What would happen if a driver was given a wrong route?

[LAX54]

Yeo annoying when they’re like that. I had a signal thrown back in my face a couple of weeks back, dropped the lot of course but stopped way beyond the red (I was doing 100mph). signaller didn’t even bother to ask if I was okay to continue…

Same when I was offered a wrong route a few years ago and rang up to query it: “erm I’m going to Hayes and you’re sending me towards Hither Green”… Not so much as an apology!

To be fair the *overwhelming* majority of signallers I’ve spoken to are highly professional and a pleasure to deal with, but the bad apples really stick out (I’m sure they will say the same about drivers to be fair).

We should always, always ask the Driver if he OK, even more so if the signal is taken back as he is approaching, umpteen things must go through a Drivers mind when a signal suddenly goes Green - Red !

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Aug 2021 ==

Rather unfortunately named isn’t it?!

which is why the Equipment bit was dropped very very quickly ! LOL

 

[rower40]

I would be interested to hear if there has ever been an incident of a national rail train being wrong routed at Pelaw Metro Junction onto Nexus owned infrastructure and what the procedure would be to recover a train that accepted such a wrong route. Likewise what would the recovery procedure be for if a Metro driver accepted a wrong route either at Pelaw Metro Junction or Sunderland and continued onto the unelectrified line?

There are interesting signalling controls to prevent this. All "shared" signals between Sunderland and Pelaw Metro Junction have both TPWS (for NationalRail trains) and Indusi trainstops (for Metro stock). At the critical junction signals, the TPWS grids remain energised if the route is set onto the Metro-only lines, and the Indusi trainstops are energised if the route is set onto the non-electrified lines.

As the Indusi trainstops energise the eddy-current brakes (effectively clamping the train to the track via electromagnets), a Metro train passing the Sunderland junction signal that has been cleared towards Ryhope Grange, or the Pelaw Metro Junction signal that has been cleared towards NR Pelaw Junction, will come to a very abrupt stop.

As this area is controlled by Tyneside IECC's ARS, and the "2Ixx" train descriptions are used solely for the Metro trains, a wrong-routeing is unlikely. (But never say never! Stranger things have happened. One cause might be if the route doesn't release correctly behind a train routed onto NR land, and the signal then re-clears for a following Metro train.)

Also in the Newcastle area, but not Metro-related: (Many years ago - couldn't say when..!)

I boarded an XC HST at Newcastle station for its journey south. It had been booked to go to the "Forth Banks" branch for stabling and cleaning, but had arrived late, and it had been decided that it was going to be serviced in the platform instead. ARS hadn't been "told" about this, so had put in the Train Description of the ECS move to Forth Banks, when the incoming train had arrived. The signaller hadn't updated this to the TD of the passenger service back south when advised that the train wasn't going to go to Forth Banks. The signaller then set the route to Forth Banks (correct route, but for the wrong description!) and the Route Indicator on the signal showed "F" (for Forth) instead of "M" for Main. The driver then took the route, in the mistaken belief that "F" was for Fast. Confusing - as the King Edward bridge over the Tyne is 4-track, and "F" could easily mean "Fast" at similar signals elsewhere.

So I got some rare track! We waited on the Forth Banks line for some 10-20 mins while a new path was found back through Newcastle station, over the High-Level Bridge, and "round the houses" back to King Edward Bridge South Junction.

 

[43066]

We should always, always ask the Driver if he OK, even more so if the signal is taken back as he is approaching, umpteen things must go through a Drivers mind when a signal suddenly goes Green - Red !

Yep. It’s not a great moment…

On this occasion I was running on greens and had no sight of the red until I was close to it. I’d actually far rather see the signal go back, otherwise the first thing that goes through your mind is: “have I been running on yellows and missed it?”…

Braking performance of the unit I was driving (I’d rather not say which as it will be “outing”) is such that, from seeing the signal was red and reacting at 100mph, I came to a stand with two coaches over the junction that same signal protects. Linespeed there is 125mph, so long signal sections, but that’s still pretty extraordinary.

