Trivia: PIS/CIS oddities...

[najaB]

So, I was at Dundee station yesterday and on at least two occasions a train departed on time followed by an announcement a few minutes later "We're sorry to announce that the xxx xtrain to zzz is running approximately three minutes late." Cue confused looks.

Anyone else known this to happen, or any other examples of PIS/CIS doing strange things?

 

[pdq]

At Huddersfield, and possibly other TPE stations, a delay of just five minutes warrants TPE being 'extremely sorry for the severe delay to the service'; for longer delays they are simply 'sorry'. I imagine its just some programming gone awry along the way.

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

 

[Surreytraveller]

Is probably caused by the PIS being unable to accurately detect where the train is. A person stood on a platform can see a train has left, but the PIS cannot.

 

[rebmcr]

On the West Ham SSL platforms, the PIS still advises changing at Whitechapel for the H&C line... despite all H&C trains being extended through West Ham 8 years ago. The route board still shows it as a peak-only limited service, too.

 

[Envy123]

Stepney Green used to show the wrong destination occasionally - even saying trains go to Harrow when none of its trains go even close to that area!

 

[najaB]

Is probably caused by the PIS being unable to accurately detect where the train is. A person stood on a platform can see a train has left, but the PIS cannot.

If it was immediately afterwards I could see that being the reason, but it was a good three to five minutes after departure.

 

[LordCreed]

Boards at Kemble in the down direction can take up to five minutes to clear, due to the positioning of the track circuits.

 

[pompeyfan]

There appears to be a bug in the SWT Desiro system at the moment, 'we are now approaching Sholing, this train terminates here etc etc' even when you're in the middle of the route like at Guildford etc.

 

[Qwerty133]

The 'the next train on platform one does not stop here please stand back from the platform edge' announcement used at Leocester when a train comes in to an already occupied platform in order to couple

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not strictly PIS (though it is a system intended to give information to passengers) but I spotted this peculiarity at Huddersfield a few weeks ago:

 

[rebmcr]

Stepney Green used to show the wrong destination occasionally - even saying trains go to Harrow when none of its trains go even close to that area!

The entire SSL has that issue, or "Check Front of Train"; it's not even really an oddity.

 

[louis97]

So, I was at Dundee station yesterday and on at least two occasions a train departed on time followed by an announcement a few minutes later "We're sorry to announce that the xxx xtrain to zzz is running approximately three minutes late." Cue confused looks.

Anyone else known this to happen, or any other examples of PIS/CIS doing strange things?

Could have been a typo by the signaller when entering the train running information, it is all done manually at Dundee. This would cause the CIS to think the train was late.

Boards at Kemble in the down direction can take up to five minutes to clear, due to the positioning of the track circuits.

Signals, the boards will clear after the train passes SW1337 signal further along the line.

 

[TheEdge]

I know at Ipswich for a while the 1717 East Suffolk departure was preceded by a shunt of the unit from platform 1 to 4. If the shunt didn't happen or took a different route to planned and didn't trigger its berths correctly the PIS would start getting very confused, adding delay minutes to the 1717 and announcing its late running.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Diamond Geezer has two interesting blog posts about problems with the Next Train Indicator at Bow Road station.

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.de/2017/02/check-destination-on-front-of-train.html

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.de/2017/03/bow-road-update.html

 

[Doctor Fegg]

The old Thames Trains CIS at Henley-on-Thames would occasionally warn passengers to stand back from the yellow line as "through trains pass through this station". I bl--dy hope they don't.

And then there was the random French announcement on a 16x on the Reading-Gatwick line...

 

[southernyoshi]

The 'the next train on platform one does not stop here please stand back from the platform edge' announcement used at Leocester when a train comes in to an already occupied platform in order to couple

Or, even better, the few times that I've heard that announcement at London Victoria. Extra points if the approaching, non-stopping train is sitting in the platform at the time

 

[swt class 450]

The screens on Platform 2 at Gatwick Airport (but none of the other platforms) still display all GTR "Thameslink" branded trains as "First Capital Connect".

