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Greater Anglia New Passenger Information Screens

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ashkeba

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Guess it means that the whole train is for Kings Lynn and the back 8 are for Cambridge, but the programming to allow this to be shown has not been properly tested or is a fudge/hack until they get it working correctly.

Infotec wouldn't be seen dead churning out units with such bugs.
I think it's very likely to be front 4 to KLn and back 8 terminating CBG but I wonder if that one is wrong in the source feed because Waterbeach boards are not showing a length for those trains.
 

greaterwest

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They clearly aren't picking up reverse train formations
It's likely that the CIS operators need to enter this information manually, and they won't know if they aren't told.

Hmm...

Tottenham Hale. Front 12 carriages are for King's Lynn, and rear 8 for Cambridge.

Is that longer or shorter than a eurostar?
Sounds like wrong formation information has been entered into the system.

Infotec wouldn't be seen dead churning out units with such bugs.
You'd be very, very surprised at what Infotec can come up with.
 

F Great Eastern

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It's likely that the CIS operators need to enter this information manually, and they won't know if they aren't told.

If only there was a live, raw working data feed that had the correction information on that was also supplying other systems.....

There's been something jazzy going on with train formations for weeks on these screens, by calling the 3 car services 4 car services and the 4 car services 5 car services, despite every other systems apparently both externally and also some internal systems showing the correct train length. There has to be something that is being done with the data prior to going out to these screens.

Greater Anglia themselves have said that the new screens allow them to fully customise what they show, which is basically code for taking the live feed and modifying it before it goes out, otherwise known as post-processing. It's possible that when the feeds hit the backend system, they are have certain scripts run to change the data, before it gets pushed to the screens.

Post processing is good when it improves the clarity of the data and adds useful information, but it can also effect the integrity of the data, if not done or programmed properly and also obviously it can be used to change raw data before it goes out on public views for other reasons too. Either way, these screens should have bugs fixed rather than being rolled out willy nilly.
You'd be very, very surprised at what Infotec can come up with.

I've seen more problems with Greater Anglia's passenger information systems in the past few months than I've seen with Infotec displays in about 10 years of traveling throughout the country. Maybe I'm just lucky, but probably not.

I'm sure Infotec are not perfect, but some of the current problems with the GA system are basic issues, there is a whole thread full of them from various people, a system that was first rolled out 4 years ago in Scotland should not have this level of problems.
 
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MikeWM

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Not been to BIS for a little while. Per my post #41 earlier in this thread, have they managed to put a visible departures board on platform 1 yet, or do you still have to cross the bridge or pass through the ticket gates in order to see information about anything other than the next departure from that platform?

Was at BIS tonight, so can answer my own question as ‘better than before’. The board before the gates (but visible from the platform) is back as a general departures board, rather than one for platform 1 only. Ditto the one in the small waiting room on platform 1, which is also visible from the platform.
 

applepie2100

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I'm sure Infotec are not perfect, but some of the current problems with the GA system are basic issues, there is a whole thread full of them from various people, a system that was first rolled out 4 years ago in Scotland should not have this level of problems.

I don't know if they were even properly rolled out in Scotland or simply given an extended trial which has now been kicked into touch. As previously mentioned all of the recent deployments and replacements have been Infotec, mainly their newer white LED platform version. While they may not be LCD or OLED, they're head and shoulders above this rubbish. I do wonder if that system didn't meet with the SQUIRE (Service Quality Inspection Regime) used in Scotland?
 

Alfie1014

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On Monday evening during disruption the screens at Colchester were showing the 17:03 to Colchester!!! (Which was the 16:00 ex Norwich terminating short at Colchester) as being simultaneously as on time and cancelled (which I suppose in some ways it was but hardly helpful for the passengers!)
 

306024

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On Monday evening during disruption the screens at Colchester were showing the 17:03 to Colchester!!! (Which was the 16:00 ex Norwich terminating short at Colchester) as being simultaneously as on time and cancelled (which I suppose in some ways it was but hardly helpful for the passengers!)

Brilliant! And hardly helpful to the staff who were battling against it too.
 

MikeWM

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I'm not sure if things are getting better or not. Sometimes the boards seem improved, sometimes worse than ever.