 

[DanNCL]

There are interesting signalling controls to prevent this. All "shared" signals between Sunderland and Pelaw Metro Junction have both TPWS (for NationalRail trains) and Indusi trainstops (for Metro stock). At the critical junction signals, the TPWS grids remain energised if the route is set onto the Metro-only lines, and the Indusi trainstops are energised if the route is set onto the non-electrified lines.

As the Indusi trainstops energise the eddy-current brakes (effectively clamping the train to the track via electromagnets), a Metro train passing the Sunderland junction signal that has been cleared towards Ryhope Grange, or the Pelaw Metro Junction signal that has been cleared towards NR Pelaw Junction, will come to a very abrupt stop.

As this area is controlled by Tyneside IECC's ARS, and the "2Ixx" train descriptions are used solely for the Metro trains, a wrong-routeing is unlikely. (But never say never! Stranger things have happened. One cause might be if the route doesn't release correctly behind a train routed onto NR land, and the signal then re-clears for a following Metro train.)

Very interesting, I wonder how that'll work when the new Metro fleet is introduced then, as that's expected to have both TPWS and Indusi. Thanks for that one, I didn't know that about the junctions, I knew the line had both protection systems but had assumed they'd have both been synchronised.

Presumably the most likely way one could be wrong routed is if for whatever reason a Metro unit was accidentally interposed by the signaller with a headcode not in the 2Ixx series, or a non-Metro train accidentally interposed with a headcode in the 2Ixx series. Either way the arrangements with train protection should prevent anything from getting too far on the wrong line!

Also in the Newcastle area, but not Metro-related: (Many years ago - couldn't say when..!)

I boarded an XC HST at Newcastle station for its journey south. It had been booked to go to the "Forth Banks" branch for stabling and cleaning, but had arrived late, and it had been decided that it was going to be serviced in the platform instead. ARS hadn't been "told" about this, so had put in the Train Description of the ECS move to Forth Banks, when the incoming train had arrived. The signaller hadn't updated this to the TD of the passenger service back south when advised that the train wasn't going to go to Forth Banks. The signaller then set the route to Forth Banks (correct route, but for the wrong description!) and the Route Indicator on the signal showed "F" (for Forth) instead of "M" for Main. The driver then took the route, in the mistaken belief that "F" was for Fast. Confusing - as the King Edward bridge over the Tyne is 4-track, and "F" could easily mean "Fast" at similar signals elsewhere.

So I got some rare track! We waited on the Forth Banks line for some 10-20 mins while a new path was found back through Newcastle station, over the High-Level Bridge, and "round the houses" back to King Edward Bridge South Junction.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Another I've heard about the Forth Banks line was a 91 being routed down there at some point during the 1990s, that caused some havoc as the Forth Banks line is unwired!

 

[snookertam]

There was an incident around 10 years ago when a Cross Country voyager set working a Saturday evening Glasgow Central to Edinburgh service took the wrong route by some distance. Service was booked via Mount Florida for route retention purposes, then from Cathcart North Jn towards Newton where it joins the West Coast Main Line. Train was wrongly routed towards Cathcart, with the route set beyond towards Neilston.

Not only did the driver proceed through Cathcart, but continued onto the Neilston branch (Through Cathcart West Jn) and onto Muirend, where the driver finally noticed something was up. At no time would any Cross Country driver have any reason to take such a route and would definitely have been unfamiliar with their surroundings. The line speed in the area varies between 20 and 50mph (which is well after the site of the wrong routing) so being unable to stop in time wouldn't be an issue - indeed the junction signal then was very well sighted in advance. The train had to work wrong line back to Cathcart North Jn to take the correct route towards Newton. Definitely strikes me as the most bizarre acceptance of wrong routing I've come across.

 

[Annetts key]

Not a wrong routing as such, but still a case of signaller and driver error. I’m not going to give too many details away, even though this was about twenty years ago, for obvious reasons.

During an incident, a signaller got confused over which of the two train drivers he was speaking to that were both being held at red signals.

