Realtime Train Info

[Goatboy]

Todays flooding has highlighted a pretty irritating flaw with the realtime train data feeds used for live departure boards. Is there a reason they don't link inbound and outbound workings together?

For example it was fairly obvious to anyone who knows that the 16:25 and 17:23 XC services from PLY today were cancelled due to flooding - after all, the inbound services which then form these trains were cancelled far short and never made it any further West than Bristol. Yet right up until very close (within 10 minutes) to departure time both these services were showing as 'On Time' which I'd imagine resulted in people leaving for the station only to catch a train that XC knew was never going to run.

 

[jnjkerbin]

On some realtime data websites it knows that one train forms another so I would imagine that it would be quite easy to implement, although I have no knowledge of the programming. However, in the evnt of dividing, joining or platform sharing it would probably be more difficult.

 

[MCR247]

And what about if another train/diagram is stepped up to run the service?

 

[Goatboy]

And what about if another train/diagram is stepped up to run the service?

There must be some sort of useful workaround thats better than advertising a train as 'on time' that everyone 'in the know' knows is cancelled. Perhaps an opportunity to station staff to manually input data from the station they are working at? Presumably there is a seperate information feed for the platform monitors which I'd imagine *did* display that these trains were cancelled as soon as it was known that the units which formed them couldn't get past the raging torrent of water in Taunton

 

[PHILIPE]

The responsibility for the info on the screens is the responsibility of whoever manages the station who would be informed by TOCs/Network Rail of interruptions.
I discovered this when I recently waited for a train shewn as "On Time" but not train came and after a few minutes disappeared from the screen. If I had known earlier that it had been cancelled there were alternative services available that I could have used. How I found out was that I was blaming Network Rail but it was pointed out to me the TOC (not their train) managing the station were responsible after receiving advice from National Rail.
The CIS can't manage disruption at the best of times

 

[Paul Kelly]

Maybe worth noting that Network Rail's timetable data does include the linkages between trains forming now/next workings, but this is stripped out by ATOC before they supply the timetable data to booking engines. Systems need to be getting their data direct from Network Rail in order to have details of now/next workings.

 

[D2022]

First Great Western have a live train times section on the android app that is by far more reliable than station boards, it shows delays in live time, not when the station get it.