I did manage to help someone to not miss their train last week, when there was a last minute platform change at Ely from 2 to 1. The departures board did point out 'this train will now depart from platform 1'. However the platform 2 board - literally right next to it - was still showing the train as the next departure from platform 2 - right up until it arrived on 1 :(
 

F Great Eastern

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I'm not sure if things are getting better or not. Sometimes the boards seem improved, sometimes worse than ever.

I did manage to help someone to not miss their train last week, when there was a last minute platform change at Ely from 2 to 1. The departures board did point out 'this train will now depart from platform 1'. However the platform 2 board - literally right next to it - was still showing the train as the next departure from platform 2 - right up until it arrived on 1 :(

I've seen that no-end of times to be honest.

That is the problem with post processing rather than relying fully on feeds. When a feed updates, everything updates with it, when you post-process the feed updates but the post processing stuff like additional text that is applied by the control room doesn't and you get issues like you mention until someone fixes the information that was added and you get some contradictions. Also by introducing post processing, you just add another hoop the data has to go through and be processed through before it goes out to the screens, which may account for some of the lag that these screens suffer from.

I've seen so many trains that have had a platform indicator beside their name and have additional text in yellow which says the train is departing from a different platform or yellow text that directly contradicts the information above it, such as train showing as on time and the yellow test saying it's cancelled or a train showing as on time but yellow text or disruption info saying that it's delayed.

I've seen more people speak to the guard on services getting confused about why the train they are on is going somewhere else than they thought and heard more people asking "is this the train to?" type questions in the last few months than I can remember in the previous year, but maybe it's just a co-incidence.
 
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trebor79

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Board at Diss this morning showing completely incorrect formation information. No buffet indication and it thought first class was at the rear of the service to London. Thought perhaps it was showing formation information for a 321 service, but only 1 first class area shown. So it was wrong either way.
 

cmovcc

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was at Cambridge yesterday and it said a train to Stansted was going to go out of platform 6

which seemed unlikely given 6 is a bay platform facing the wrong way with the station building directly behind it

at Bishops Stortford they also kept saying trains that the Stratford service would be on platform 1, again facing the wrong way, while the actual train was at platform 3
 
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Goldfish62

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Rather surprisingly SWR are actually doing something right! In that at Kingston (the only one I know about so far) and progressively at more stations across their network, they have these big full colour displays in the ticket hall that are far more easy to read than when there's just a massive screen of LEDs yet on the platform they've opted for white LED dot matrix displays that are clear, can be seen from far and are rather reliable.
Same very good set-up at Wokingham.
 

Maltazer

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was at Cambridge yesterday and it said a train to Stansted was going to go out of platform 6

which seemed unlikely given 6 is a bay platform facing the wrong way with the station building directly behind it

at Bishops Stortford they also kept saying trains that the Stratford service would be on platform 1, again facing the wrong way, while the actual train was at platform 3

It looked like some Norwich-Stansted trains were being turned at Cambridge yesterday due to blockages on the line, so the Stansted service may well have been in platform 6, but just not going there any more!

Still shows that these screens aren't fit for purpose though.
 

86246

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Strange information displayed at Ipswich this afternoon. The 14:20 to Ingatestone was advertised as the “first off peak train to London”.
 

superjohn

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More weirdness at Ippo this morning. I know the 745s are fast but:
A - They’re not that fast
B - It wasn’t a 745
upload_2020-2-17_9-9-43.jpeg
Picture showing a departure screen for the 0909 service to Liverpool Street, ‘expected at 0846’ and with clock showing 0855.
 

F Great Eastern

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More weirdness at Ippo this morning. I know the 745s are fast but:
A - They’re not that fast
B - It wasn’t a 745
View attachment 74047
Picture showing a departure screen for the 0909 service to Liverpool Street, ‘expected at 0846’ and with clock showing 0855.

Nothing should surprise you with these screens.

GA are tone deaf to any criticism about them.
 

F Great Eastern

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Just had the pleasure of passing through Worcestershire Parkway today and have to say the screens in the main hall are vastly better than the ones that Greater Anglia have. They also use colour and animation but are far more subtle with only scrolling for animations and when something changes, no constant refreshing.