The signaller gave the driver that he was speaking to, permission to pass the signal at red. The driver proceeded as instructed. But as the signaller thought he was speaking to the other driver, there was no valid route set for this train. However, the points ahead happened to be set such that the train could pass through the junction. But going on to the down line in the up direction… A line that does not have bidirectional / reversible signalling.

Luckily there was no other trains on the down line at the time. But the astonishing thing is, that the driver kept going. For quite some distance (about one mile and past one unstaffed station). Okay, they would not have encountered a signal, because there were none for this direction on this line.

In the end, a shunter, who happened to be at a ground frame (GF) a bit further along the line got the attention of the driver and the train was stopped.

But if that shunter had not been near the GF telephone, or had not answered it, or not been on site, how far would that driver have taken their train?

IIRC, the signaller moved to a crossing keepers job afterwards, but I don’t know if this was voluntary or enforced.

 

[Gloster]

An example of how things can easily go wrong from over forty years ago. Two diesel-units used to come in to a station coupled as ECS to form the first departures out. These were at 06.10 and 06.15 (roughly) and went back in the direction that the sets had arrived from, with their routes dividing at a junction about a mile away; they both left from the same platform. On one occasion it was necessary to switch the sets so that the one at the rear when they arrived, which normally formed the 06.10, would form the 06.15, and v.v. Rather than shunting the sets around, which probably would have led to both trains being late, they decided to let the 06.15 leave on time and the 06.10 to follow it eight to ten minutes late.

Unfortunately, nobody told the signalman at the station, who signalled the first unit (the 06.15) as though it were the 06.10. Luckily there were still splitting Distants, so the driver of the first train stopped at the junction’s Home to give the signalman a piece of his mind. The signalman had set the route for the train that he had been expecting according to what was belled.

 

[Highlandspring]

There was an incident around 10 years ago when a Cross Country voyager set working a Saturday evening Glasgow Central to Edinburgh service took the wrong route by some distance. Service was booked via Mount Florida for route retention purposes, then from Cathcart North Jn towards Newton where it joins the West Coast Main Line. Train was wrongly routed towards Cathcart, with the route set beyond towards Neilston.

Not only did the driver proceed through Cathcart, but continued onto the Neilston branch (Through Cathcart West Jn) and onto Muirend, where the driver finally noticed something was up. At no time would any Cross Country driver have any reason to take such a route and would definitely have been unfamiliar with their surroundings. The line speed in the area varies between 20 and 50mph (which is well after the site of the wrong routing) so being unable to stop in time wouldn't be an issue - indeed the junction signal then was very well sighted in advance. The train had to work wrong line back to Cathcart North Jn to take the correct route towards Newton. Definitely strikes me as the most bizarre acceptance of wrong routing I've come across.

Did it not eventually end up going through the road at Muirend Ground Frame (since abolished)? I worked with signaller responsible, it was down to transposed headcodes. As you say it’s astonishing that the driver took it that far.

 

[godfreycomplex]

Nope. I was really nice to the Signaller too, he however, turned into a complete Ass...

I know its an industry wide issue and Metro really suffers heavily with it. I'd be interested to hear from a Signallers perspective why its so common, how easy it is to do, what precautions can be taken and *deep breath* doyouthinkautomationsuchasARStechnology is the answer ?

Difficult to say really.

From a signalling perspective a lot of wrong routes are through mispreparation rather than inattention, I think.

A few “causal factors” could be
Bizarre and inconsistent scheduling (one train with the same headcode running at the same time going a different way each week was a particular favourite for a while, invariably at a time of day where it’s very difficult to snatch a look away from the panel to check)

Lack of a modern system to display train destinations linked to headcodes at a glance in many locations (so to answer, yes, technology would help, particularly to replace the hopelessly unergonomic systems that many signallers are forced to use)

Many modern signalling locations are not well set up ergonomically to see approaching trains from a distance, and the further in advance signallers can see trains, the better prepared they can be for them.

