Irrelevant alerts from National Rail Enquiries

[FlippyFF]

Hi All,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section, Mods please feel free to move it to a more appropriate place if needs be.....

For the last couple of years I've had alerts set up with National Rail Enquiries for my normal work commute of Ashford International to St Pancras and back. I've tried it as-is, with "via Ebbsfleet International" and with "via Stratford International" but the system seems to struggle with this. Just today I received the following email (snipped for simplicity)

"Problems have been reported which may affect your journey between London St Pancras International (STP) and Ashford International (AFK) via Stratford International (SFA)

More details of this disruption can be found here: http://nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/163401.aspx "

Clicking the link took me to:

"Incident created 17/05/2017 11:53 Last updated 17/05/2017 15:18 Route affected

Download map of route affected

Great Western Railway between Reading / Guildford and Redhill / Gatwick Airport

Southern between London Victoria / London Bridge and Brighton / Horsham / Portsmouth / Tonbridge / Reigate / Eastbourne

Thameslink between Bedford / London Bridge and Brighton / Three Bridges

Description
The fault with the signalling system at Redhill has been fixed and trains at the station are now able to run normally."

On the 2nd May I received another alert, again for disruption on the Brighton Main Line. 10th May - signalling fault at Brighton. 15th Feb - points failure between Purley and Gatwick Airport.

What do I need to do to stop getting these updates and only those relevant to my journey?


Thanks in advance,

Simon

 

[asylumxl]

It's not really irrelevant, it's just that the system has no idea what route you are taking. Thameslink used to run through services to Ashford, though I have a feeling they now terminate at London Blackfriars, either way it's still a valid route to St Pancras.

Inward:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sea...17/05/22/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

Outward:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sea...17/05/22/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

 

[FlippyFF]

You need to ask GTR to stop running trains to Ashford International via the Thameslink core.

It's not really irrelevant, it's just that the system has no idea what route you are taking.

Even though the disruption alert that triggered this email alert is configured for "St Pancras to Ashford International via Stratford International"? I don't think I can be much more specific.....


Simon

 

[asylumxl]

Even though the disruption alert that triggered this email alert is configured for "St Pancras to Ashford International via Stratford International"? I don't think I can be much more specific.....


Simon

Perhaps you, understandably, assume the system is more capable than it is. My guess is it's triggered when disruption occurs involving your origin and destination. I'm not sure there's much you can do about it, bar perhaps setting it to show you disruption between Stratford International and Ashford International?

 

[Chrisgr31]

I used to find this when I got alerts for my London Bridge to Crowborough journey. Most alerts were for issues on Thamelink or the BML which had no impact on my route.

 

[Frontera2]

Perhaps you, understandably, assume the system is more capable than it is. My guess is it's triggered when disruption occurs involving your origin and destination. I'm not sure there's much you can do about it, bar perhaps setting it to show you disruption between Stratford International and Ashford International?

If the same alert message ( you can see these on the Live Departure Boards pages ) is on both your origin and destination stations then you'll receive an alert, regardless of the route you've specified.

 

[Atishyou]

The system is based on attaching routes and stations to the message.

Unfortunately there's no quick 'out', as if an alert goes on any of the stations that are in your disruption alerts, you'll get an alert.

 

[Atishyou]

It's been known in the past that some people have removed stations from the Darwin alerts when they're not being affected (for example, trains via Crowborough).

It takes a proactive approach, or report from a customer though.

 

[Frontera2]

The system is based on attaching routes and stations to the message.

Unfortunately there's no quick 'out', as if an alert goes on any of the stations that are in your disruption alerts, you'll get an alert.

Not strictly true. It's not * any * station, it has to be against BOTH the origin and destination stations ( or origin and interchange station, or interchange and destination for multi leg journeys)

How do I know this? I designed it!

 

[asylumxl]

If the same alert message ( you can see these on the Live Departure Boards pages ) is on both your origin and destination stations then you'll receive an alert, regardless of the route you've specified.

So my assumption was correct.