Metro article - LNER seat sensors?

[Aictos]

It's quite plausible for an HST, it could be a substitute coach and they sometimes do do that without changing the letter, for some reason I've never quite been able to work out.

And in any train formed of multiple Class 350s you get more than one of each, though the LNR re-liverying seems to be removing the coach letters.

Anyway, the obvious next thing to do is to show platform zones on those displays so people can wait in the right place. VTWC do this now in text, but on the picture would be nice. If we went back to the old InterCity colour zones, that could be done on a colour display (which they will all be soon enough I reckon - probably AMOLED once it gets cheap enough as it is very clear and can be read from all directions unlike LCD) by colouring the coaches accordingly.

The East Coast has managed for years with the simple Coach B, Coach C, Coach D signs etc without needing any platform zones to be used, you need to know what coach to board? simple you look for the sign that has the coach letter on it.

All they should do is ensure they show the carriage letter in the display like they have above and it's idiot proof as it's so simple.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The East Coast has managed for years with the simple Coach B, Coach C, Coach D signs etc without needing any platform zones to be used, you need to know what coach to board? simple you look for the sign that has the coach letter on it.

That works when you operate one kind of rolling stock (or at most 2, HST and Mk4). The WCML doesn't (you can have a 9 or 11 car Pendolino or a 5 or 10 car Voyager, or indeed something else like a Class 350) and so that approach can't be used as it would lead to confusion by way of signage clutter. VTWC instead uses numbered zones and has German style posters showing formations and coach positions.

 

[Aictos]

That works when you operate one kind of rolling stock (or at most 2, HST and Mk4). The WCML doesn't (you can have a 9 or 11 car Pendolino or a 5 or 10 car Voyager, or indeed something else like a Class 350) and so that approach can't be used as it would lead to confusion by way of signage clutter. VTWC instead uses numbered zones and has German style posters showing formations and coach positions.

Umm the Class 390s have the carriages in the same order regardless of if a 9 car or a 11 car turned up as to the Voyagers, they again have the carriages in the same order although the only difference is with a pair of Voyagers you get Coach A to D then Coach E to H which isn't exactly difficult, the same applies to the Class 350s.

The only hiccup is the stupid way that TPE has labelled their Class 185s as they have Coaches A to C then E to G when it ought to be D to F apart from that dumb move, it's not rocket science.

Indeed if the West Coast followed the common sense of the East Coast and only had Letters and not Numbers etc then you wouldn't need to have the numbered zones and it wouldn't lead to confusion either.

The numbered or coloured zone is confusing anyway as you need to know what zone your carriage will arrive in so you do need to have a understanding of the zone system while the East Coast system is fool proof especially as it's seen daily use by a mix of services from Class 222s, 180s, HSTs, 91s, Charters etc

 

[Bletchleyite]

Umm the Class 390s have the carriages in the same order regardless of if a 9 car or a 11 car turned up as to the Voyagers, they again have the carriages in the same order although the only difference is with a pair of Voyagers you get Coach A to D then Coach E to H which isn't exactly difficult, the same applies to the Class 350s.

Er, no they don't. The formation of the Pendolinos is ABCDEFUGHJK, where U and G don't exist on 9-car sets, so the rear coaches are in one of two different positions. And the stopping position for a 5-car Voyager is different from a 10-car one. So you would, ignoring TPE etc, need four different sets of signs.

FWIW, this is the poster (from Coventry Telegraph):

 

[Aictos]

I'm not arguing with you as I am aware of Coach U however it smacks of laziness to not label it correctly and in order for example LNER label their 91s Coach B to Coach F then Coach H followed by Coach K to M which is in order unlike Virgin Trains labelling their Class 390s as Coach A to Coach F than Coach U followed by Coach G to Coach H than Coach J to Coach K in other words, Coach U ought to be at the other end of the train to Coach A not sitting in the middle.

It's simply not the done way.