Some signallers (myself included, earlier in my career) do not regulate their time and attention very well, for various reasons, and often simply set routes in a rush and panic. Whilst this is a fairly obvious statement, the near fanatical stigma (disguised as “professional pride”, urgh) against wrong routes and “delay minutes” (sometimes prompting signallers to set routes quickly without checking thoroughly) imposed in some signalling locations only adds to this panic, and has quite probably caused more wrong routes than it has prevented. (It is perhaps because of this stigma that many signallers find it hard to talk too much about it on the radio to drivers, although there are some absolute shmendriks in the job as well I’m afraid)

And of course in a week of 12 hour shifts, setting a new route often several times a minute in metro areas, wrong routes are more or less a mathematical certainty.

Those are just a few from my own personal perspective. HTH

 

[Scotrail314209]

I recall some at Glasgow Central.

First one: A 390 was allocated last minute onto a service from Euston to Glasgow, which normally operated with a single 221. 390s can only use Platforms 1,2,9,10 and 11.

The signaller routed the train into Platform 3 (which was it’s booked platform) resulting in the rear half of the train completely blocking the line into Platform 4, and I think P5 and 6. The driver accepted it. It seems that control didn’t inform the box that the service was running as a Pendolino vice Voyager.

Not sure who was at fault there.

Next one was a similar situation involving a 2+7 HST. Service normally worked by a single Voyager, routed into Platform 3. The HST was off by a coach and a half, as well as a powercar.

Who would be at fault for these?

 

[infobleep]

I haven't had time to read the whole thread but back in the early noughties I was on a train from somewhere up north back to Euston on a Sunday.

As we were travelling on came an announcement to say we have been routed down a closed line and we would be waiting for them to reopen it so we could continue.

I can't remember any more details than that.

 

[Controller1701]

I recall some at Glasgow Central.

First one: A 390 was allocated last minute onto a service from Euston to Glasgow, which normally operated with a single 221. 390s can only use Platforms 1,2,9,10 and 11.

The signaller routed the train into Platform 3 (which was it’s booked platform) resulting in the rear half of the train completely blocking the line into Platform 4, and I think P5 and 6. The driver accepted it. It seems that control didn’t inform the box that the service was running as a Pendolino vice Voyager.

Not sure who was at fault there.

Next one was a similar situation involving a 2+7 HST. Service normally worked by a single Voyager, routed into Platform 3. The HST was off by a coach and a half, as well as a powercar.

Who would be at fault for these?

I would say that both of these are very firmly on the driver.

 

[Scotrail314209]

I would say that both of these are very firmly on the driver.

Yah, true.

Especially since the approaches do indicate the platform they are assigned. (I think?)

 

[Falcon1200]

There was an incident around 10 years ago when a Cross Country voyager set working a Saturday evening Glasgow Central to Edinburgh service took the wrong route by some distance. Service was booked via Mount Florida for route retention purposes, then from Cathcart North Jn towards Newton where it joins the West Coast Main Line. Train was wrongly routed towards Cathcart, with the route set beyond towards Neilston.

Not only did the driver proceed through Cathcart, but continued onto the Neilston branch (Through Cathcart West Jn) and onto Muirend, where the driver finally noticed something was up. At no time would any Cross Country driver have any reason to take such a route and would definitely have been unfamiliar with their surroundings. The line speed in the area varies between 20 and 50mph (which is well after the site of the wrong routing) so being unable to stop in time wouldn't be an issue - indeed the junction signal then was very well sighted in advance. The train had to work wrong line back to Cathcart North Jn to take the correct route towards Newton. Definitely strikes me as the most bizarre acceptance of wrong routing I've come across.

That was indeed a most bizarre incident (guess who was on duty in Glasgow Control that evening ?!).

Did it not eventually end up going through the road at Muirend Ground Frame (since abolished)?

I don't think the GF was used as that would have required a MOM to attend and taken a while (the crossover is now worked from the WSSC of course).

If an unplanned stock change with operational implications is made, TOC Control should inform NR Control who should inform the Signallers involved, so the Glasgow Central incidents above may not be solely the Driver's fault......