Parkway.jpg

A similar set-up at Greater Anglia stations with more screens would be far better than what we have at present and would provide a lot more substance. Good to see GWR investing in things like this and not getting carried away with being too flashy.
 

applepie2100

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Just had the pleasure of passing through Worcestershire Parkway today and have to say the screens in the main hall are vastly better than the ones that Greater Anglia have. They also use colour and animation but are far more subtle with only scrolling for animations and when something changes, no constant refreshing.

View attachment 74489

A similar set-up at Greater Anglia stations with more screens would be far better than what we have at present and would provide a lot more substance. Good to see GWR investing in things like this and not getting carried away with being too flashy.

That looks very much like an InfoTec product so it’s no real surprise that it’s vastly superior in just about every single way!
 

XCTurbostar

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Those at Worcestershire Parkway are Infotec T Series TFTs. I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned yet but these Blackbox displays are an Abellio aspiration hence their introduction on Anglia, ScotRail, East and West Midlands.
They are preferred because of their ability to show full screen adverts.
 

F Great Eastern

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rte
Those at Worcestershire Parkway are Infotec T Series TFTs. I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned yet but these Blackbox displays are an Abellio aspiration hence their introduction on Anglia, ScotRail, East and West Midlands.
They are preferred because of their ability to show full screen adverts.

This has previously been discussed - I posted a picture of a screen showing an ad on the second page.

The Programme Manager at Blackbox is Nienke Hensbroek, ex Nederlandse Spoorwegen who went on to work as Information Control Manager at Greater Anglia followed by taking the role of Business Change manager, where she was responsible for evaluating the market place for rail operations IT systems and was liaising with Greater Anglia's Procurement and IT department, before leaving Greater Anglia in April 2017, took a six months sabbatical and then turned up working at Blackbox.

I don't know any other customers of Blackbox than Abellio and apparently there is a relationship with the companies going back to 2015 where it seems that they were given some government funding when Samsung and Fujitsu were also involved (see page 6)

 

londonmidland

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I hope other operators under the Abellio company don’t go the same way as GA have and replace their P.A system with an inferior text-to-speech system.

I think the TTS system is provided by Blackbox but it’s optional as to whether the TOCs want to use it or not.
 

Parallel

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I’m not a fan of text to speech voices. I’d rather have a human voice (even if it is automated) relaying information clearly, rather than being barked at by a robot, even if it can go into slightly more detail. I think empathy is important in communication.
 

py_megapixel

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I hope other operators under the Abellio company don’t go the same way as GA have and replace their P.A system with an inferior text-to-speech system.

I think the TTS system is provided by Blackbox but it’s optional as to whether the TOCs want to use it or not.
IIRC the way the old Infotec displays worked was that the display integrated with an existing PIS solution, whether provided by Atos, KeTech, Amey or someone else. However, TTS is nothing new on the railways: for quite a while now some Infotec screens have integrated a system provided by Acapela Group which effectively reads the contents of the display, in a feature which the company calls "Micro PA"

Incidentally I wonder if the Infotec displays could work with the Blackbox data feed?
 

F Great Eastern

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IIRC the way the old Infotec displays worked was that the display integrated with an existing PIS solution, whether provided by Atos, KeTech, Amey or someone else. However, TTS is nothing new on the railways: for quite a while now some Infotec screens have integrated a system provided by Acapela Group which effectively reads the contents of the display, in a feature which the company calls "Micro PA"

Incidentally I wonder if the Infotec displays could work with the Blackbox data feed?

The new solution also is phasing out Javelin. There's post processing/editing/modifications going on before the data goes out to the Blackbox screens, whereas I believe that the Infotec screens were using more raw data that hadn't had as much post processing applied.

This was very noticeable when the first Blackbox screens were put in at Ipswich as often you used to see most sources of data singing from the same hymn sheet as the Infotec screens with none of the incorrect information that the blackbox screens had appearing.

Abellio are also on record of saying that the thing about the new screens is that they can fully customise the content and the information that is shows, which is basically an admission that it's not using raw data and instead is being post processed.

Has anyone observed how accurate these displays are when it comes to delays? Are they fairly accurate with their predictions like the Infotec screens or do they underplay or overplay them?
 
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