Trivia: PIS/CIS oddities...

[tsr]

Southern 377s seem to be developing a habit of announcing "Welcome aboard the Southern service to <destination> <next stop>" without any break or phrase between the destination and next station call.

And let's not forget the mysterious illegible runes which used to plague the displays on 171s when the screens could operate with multi-coloured dual lines of text. I believe all but one unit has had that feature disabled...

 

[swt class 450]

Southern 377s seem to be developing a habit of announcing "Welcome aboard the Southern service to <destination> <next stop>" without any break or phrase between the destination and next station call.

And let's not forget the mysterious illegible runes which used to plague the displays on 171s when the screens could operate with multi-coloured dual lines of text. I believe all but one unit has had that feature disabled...

Interesting. Do you know the number of the one unit that still has this feature?

 

[AndrewR232]

At Partick station a couple of weeks ago:

"The train now approaching platform 2 is the 10:32 ScotRail service to Milngavie."

Said train then zoomed through the station.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Here's an impossibility at Huddersfield too:


Victoria stopper from P5.View attachment 31836

Not only is it impossible due to facing the wrong direction, but most MCV stoppers wouldn't fit in P5...

 

[LLivery]

I've seen at East Croydon more than once Southern services to London Victoria apparently having 16 coaches. Crawley seems to love saying random stations, and Royston, Royston, Royston!

Still the odd Southern 377 showing for example "Calling at Battersea Park, London Victoria.London Victoria." At New Cross Gate for LO interchange, the 455s say amd instead of "and Whitechapel".

Whenever there is disruption the CIS on the SN-LO corridor are totally unreliable. Once at Crystal Palace a Southern service was being fast ran to London Bridge, however the CIS said "calling at Sydenham and London Bridge" that nearly lead to quite a few people ending up in Central London.

 

[greaterwest]

When trains terminate short at Fratton sometimes, it'll be the "12:05 Southern service to Portsmouth Harbour. Calling at Fratton, only. Fratton!"

 

[Starmill]

The announcement at Warrington Central recently told me that a Family Coach was available in coach D on a service to Nottingham.

The screen at Rickmansworth simply shows 'Chiltern Train' and not where the train is actually going at all.

 

[Segedunum]

I've been on 465s which announce calling patterns by missing a huge chunk out at the start.

For example:

"Hayes. Calling at New Cross, St John's, Lewisham... "

 

[jbg]

Not only is it impossible due to facing the wrong direction, but most MCV stoppers wouldn't fit in P5...

Now that most are doubles very much so.

 

[djjawuk]

Continuing the Huddersfield theme, the different types of PIS (blue screens and the scrolling orange dot matrix displays) always show different current times, sometimes by up to three minutes.

 

[infobleep]

There use to be an afternoon service from Victoria to Brighton that would divide at Haywards Heath. One half would be fast to Brighton and the other slow.

At Clapham Junction it was always announced as that Brighton and Brighton service. That didn't happen at East Croydon or any other station south of Clapham Junction. The difference being, those were run by Southern and Clapham Junction by South West Trains.

Online departure boards for Hinchley Wood show the train as arrived before it has. I don't think there is any timing point for that station.

I think Balcombe is another station that might not have timing point.

Someone with far more knowledge than myself will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[sk688]

The 377s on the West London Route, near Shepherds Bush in each direction, when the train stops, displays Welcome to Class 377, for a not inconsiderate amount of time.

Also at Harrow , many Bakerloo Line services always show up as Delayed , despite there being no delay at all ?

 

[BurtonM]

I think it's been fixed now, but for a very long time, the CIS at Stalybridge wouldn't say the word 'Northern'. A TPE station, I might add.

The 'the next train at' and 'the train now approaching' announcements also seem to play way too early.

 

[tsr]

There use to be an afternoon service from Victoria to Brighton that would divide at Haywards Heath. One half would be fast to Brighton and the other slow.

At Clapham Junction it was always announced as that Brighton and Brighton service. That didn't happen at East Croydon or any other station south of Clapham Junction. The difference being, those were run by Southern and Clapham Junction by South West Trains.

It showed up as "Brighton & Brighton" for a while at East Croydon, unless it was proactively corrected beforehand by staff (who didn't always have time, depending on CIS needs for the day).

The 377s on the West London Route, near Shepherds Bush in each direction, when the train stops, displays Welcome to Class 377, for a not inconsiderate amount of time.

That's only because of the effects of the power changeover at North Pole. The driver should be able to reinstate the PIS system at the next station.

 

[Chris M]

I was on a DLR train today that was unsure of where it was or where it was going - "This is.... This train is for....." (un)fortunately it wasn't a mystery tour but a normal Lewisham-Bank service.

 

[Crossover]

I have observed the CIS on platform 1 at Mirfield a few times - it clears the train off when the signal ahead reverts to danger, presumably when the train is clear of the overlap.

Liverpool South Parkway a week last Monday, just after the clocks had changed - one set of clocks had the right time, the others were an hour slow. The most amusing of these being a single board where the digital display had the wrong time and the analogue one had the right time above it!

Occasionally some trains get cancelled at Dewsbury in the Leeds bound direction and run through the through line - a year or two back this caused the PIS to start going on about the train terminating here and that the train would no longer call at *stations* (I think it was a Scarborough service) as it flew through

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:

I posted something very similar on Facebook a few weeks back

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

Could that be intentional with it being the airport line?

Re. Gatwick Airport, I believe the CIS board above the main bank of TVMs on the main concourse still occasionally shows "Welcome to Waterloo East".

Did the system used to be installed at Waterloo East or is just a hash up of configuration?

 

[tsr]

Did the system used to be installed at Waterloo East or is just a hash up of configuration?

I've just found out that the appropriate screen may have been "borrowed" from Waterloo East at some point.

 

[Galvanize]

It's been mentioned before on this forum, but worth mentioning again.

Certain Class 365 units on the Great Northern, at the originating station are known to announce
"Welcome onboard the West Anglia Great Northern Service to..." and then give a list of calling points. At each station though, it reverts to the usual "This Train is for..." without any further information. It's not down to enthusiastic train drivers feeling nostalgic, it's simply the units themselves.

They are in the process of getting a new PIS system, similar to the one used on the Class 387 units.