Another Glasgow area incident; For many years the ECML operator, during disruption, used 1Fxx headcodes for special workings instead of 1Zxx. One day such a train was run from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central, unfortunately the Hamilton Circle services use(d) 2Fxx headcodes so at Rutherglen the train was signalled towards the Argyle Line....

 

[Scotrail314209]

I noticed on the subject of wrong routings that drivers can accept without question.

One that is burning is diversions in the Glasgow area.

Such as diverting off at Law Jn and heading via Wishaw, Holytown and Bellshill. As well as splitting off to run via Newton Station. Does the driver get told to accept these without questioning it, since Avanti does use them for diversion.

 

[jfollows]

I noticed on the subject of wrong routings that drivers can accept without question.

One that is burning is diversions in the Glasgow area.

Such as diverting off at Law Jn and heading via Wishaw, Holytown and Bellshill. As well as splitting off to run via Newton Station. Does the driver get told to accept these without questioning it, since Avanti does use them for diversion.

Look in the Sectional Appendix, local instructions, for example: (https://sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blo...DFs/Scotland Sectional Appendix June 2021.pdf but it's easy to find)

SC001 – GRETNA JN TO GLASGOW CENTRAL (VIA BEATTOCK) Law Jn To Uddingston Jn
Down services on the WCML booked via Motherwell may be diverted via the alternative route via Holytown or Mossend West Jn at signal GML541 or at Motherwell at signal GMM399.
Up services on the WCML booked via Motherwell may be diverted via the alternative route via Holytown or Mossend West Jn at Uddingston Jn signal GMN182.
Drivers so routed need not observe the relevant part of the Rule Book, Module S7, section 5, unless the train crew do not sign the alternative route or a booked station call will be missed.
Dated: 30/08/18
SC001 - GRETNA JN TO GLASGOW CENTRAL (VIA BEATTOCK)
Law Jn To Uddingston
All Up/Down CrossCountry and Virgin Trains services running between Law Junction and Uddingston may be diverted off their booked route and use any alternative route without previous warning.
Drivers are not required to observe the requirements of Rule Book Module S7, Section 1.2, unless the train crew do not sign the alternative route or a booked station call will be missed.

 

[LAX54]

Difficult to say really.

From a signalling perspective a lot of wrong routes are through mispreparation rather than inattention, I think.

A few “causal factors” could be
Bizarre and inconsistent scheduling (one train with the same headcode running at the same time going a different way each week was a particular favourite for a while, invariably at a time of day where it’s very difficult to snatch a look away from the panel to check)

Lack of a modern system to display train destinations linked to headcodes at a glance in many locations (so to answer, yes, technology would help, particularly to replace the hopelessly unergonomic systems that many signallers are forced to use)

Many modern signalling locations are not well set up ergonomically to see approaching trains from a distance, and the further in advance signallers can see trains, the better prepared they can be for them.

Some signallers (myself included, earlier in my career) do not regulate their time and attention very well, for various reasons, and often simply set routes in a rush and panic. Whilst this is a fairly obvious statement, the near fanatical stigma (disguised as “professional pride”, urgh) against wrong routes and “delay minutes” (sometimes prompting signallers to set routes quickly without checking thoroughly) imposed in some signalling locations only adds to this panic, and has quite probably caused more wrong routes than it has prevented. (It is perhaps because of this stigma that many signallers find it hard to talk too much about it on the radio to drivers, although there are some absolute shmendriks in the job as well I’m afraid)

And of course in a week of 12 hour shifts, setting a new route often several times a minute in metro areas, wrong routes are more or less a mathematical certainty.

Those are just a few from my own personal perspective. HTH

i recall, a while ago, when we had a few wrong routes in a 'period', the Manager sent a letter, and spoke to everyone stating it was not acceptable, and all eyes were on our box, I pointed out that in a 24 hour period we push around 4500 - 5000 button 'pushes' of that number, some days we push a wrong one...1 out of 4500, more likely 1 out of 27,000 pushes in a week, but the explanation fell on stoney ground !

 

[Beebman]

I recall some at Glasgow Central.

First one: A 390 was allocated last minute onto a service from Euston to Glasgow, which normally operated with a single 221. 390s can only use Platforms 1,2,9,10 and 11.

