Trivia: PIS and signage fails

bussnapperwm · 10 Jul 2018

iantherev said:
The PIS on the 15:50 New Street - Hereford showed Not in Service - please alight until the crew change at Foregate Street at which point it switched to show Birmingham NS.

I've had LM 153s on both Worcester and Malvern duties proudly declaring that they were Class 153s

RailUK Forums

F Great Eastern · 10 Jul 2018

I've seen a Class 360 once before show
"I'm sleeping
Leave Me Alone"

On Irish Rail there are too many to mention since a lot of their fleets suffer from dreadful and cheap passenger information systems that never have any idea where they are going.

It's possible for the announcements, inner displays, back display, front display all to show a different set of information each and in some cases it's been going on for 10 years or so without any improvement.

Always used to joke on certain trains that if it says something on the front, it's certainly not going there.

mark-h said:
A few years ago I saw a sign at one of the Dublin tram stops which said something like:

That was incorrect because the display was working fine, displaying readable text, unfortunately it was not being fed with useful information to display!

The tram stops show a display out of order or not functioning message when they lose connection to the outside world - it wasn't showing any information as it wasn't getting any.

Crossover · 11 Jul 2018

BurtonM said:
Um, that's 2!

2, which got a replacement screen, I might add. No clue why.

Ah, am I confusing the bay numbers again. In which case that’s even more bizarre!

Deafdoggie · 11 Jul 2018

Crossover said:
Ah, am I confusing the bay numbers again. In which case that’s even more bizarre!

I don't know the platform numbers, but I do know, I came in from Stockport into a bay. Saw a train depart from each of the through platforms, and then departed on a train from the other bay, so all 5 are very much in use.

fairysdad · 11 Jul 2018

I was on a GWR 150 down the Barnstaple branch a while ago where the new PIS seemed to have problems with the idea of request stops. By the time we reached Yeoford, it was announcing that we were approaching Topsham. I must admit, I thought these things were given data by GPS as on other trains - for instance on SWRs 455s I've had 'reverse' information given where we hear that we are approaching stations shortly after departure!

mark-h · 11 Jul 2018

F Great Eastern said:
The tram stops show a display out of order or not functioning message when they lose connection to the outside world - it wasn't showing any information as it wasn't getting any.

I know that it was displaying the message because it was not receiving information to show. If it had displayed a message such as "no information available" then it would have been correct- instead it stated that the display was not working which was wrong!

On a more serious note all displays should go blank/show an error message if they have not received data within a certain amount of time rather than display out of date information. They should also have automatic systems to reset the controller if it has crashed.

Steddenm · 11 Jul 2018

Talking about Irish Rail on the Enterprise yesterday it was proudly saying the time was 88:88, the outside temperature was -50.0° and the destination was Yorkgate.

318266 · 24 Jul 2018

Back in 2015 a train from Helensburgh to Edinburgh just decided to crash the PIS. The announcements worked though.

Cardross: Please
Dumbarton Central: P alighting from
Dumbarton East: o Balloch a
Dalmuir: BO30000
Hyndland: 67 at Dalmuir, but it said 77 approaching Hyndland.
Partick: ,
Then every station after that was ,

Parallel · 24 Jul 2018

fairysdad said:
I was on a GWR 150 down the Barnstaple branch a while ago where the new PIS seemed to have problems with the idea of request stops. By the time we reached Yeoford, it was announcing that we were approaching Topsham. I must admit, I thought these things were given data by GPS as on other trains - for instance on SWRs 455s I've had 'reverse' information given where we hear that we are approaching stations shortly after departure!

I’ve experienced the opposite with the GWR PIS. Left Barnstaple... PIS announces next stop is Eggesford (we also were due to stop at Umberleigh which it ignored), then the local door only was used at Eggesford (150 + 153 combo). PIS can’t do local door release so stays on ‘The next stop is Eggesford’ all the way down to Crediton (ignoring all request stops en-route) where then it doesn’t say anything. Then leaving Crediton it says ‘The next stop is Newton St. Cyres’ which we then passed through without stopping, and stayed on that as we arrived into Exeter. :lol:

Esker-pades · 24 Jul 2018

It appears to be a habit to programme a route on the class 700 PIS the wrong way round (IE: Advertising Cambridge North to Kings Cross when doing Kings Cross to Cambridge North). I've had it thrice in a row now.

_toommm_ · 24 Jul 2018

TPE's 2002 Meadowhall to Manchester Airport royally failed today. Announced us as arriving at each stop just as we were leaving it. This became apparent why at Sheffield as the train was announced as a service to Cleethorpes, so as we were leaving each stop on the route we were on, the PIS thought we were travelling in the opposite direction, thus arriving at the stops.

No attempt to cover up the announcements by the guard. Poor show IMO as both the Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes train leave at 2011 from Sheffield. The guard was instead sat in the rear cab watching an action movie or playing a game!

Tracked · 28 Jul 2018

Noticed one on Bristol TM the other day, listing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd train;

1st: 1430 Man Picc
2nd: 1416 Avonmouth
3rd: 1410 Terminates Here

TommyD · 28 Jul 2018

On a train from Manchester to Bristol the other day the guard was obviously as fed up with interminable announcements as the rest of us -
"This is xxxx. Please mind the gap between the train and your belongings"

F Great Eastern · 28 Jul 2018

Tracked said:
Noticed one on Bristol TM the other day, listing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd train;

1st: 1430 Man Picc
2nd: 1416 Avonmouth
3rd: 1410 Terminates Here

The order is not the order that they are timetabled for, but the order they are expected to arrive.

