Publishing Platforms in Advance

[WestCoast]

Something interesting occurred to me when all the electronic boards at a UK station failed a few weeks ago! :roll:

Has anyone ever considered the fact that in continental European countries platforms for the bulk of trains services are "fixed" and published months in advance?

For example, I look up my train services on the NS or DB website and it will tell me the platform that the service departs from and arrives at. For the most part this is correct! All stations (whatever the size) do it! With NS and DB (not sure what the others do) all stations have a very logical poster (In Germany it is yellow for departures and sometimes white for arrivals) which shows all the train services in time order and which platform they depart from/arrive at. It also shows the stopping pattern for each service and its number. I really miss this feature in the UK.

There are occasionally going to be platform alterations - but in my experience these are only done when absolutely necessary. The system seems to work to well.

What system do we think is better, publishing platforms or not doing it and relying on electronic boards (or old TVs at some stations!!) and announcements? Of course, they also have automated boards and announcements on the continent but do you think that we should publish platforms in the UK? Would it work or would it cause havoc?

What do we also thing about numbering trains attached to their route and stopping pattern? I find it far simpler to recognise the service you want. And it cuts down on the excessively long announcements e.g. the SWT stopper to Poole!

 

[MCR247]

National rail gives the booked platform in advance, but at terminus stations etc it isn't practical due to trains being cleaned etc

 

[WestCoast]

National rail gives the booked platform in advance, but at terminus stations etc it isn't practical due to trains being cleaned etc

I didn't think it would do it 90 days in advance? I just tried a journey for tomorrow and it won't give me platforms.

I'm talking more about on the journey planner than live departure boards. But nowadays a quick check on the smartphone before you arrive at the station will give you the platform!

 

[MCR247]

Before the TT change it always gave me the platform :?

 

[142094]

Probably would be a bit of a mess over here - you'd get people getting on wrong trains and complaining that x service to y has been changed to platform z when it was supposed to be on another platform. Too many instances of late trains mean that it is better to have the flexibility of being able to change the platform a service will arrive into. Plus as has been said, at the big terminii, trains are cleaned and the boards are intentionally left blank to stop people getting on.

 

[Railjet]

The problem is, platforms do change, even in Germany. There, the platform numbers are printed on the itinerary shown on online tickets too - this can be very confusing for occasional travellers who will blindly follow the detail printed on the ticket rather than check the platform on the indicator boards at the station. I've seen it happen a few times.

 

[gordonthemoron]

in germany, IC, EC, ICE & CNL trains require fixed platforms because the train composition is shown on the Wagenanstandzeiger which is displayed on the platform. In my experience, if there is a platform change it is only to the adjacent platform

 

[jon0844]

I have the National Rail app for my phone and it usually shows the booked platform for trains starting at King's Cross, but with the work going on it can change frequently - and my particular experience has been of a number of trains booked for platform 11 front or rear being changed to platform 0.

That's really annoying as I will have left the underground station at the 9-11 exit and now have the longest walk possible!

I do hope it's only down to the current works and will become more stable in the future. the information is usually spot on for other stations along the ECML. It's only if a train is delayed that there's likely to be a change, and that would be a train scheduled to stop on the slow line now being moved to the fast.

 

[Fred26]

I have the National Rail app for my phone and it usually shows the booked platform for trains starting at King's Cross, but with the work going on it can change frequently - and my particular experience has been of a number of trains booked for platform 11 front or rear being changed to platform 0.

That's really annoying as I will have left the underground station at the 9-11 exit and now have the longest walk possible!

I do hope it's only down to the current works and will become more stable in the future. the information is usually spot on for other stations along the ECML. It's only if a train is delayed that there's likely to be a change, and that would be a train scheduled to stop on the slow line now being moved to the fast.

When I went to Inverness last month, the booked platform according to National Rail Enquiries was Platform 6, I think, which was closed for the works.

 

[Clip]

I have the National Rail app for my phone and it usually shows the booked platform for trains starting at King's Cross, but with the work going on it can change frequently - and my particular experience has been of a number of trains booked for platform 11 front or rear being changed to platform 0.

That's really annoying as I will have left the underground station at the 9-11 exit and now have the longest walk possible!

I do hope it's only down to the current works and will become more stable in the future. the information is usually spot on for other stations along the ECML. It's only if a train is delayed that there's likely to be a change, and that would be a train scheduled to stop on the slow line now being moved to the fast.