The signaller routed the train into Platform 3 (which was it’s booked platform) resulting in the rear half of the train completely blocking the line into Platform 4, and I think P5 and 6. The driver accepted it. It seems that control didn’t inform the box that the service was running as a Pendolino vice Voyager.

Not sure who was at fault there.

Next one was a similar situation involving a 2+7 HST. Service normally worked by a single Voyager, routed into Platform 3. The HST was off by a coach and a half, as well as a powercar.

Who would be at fault for these?

This has jogged my memory of an occasion in the late 80s when I was commuting into Waterloo from the Reading line. As my evening train home was departing from the Windsor side (before the construction of the Eurostar terminal) I noticed that there was a 12-car EMU formation in Platform 15, the highest-numbered one in the Main side which was shorter than adjacent ones and could only take 8-car trains. This meant that there were 4 cars beyond the platform end which were blocking points. I never did find out what happened (no RailUKForums in those days!) but I'd imagine it would have caused some evening peak disruption.

 

[RJ]

As a passenger it's happened once. On a railtour a few years back from Paddington. It was supposed to go out via Park Royal towards South Ruislip, but didn't and also didn't turn off at West Ealing. It ended up going to Southall and reversed there to access the Greenford branch. No harm done, only it meant that coach A was at the back of the train for the greater majority of the outbound and the whole return trip!

 

[seagull]

Interestingly at London Euston there are instructions in place for drivers of at least one company NOT to stop and query the route if given white call-on lights as a proceed signal instead of the main aspect (this meaning there is likely to be something in the platform thus the main aspect cannot be given).
The explanation: it may just be a single locomotive, therefore the train would still fit on the platform behind it.
The reality: if it isn't, and it's a mistake, chaos ensues. And technically not the driver's fault.

In practice, and with GSM-R it's very quick anyway, most drivers would give the signaller a quick call and check, saves a lot of hassle.

 

[MotCO]

i recall, a while ago, when we had a few wrong routes in a 'period', the Manager sent a letter, and spoke to everyone stating it was not acceptable, and all eyes were on our box, I pointed out that in a 24 hour period we push around 4500 - 5000 button 'pushes' of that number, some days we push a wrong one...1 out of 4500, more likely 1 out of 27,000 pushes in a week, but the explanation fell on stoney ground !

How on earth do you remember so many 'pushes'? How long is the training? Do you have many breaks during the day?

 

[Watershed]

How on earth do you remember so many 'pushes'?

The 'pushes' that LAX54 is referring to is the setting of routes, which is usually just done based off the headcode. Most signal boxes/centres simply wouldn't be able to run if the signallers checked the schedule for every single train, the vast majority of trains are simply routed based off memory (1As go this way, 1Bs go that way and so on). Of course, that makes it easy for wrong route incidents to occur, particularly if it's just one train that takes a different route to the all the others with a similar headcode.

Do you have many breaks during the day?

At very quiet signal boxes, you might spend most of your shift sitting around waiting for the next train. But then there are some signal boxes that are too quiet to justify a relief signaller (as you'd get at the larger PSBs/ROCs etc.), but busy enough that you don't get an uninterrupted break - signallers just get breaks as and when traffic allows.

Network Rail won an Employment Tribunal case over this practice a couple of years ago, where a signaller alleged this broke the Working Time Regulations which entitle most workers to an uninterrupted break of 20 mins for a shift of more than 6 hours. The 'compensatory rest' between trains was deemed acceptable.

 

[O L Leigh]

I noticed on the subject of wrong routings that drivers can accept without question.

Technically that's not a wrong routing but rather an alternative routing. It would only be wrong and require challenging if it prevented a service from making a booked station stop.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Aug 2021 ==

Interestingly at London Euston there are instructions in place for drivers of at least one company NOT to stop and query the route if given white call-on lights as a proceed signal instead of the main aspect (this meaning there is likely to be something in the platform thus the main aspect cannot be given).
The explanation: it may just be a single locomotive, therefore the train would still fit on the platform behind it.
The reality: if it isn't, and it's a mistake, chaos ensues. And technically not the driver's fault.