 

[djpontrack]

When I worked at Swindon station we would get announcements to stand away from platform 2 (bay platform) as a train was passing through. This was usually caused by a wrong headcode or something like a track machine or a light engine coming into the platform.

 

[Envy123]

The entire SSL has that issue, or "Check Front of Train"; it's not even really an oddity.

It seemed like an oddity to me, as I used to ride along the SSL to Upminster and only Stepney Green blatantly showed wrong destinations.

 

[greaterwest]

There appears to be a bug in the SWT Desiro system at the moment, 'we are now approaching Sholing, this train terminates here etc etc' even when you're in the middle of the route like at Guildford etc.

I wondered why it said that as we arrived at Godalming yesterday evening. Also had a "Passengers wishing to leave the train at the next station must move forward from this part of the train. This is due to a short platform." on a 4 coach train!

A lot of Desiros going around the network simply with "South West Trains" on the side screen recently too.

 

[skyhigh]

I'm sure at my local Thameslink station I've seen something along the lines of "1st train Three Bridges - Due 09:04 Expected 14:32" along with automatic announcements apologising for the delay. According to their app the train had already long gone...

 

[Lrd]

Signals, the boards will clear after the train passes SW1337 signal further along the line.

Track circuits control the signals​ If the train has fully passed the next signal then it would be clear of the previous track circuit and the PIS would then realise it's left

 

[tsr]

I know at Ipswich for a while the 1717 East Suffolk departure was preceded by a shunt of the unit from platform 1 to 4. If the shunt didn't happen or took a different route to planned and didn't trigger its berths correctly the PIS would start getting very confused, adding delay minutes to the 1717 and announcing its late running.

Oxted has that problem too. On weekday evenings, there are also spurious CIS indications that the empties from the shunt moves aren't stopping at Platform 3. All very well, but it's a bay platform...

(The same mindset has, more worryingly, copied across to S&T - the label for the TRTS button for Platform 3 has "TRTS Up/Down" printed on it. Good luck being ready to start going Up! )

Most of the CIS screens on the Uckfield Line also have the problem that even a slight delay to the train will result in it vanishing from the boards before it arrives, as the number of minutes of any delay always gets calculated rather "optimistically".

 

[infobleep]

I wondered why it said that as we arrived at Godalming yesterday evening. Also had a "Passengers wishing to leave the train at the next station must move forward from this part of the train. This is due to a short platform." on a 4 coach train!

A lot of Desiros going around the network simply with "South West Trains" on the side screen recently too.

The South West Trains display fault will be rectified in about 5 months.

 

[CommuterPigeon]

A couple of weeks ago I was getting a CrossCountry service from Sheffield which was showing as cancelled on the PIS and being announced as cancelled.

I'd been following it on RTT and it was showing as on time so I stood on the platform anyway. It turned up on time and departed on time and nobody but myself was there to get on. I assume it was something to do with the service being booked to start in Edinburgh but instead starting at York.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Sticking with deziros had a couple of incidents on TPE 350s where announcements have been playing a very high speed, almost like the drivers got an old cassette player with speed/pitch controll in the cab with them. Very disconcerting for any tourists that might be onboard.

 

[dgl]

Here's a picture of the SWT express service from London Waterloo to Poole, Leaving Waterloo at 18:54 and getting to Poole 1hr and 1min later!

 

[The Quincunx]

The automated PA at West Ealing often announces a train from "Heathrow Terminal 4 Bus Stop".

 

[ah-media]

When the CIS goes down at Kings Lynn it has the address of www.wagn.co.uk .

 

[Surreytraveller]

If it was immediately afterwards I could see that being the reason, but it was a good three to five minutes after departure.

If the next track circuit is three to five minutes down the line, that is when the PIS system knows the train has left the station. Not all track curcuits coincide with station platforms.