As an ex-announcer at Kings cross i can only apologise. But there are many many things that will cause the change of platform for FCC trains.. And some times thats even down to the dispatcher being somewhere else and not having the time to make it round so asks for it to be changed to closer to where they are..

plus the signallers having fun too..

 

[LE Greys]

What do we also thing about numbering trains attached to their route and stopping pattern? I find it far simpler to recognise the service you want. And it cuts down on the excessively long announcements e.g. the SWT stopper to Poole!

I can understand that, and in fact we used to do it in several areas. The Southern Region had their route numbering system (Hastings was 22, Weymouth was 91, that sort of thing), Western Region had their own system (only one I remember was the Cornish Riviera Express - 130). Then headcodes appeared, but they were abandoned for some reason. I quite like the idea of the down Northern Lights carrying 1S12 on the front, as long as it is announced and marked in the timetable.

 

[b0b]

Same thing over here on my Chicago commuter trains, they always leave from the same platforms and there are constant "apology announcements" when the platforms occasionally get switched around, its pretty funny to someone that grew up with UK rail

 

[Mojo]

At some major stations such as Birmingham NS, staff are provided with a printed arrivals and departures booklet for weekday trains which last the whole of the timetable period (except over bank holidays/christmas/easter/etc).

 

[Greenback]

We had the booklet sin Reading when I worked there. They showed the booked platforms, but things changed regularly due to late running. I don;t think much has changed since!

 

[mr williams]

Older members might have better memories than me but I'm sure I remember, certainly in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, that the timetables at stations would have the platform number alongside the departure time - at least they did at Cardiff Central, Newport & Bristol Temple Meads. I remember that they disappeared with one timetable change never to return but I can't recall if that was with the advent of, or later than, privatisation.

 

[Soupdragon]

I dont know about 'booked' platforms but the TPE services running through Doncaster can certainly be very hit and miss as to what platforms they run through.
Generally services heading for Sheffield from Scunthorpe arrive and depart from Platform 3 altho early morning services are pushed over onto Platform 4 (or on rare occaisions platform 8). Early morning commuters are used to this and it causes no problem.
The problems occur when services heading from Sheffield to Scunthorpe and beyond are routed through Platform 3!! Ive lost count of the passengers ive taken on to Scunthorpe that wanted to be heading in the other direction!!

The conversation usually takes the form of..

Pass: "Wheres this train stopping next?"
Me: "Scunthorpe"
Pass: "You sure? the Sheffield train always goes from Platform 3"
Me: "Yes Sir, Im very sure. Didnt you hear the PA I made while we were still at Doncaster?"
Pass: "No mate, i was listening to my ipod, how long till we get to Scunthorpe?"
Me: "Just under 30 minutes"
Pass: "Oh ****....... errr..any chance of us stopping at Kirk Sandall?"
Me: "Im afraid not Sir................"

Cue apologetic phone call etc etc

 

[W-on-Sea]

Older members might have better memories than me but I'm sure I remember, certainly in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, that the timetables at stations would have the platform number alongside the departure time - at least they did at Cardiff Central, Newport & Bristol Temple Meads. I remember that they disappeared with one timetable change never to return but I can't recall if that was with the advent of, or later than, privatisation.

I do remember those - if you are referring to the "list of departures by destination" posters. I think they were in place at least as late as the second half of the 1990s.

Frankly the quality of information (not just platform numbers, but each train having a publicly stated reference number, stated on the ticket - in the case of those for specific trains - and on departure boards) provided to casual passengers in countries like France and Germany or even Italy is far superior to the information made available to longer-distance travellers in the UK. I can only hope that the entry of DB (directly as well as indirectly throught their subsidiaries) into the UK railway market might lead to them introducing some of their usual practices here!

 

[WhiteJoker]

With NS the platform changes as well, but over all it departs from a fixed platform so this platform is printed on the boards. Occasionally there might be a change so it would be announced over the PA. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Intercity service to Deventer, Olst, Wijhe and Zwolle departure at 08.34 will depart from platform 2."

Though NS is also trying out dynamic platforms on Schiphol Airport and it might be rolled out to more stations in the future.

 

[MCR247]

Dynamic platforms?

 

[WhiteJoker]

Hmm I might have chosen the wrong words, English isn't my native languages. What I meant is that they dynamically choose the platform on which the train will arrive. Though it's always one of two platforms adjacent to each other.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Translation - they'll send the train into the first available platform rather than trying to keep it to a particular booked platform?

 

[MCR247]

Oh right ok thanks