In practice, and with GSM-R it's very quick anyway, most drivers would give the signaller a quick call and check, saves a lot of hassle.

Does Euston not have "Lime Street Control"? Liverpool St does, although I have seen it go wrong on one occasion when a single Cl317 was routed on top of a shortened mainline set and only got a coach and a half onto the platform.

 

[APT618S]

Next one was a similar situation involving a 2+7 HST. Service normally worked by a single Voyager, routed into Platform 3. The HST was off by a coach and a half, as well as a powercar.

Had a similar thing at Leeds several years ago where on a HST we were arrived into platform 11 from the east and stopped half way down the platform with a coach or so plus the rear power car off the platform. There is a crossover just past the signal to the centre road which I assume the signaller planned us to use if we had been a voyager. A unit was stood in the west end of platform so we could not just pull forward. It took about 20-30mins for them to clear the unit from the platform and we eventually pulled forward to use the whole of the platform.

 

[seagull]

Does Euston not have "Lime Street Control"? Liverpool St does, although I have seen it go wrong on one occasion when a single Cl317 was routed on top of a shortened mainline set and only got a coach and a half onto the platform.

I don't know the answer to that: incidents seem to be very rare indeed so maybe it does. I suppose even that system can't allow for or predict the distance an incoming train may stop from a train already occupying the platform, which I know has occasionally been the cause of issues (an 11-car Pendolino on top of a 5-car Voyager, for example).

 

[LAX54]

How on earth do you remember so many 'pushes'? How long is the training? Do you have many breaks during the day?

Its not so much how many, as most are the same each hour of course, the number covers the whole signalbox, at that time with 3 NX panels and 4 Signalmen and an SSM per shift. (3 on panels and 1 x Meal Break Signalman). but the button pushes were the total over the day on all panels, but still only takes 1 wrong button in all of that !
The shifts are 12 hours, and have a break in the morning and one in the afternoon, so the MB man does 2 hours on each panel during the shift, he also helps out when there is an incident and the panel needs two people on there.
As Watershed said, it goes off memory 1Pxx goes that way a 1Nxx goes this way etc,
The box concerned is now a Sub-Roc and is bigger, has 2 x NX Panels, and 6 MCS workstations, of which 4 are Track Circuit Block and 2 are Axle Counter, but those two are a seperate link, and a bit lower grade.
The box now has 8 Signallers on shift and 2 x Meal Break Signallers, there is a 2 hour gap mid day in breaks to allow Managers to speak to a Signaller for whatever reason if needed, There is also a Shift Signaller Manager on duty to oversee the box, and deal with Control / Paperwork etc
The MCS workstations have ARS, well SARS which is a slightly different name for the same thing, but SARS & ARS is hit a miss too, as many will testify I am sure
As for headcodes Freights are the most that are at risk of wrong routes, they will change which way a certain freight will go (via GEML or via Ely) but keep the same headcode, unless it's spotted it may be pointed the wrong way, some FOC's deal with a change of route better than others

 

[trebor79]

...
The box concerned is now a Sub-Roc and is bigger, has 2 x NX Panels, and 6 MCS workstations, of which 4 are Track Circuit Block and 2 are Axle Counter, but those two are a seperate link, and a bit lower grade.
... they will change which way a certain freight will go (via GEML or via Ely) but keep the same headcode, ...

The box is Cambridge and I claim my £5

 

[snookertam]

Another Glasgow area incident; For many years the ECML operator, during disruption, used 1Fxx headcodes for special workings instead of 1Zxx. One day such a train was run from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central, unfortunately the Hamilton Circle services use(d) 2Fxx headcodes so at Rutherglen the train was signalled towards the Argyle Line....

Please tell me the driver didn’t take it…

 

[LAX54]

The box is Cambridge and I claim my £5

No £5 yet lol

 

[Falcon1200]

Please tell me the driver didn’t take it…

IIRC they did, but stopped as soon as they realised where they were going.