Parallel · 28 Jul 2018

Also, sometimes the system doesn't register that the arriving train will form the next departure. So sometimes, trains are 'expected' to depart before their inbound workings have arrived!

TheSel · 29 Jul 2018

If the second train is cancelled, how will I know when it's gone and the third train is now second. Or would that be first?

(Sign at Moorfields Station during the British Open Golf championships at Hoylake 2014)

TheSel · 29 Jul 2018

And as 'Jonfun' has shown, it's not just electronic information that fails.

This, displayed at Wigan Wallgate with an interesting - but possibly accurate local dialect version (!) - of 'Southport'.

Mis-spelling of Southport (Sourthport).jpg

318266 · 30 Jul 2018

Another one.
At Troon on the platform to Ayr the boards said:
1st 14:51 Ayr Expt. 14:52
2nd 14:40 Ayr On Time

Then the 1440 was delayed and arrived after the 1451. Was the board predicting the future or what? Note that this was during disruption.

vlad · 30 Jul 2018

TheSel said:
If the second train is cancelled, how will I know when it's gone and the third train is now second. Or would that be first?

That's fairly normal isn't it - showing that it's cancelled till the time it should have come in?

There were announcements at Chesterfield on Saturday that a cancelled train specifically wasn't going to use platform 3....

mark-h · 31 Jul 2018

I like the way it tells you how many cars the cancelled train would have had if it existed.

I remember seeing the board at Edinburgh Waverley advise that a cancelled train was short formed- I have also seen it helpfully detail which end first class could not be found and the catering service that did not exist.

61653 HTAFC · 31 Jul 2018

mark-h said:
I like the way it tells you how many cars the cancelled train would have had if it existed.

I remember seeing the board at Edinburgh Waverley advise that a cancelled train was short formed- I have also seen it helpfully detail which end first class could not be found and the catering service that did not exist.

If it's cancelled, then it's very short-formed! :lol:

One from a while back I liked was a service that was normally a 3-car 144 including a note that it was formed of 2 cars rather than 3, but turned up formed of a 155 which meant the "short-form" was actually longer!

61653 HTAFC · 3 Sep 2018

Another one on here:
At Batley waiting for a delayed Hull-Piccadilly service, the PIS seems to think the stopper has been let out of Leeds ahead of it and on time. NRE disagrees and thinks the stopper has been held, with the ex-Hull being turned at Piccadilly. A service arrives with Piccadilly on the front, just as an audio announcement tells us this is the delayed 1349 calling at Dewsbury and Huddersfield. The PIS is still saying its the all-stops service though. I board as either service is fine, and I can always change at Dewsbury if it's the stopper but a simple shout from the guard of "Dewsbury and Huddersfield only!" would've helped anyone who was understandably unsure, given that the PIS was clearly telling porkies.

Once on board, the PIS displays were working and told me this was the delayed 1349, but the fact that it was turning short at Stalyvegas was only announced after leaving Dewsbury.

F Great Eastern · 13 Oct 2018

Today on a 395 after leaving Ebbsfleet on a service that started at St Pancras.

This train is for Margate. Calling at Margate. The next station is Stratford.

Tio Terry · 13 Oct 2018

My favourite is the pre recorded announcement at London Waterloo:-

The train now approaching platform ?? is the ??:?? from ??????, this train terminates here.

I always think I really do hope so or there's going to be an awful mess!

edwin_m · 13 Oct 2018

Many years ago I decided to take the train to Tattenham Corner and walk to Epsom Downs for a train back. Having got a bit lost I missed my return train and there was no timetable or departure information at Epsom Downs. So I pressed the next train button on the help point, to receive the highly informative message:

"The next train terminates here".

F Great Eastern · 13 Oct 2018

Wonky 700 tonight cycling between blank blue background blank white. Off and a message about listen for announcements.

Alternated between them every second non stop with the little screen doing similar but with exclamation mark instead of message.

The colours were not even in sync with each other on both screens!!

AMD · 13 Oct 2018

There used to be an ECS working to Newton Heath that reversed in platform 1 at Manchester Victoria, the station system announced its approach with "the next train at platform 1 does not stop here, please stand clear....", fortunately it did stop every time.

Belperpete · 13 Oct 2018

ATW trains on the Cambrian don't seem to be able to cope with the train splitting at Machynlleth, and display the whole train going to Aber. Passengers then have the choice of believing the staff telling them they are on the Pwllheli bit or the display telling them Aber. Also not helped by the trains reversing at Shrewsbury, so passengers who have been told at Birmingham that the front portion is for Pwllheli then get confused when told that the front portion is for Aber, and v.v.

Also not uncommon for Machynlleth-bound trains to announce that they are heading for Pwllheli, and vice-versa, but to recognise each stop and work backward!

I think it was Leeds where I saw trains advertised as "Empty to Depot and XXXXX" (wherever XXXX was), for trains that were being divided.

Parallel · 13 Oct 2018

The Arriva 158s have a new-ish announcement recorded that says “This train is for Aberystwyth and Pwllheli and will be dividing on arrival at Machynlleth” but it only says that after departing Shrewsbury... It also says “Please be aware that this train will divide on arrival at Machynlleth” at Caersws but I don’t think the cheap system used can handle splits, so just says ‘This train is for Aberystwyth’ at every station before it splits.

DarloRich · 13 Oct 2018

The PIS at Fenny Stratford has been stuck in some reboot loop for about 3 weeks. Does that count as a fail?

Trivia: PIS and signage fails

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