just on the railway but in the high street too.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Though the difference with the railway is that they still let you travel - the shop won't. I do remember years ago being in an Asda when the power went out, though, they went cash only and estimated the values of trolleys (significantly underestimating in most cases). I guess the benefit of that was that all the frozen and chilled food was going in the bin anyway so you might as well sell it even for a discount.
Wallsendmag
Established Member
The two main TIS will still function without mains power.
SargeNpton
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Is the correct answer.
The attached picture shows a page from the 1958 British Transport Commission "Standard Codes For Telegrams" book, in which SILK is explained:
Attachments
I, as a third party had to organise a SILK around ten years ago at my local station for my brother that was stranded.
The procedure was that you go to any station with a ticket office and ask them to do a SILK. Chingford knew how to do one when it was under Greater Anglia. They faxed to the receiving station authority to issue a ticket that was paid for by a third party i.e. myself. The ticket price was an Anytime single - no discounts or off peaks plus a £10 admin fee.
It was a simple process and the station even issued a receipt for the transaction.
It was customer services who advised how to pay for a ticket when somebody has no money - they said go to your local station and ask for a "SILK".
The procedure was that you go to any station with a ticket office and ask them to do a SILK. Chingford knew how to do one when it was under Greater Anglia. They faxed to the receiving station authority to issue a ticket that was paid for by a third party i.e. myself. The ticket price was an Anytime single - no discounts or off peaks plus a £10 admin fee.
It was a simple process and the station even issued a receipt for the transaction.
It was customer services who advised how to pay for a ticket when somebody has no money - they said go to your local station and ask for a "SILK".
There is an emergency OSI which can be set at any number of local stations and allows entry at any within 30 minutes of the exit, including re-entry at the same station. ITSO mostly won't be affected as they're usually travelcards, but I don't know what happens with KeyGo etc. Contactless will probably work the same as Oyster but the back office will be free to break the OSI if it can avoid incomplete journeys.
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