Poll: Most effective way of showing which part of the train will be located where on a long platform

pt_mad said:

Ironically, coloured zones doesn't seem very popular in the poll. Yet seems the most traditional way and was well established at one point.

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They do work, but they aren't very granular (I think only 4 colours, blue, purple, orange and gold, not necessarily in that order, were used on a long platform) and they don't make it clear which way to go to find the other ones unlike numbering and lettering.

It was VTWC who killed them, though, by their ill-fated "3 class" system which used 3 colour zones on board - Standard (Purple), Hybrid (Blue - contained Standard coaches in the peak and a mix off-peak, with Weekend First only being usable here) and First (Gold, First Anytime only).

A big black triangle on one end to disambiguate which way round the train is?

I'll get my coat...

There are painted red squares appearing on the platforms at Bath, Swindon and Didcot Parkway. 10 on each platform, they show ‘Zone 1’, ‘Zone 2’, etc. up to 10.

And then the PIS screen at Didcot (only Didcot I’ve noticed so far) displays all the zones along the bottom, with the carriage letters on a little train pictogram above the corresponding zone where the train will stop, as well as bicycle and wheelchair spaces and which carriages are 1st class. Seems a good idea to me.

Mintona said:

There are painted red squares appearing on the platforms at Bath, Swindon and Didcot Parkway. 10 on each platform, they show ‘Zone 1’, ‘Zone 2’, etc. up to 10.

And then the PIS screen at Didcot (only Didcot I’ve noticed so far) displays all the zones along the bottom, with the carriage letters on a little train pictogram above the corresponding zone where the train will stop, as well as bicycle and wheelchair spaces and which carriages are 1st class. Seems a good idea to me.

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Couple of questions on this:

How consistent are the drivers in stopping in exactly the same spot each time, in order to make sure they hit the spot each time

Will it work with a platform that has trains travelling in both directions (P3 at Swindon) - guess it will,

Julia said:

A big black triangle on one end to disambiguate which way round the train is?

I'll get my coat...

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Nah, it'll never catch on
https://railphotoprints.uk/p866539357/h1A448BBD#h11f1e0d

Personally I find a good solution is to take responsilibity for it myself. Have a nice new pair of trainers on and be ready to run like f*&k...

I voted CIS electronic display shows a diagram of train with coach letter shown below and something else. The something else can be through an app (National Rail maybe?).

SwindonBert said:

Couple of questions on this:

How consistent are the drivers in stopping in exactly the same spot each time, in order to make sure they hit the spot each time

Will it work with a platform that has trains travelling in both directions (P3 at Swindon) - guess it will,

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They line up with the stop boards at each station, so drivers should be pretty accurate at it.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work then, you’d just have the zone numbers reversed on the display.

Small (amber/yellow LED matrix displays at small intervals (5m? 10m?) along each platform, with the coach number (and ideally seat numbers in that coach for the nearest door, and in fact an arrow pointing to the location of that door or the nearest two doors to that sign, with the coach and seat numbers for those two doors shown) which will stop next to that sign, for the next train serving that platform. Those signs which are beyond each end of where the train will be, for any particular train, show arrows pointing to where it will be.

Should/might be possible to get away with solar panel on top to charge a few 18650s inside each sign (avoiding expensive attachment to mains), and connectivity via Bluetooth LE (facilitated by each sign participating in a mesh network, updating being relatively infrequent, …) with one master per station with a WiFi or LTE uplink. Could reduce power needs further with a PIR motion sensor and light sensor to light it up only when someone's nearby. White downlighter “puddle” LEDs (when batteries in a good enough state of charge) also thus activated would be a nice touch. Using an LCD or e-Paper display (using LED or electroluminescent front or back lighting) would reduce power needs further. For configuration, it should even be possible to self-configure for distances once one sensor per platform knows “where it is” (most obvioust way to achieve that being to put the “front” indicator of a given set onto the stop-board, or otherwise a non-indicator beacon for the others to reference at that stop board. After that it's a pretty straightforward software problem, but then again, isn't everything? (ahem, GWR IET seat reservations ) …

Just to emphasise the need for if not uniformity then at least consistency. We have just boarded a Bristol train at Reading. Our reservations are in coach K. Coach K is, indeed, shown on the train. The station tannoy and PIS tells us that first class is coaches 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Not consistent. And not helpful.

Fawkes Cat said:

Just to emphasise the need for if not uniformity then at least consistency. We have just boarded a Bristol train at Reading. Our reservations are in coach K. Coach K is, indeed, shown on the train. The station tannoy and PIS tells us that first class is coaches 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Not consistent. And not helpful.

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This is the fault of the South East TOCs (Southern were first) who started numbering coaches instead of lettering them.

I must admit that I think the German's have got the right idea with this one. Divvy up the platforms into zones (they use letters but you could use numbers as we use letters for coaches here) and then stick the platform zones on the CIS as a line marked off with the zones and then a pictogram of the train showing above the correct zones (and info about the train in the pictogram, i.e. first class, buffet, bike spaces, etc). It works for trains that will fill the platform totally (whilst showing where to stand for various things) as well as trains that are only a coach or two long.

We're so close in some places (and it sounds like GWR are actually doing it at Didcot). LNER stations for example show pictograms of their trains (and CrossCountry and TPE now as well I think). So if they marked off the platforms into zones and put that information on the screens...

ainsworth74 said:

I must admit that I think the German's have got the right idea with this one. Divvy up the platforms into zones (they use letters but you could use numbers as we use letters for coaches here) and then stick the platform zones on the CIS as a line marked off with the zones and then a pictogram of the train showing above the correct zones (and info about the train in the pictogram, i.e. first class, buffet, bike spaces, etc). It works for trains that will fill the platform totally (whilst showing where to stand for various things) as well as trains that are only a coach or two long.

We're so close in some places (and it sounds like GWR are actually doing it at Didcot). LNER stations for example show pictograms of their trains (and CrossCountry and TPE now as well I think). So if they marked off the platforms into zones and put that information on the screens...

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Yes that’s exactly what GWR are doing at Didcot, and I keep seeing the painted zones on the platforms at more and more stations so it definitely seems like it’s coming in to other places too. I noticed yesterday that Keynsham and Oldfield Park have the red boxes on the platforms too so I would guess the plan is to put them in everywhere, as IETs don’t routinely call at those two stations.

Mintona said:

Yes that’s exactly what GWR are doing at Didcot, and I keep seeing the painted zones on the platforms at more and more stations so it definitely seems like it’s coming in to other places too. I noticed yesterday that Keynsham and Oldfield Park have the red boxes on the platforms too so I would guess the plan is to put them in everywhere, as IETs don’t routinely call at those two stations.

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Will be interesting if they install ‘zones’ at Avoncliff “The local door zone”

The thing is the CIS has to be reliable if they are going to do stuff like this. Just last week it was announced that first glass on 2x800 was ‘in coaches 4, 5, 6 and 7’ (the centre) when it was actually in the front and rear (1, 2, 9 and 10).

Good idea in theory, just hope it is executed well.