• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Avanti West Coast: Standard Premium

Status
Not open for further replies.

507020

Established Member
Joined
23 May 2021
Messages
1,836
Location
Southport
You might just be overthinking this a bit.
Probably
Surely the more pressing question is how much would it cost, and how long would it take, to reconfigure the pendos to display the £ sign? While I can understand it wasn't priority no.1, surely Virgin were considering the possibility of using them to advertise upgrades, so to not have included it for the sake of 7-bit vs 16-bit seems a tad silly.

Of course, it'll probably involve a hardware change and the software will now no longer be supported, so it'll manage to cost £15m.
Not 7 bit vs 16 bit. It would only require 7 bit vs 8 bit. The latest system is 32 bit. Why does everything have to cost millions? Evidently they aren’t even particularly sophisticated displays.
I'll be someone on the programming screen at Avanti who can't use it quite properly.
Hopefully.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

takno

Established Member
Joined
9 Jul 2016
Messages
5,038
Surely the more pressing question is how much would it cost, and how long would it take, to reconfigure the pendos to display the £ sign? While I can understand it wasn't priority no.1, surely Virgin were considering the possibility of using them to advertise upgrades, so to not have included it for the sake of 7-bit vs 16-bit seems a tad silly.

Of course, it'll probably involve a hardware change and the software will now no longer be supported, so it'll manage to cost £15m.
They look to me like off-the-shelf display systems from the late 90s. The underlying system will obviously be 8-bit, but at the end of the day they likely have very limited memory and will only have enough capacity to hold the bitmap for a very limited number of characters. That may include the whole printable subset of ASCII, or just the letters and numbers plus a couple of other characters. Either way, getting into every single underlying system and likely replacing a phsycial ROM chip on each display could quite easily cost 15 million and then some.
 

507020

Established Member
Joined
23 May 2021
Messages
1,836
Location
Southport
They look to me like off-the-shelf display systems from the late 90s. The underlying system will obviously be 8-bit, but at the end of the day they likely have very limited memory and will only have enough capacity to hold the bitmap for a very limited number of characters. That may include the whole printable subset of ASCII, or just the letters and numbers plus a couple of other characters. Either way, getting into every single underlying system and likely replacing a phsycial ROM chip on each display could quite easily cost 15 million and then some.
By comparison, how much would replacing them with a modern (white or orange led) off the shelf display from the late 2010s cost? What about roller blinds?
 

takno

Established Member
Joined
9 Jul 2016
Messages
5,038
By comparison, how much would replacing them with a modern (white or orange led) off the shelf display from the late 2010s cost? What about roller blinds?
I would guess at that being quite a lot cheaper, and quite a sensible thing to do when they do the refurb. Either way it's not worth doing to add a pound sign to a message you could more easily and clearly get across with a few hundred quids worth of window stickers
 

py_megapixel

Established Member
Joined
5 Nov 2018
Messages
6,645
Location
Northern England
By comparison, how much would replacing them with a modern (white or orange led) off the shelf display from the late 2010s cost?

Little enough that some units have already started to have it done! I can't find a good photo but some Pendolinos and Voyagers now have new, much better, displays in the doors.
 

YorksLad12

Established Member
Joined
5 Feb 2020
Messages
1,875
Location
Leeds
I would guess at that being quite a lot cheaper, and quite a sensible thing to do when they do the refurb. Either way it's not worth doing to add a pound sign to a message you could more easily and clearly get across with a few hundred quids worth of window stickers
Or, offer to pay in dollars then complain on social media when your currency is refused o_O

(I bet someone tries it.)
 

Furrball

Member
Joined
9 May 2011
Messages
561
Just looked up the off-peak return price for Glasgow to Euston its £108.50, again surprised it's only £14 more ... might consider booking as that and start late / break journey in some fashion to later in the month make a leisure trip to Glasgow!
Glasgow to Euston is £155, off peak return, off peak single is £108.50

On the subject of the price display, 25GBP would have been an alternative
 

Blinkbonny

Member
Joined
16 Mar 2018
Messages
349
So I'm sitting at Carlisle debating whether to upgrade or not. The train is already 44 minutes late and counting. Surely my upgrade is going to work out at least half price?
 

roversfan2001

Established Member
Joined
19 Feb 2016
Messages
1,666
Location
Lancashire
If you mean "do you get Delay Repay for it", I have had DR for Weekend First before so I don't see why not.
I’ve had it paid out on Seatfrogs. LNER have paid it out on Weekend First upgrades in the past too.
You learn something new every day! Would that still apply when the delay is known about before purchase too then?
 

Blinkbonny

Member
Joined
16 Mar 2018
Messages
349
You learn something new every day! Would that still apply when the delay is known about before purchase too then?
Well as things stand, it's not possible to buy it before hand.

I was genuinely thinking of doing it. Though why Glasgow to Euston should be £30 and Carlisle to Cov is £25...

Or should that be in dollars?

If it’s anything like buying a ticket after knowing about the delay, I’m guessing not?

^ this is conjecture though.
The delay however is still in the lap of the gods. It's not really KNOWN!
 

Energy

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2018
Messages
4,423
What I’m thinking is the Pendolinos have come from Italy,
The PIS is supplied by Televic Rail, who are based in Bulgaria
Little enough that some units have already started to have it done! I can't find a good photo but some Pendolinos and Voyagers now have new, much better, displays in the doors.
Correct, the image bellow is of the static pendolino at the Crewe training centre though.
1623348189576.png
 

507020

Established Member
Joined
23 May 2021
Messages
1,836
Location
Southport
Correct, the image bellow is of the static pendolino at the Crewe training centre though.
Thank you for the very good image. Those displays look a lot better. I never thought the other ones were very good?

What is the static Pendolino at Crewe? Is it a real set which is being stored there or is it some sort of training mock up?
 

Energy

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2018
Messages
4,423
Thank you for the very good image. Those displays look a lot better. I never thought the other ones were very good?

What is the static Pendolino at Crewe? Is it a real set which is being stored there or is it some sort of training mock up?
Some of the surviving carriages from the Grayrigg derailment now used for training.
 

BluePenguin

On Moderation
Joined
26 Sep 2016
Messages
1,605
Location
Kent
Unless "journey time" doesn't take its Clapham Omnibus meaning (i.e. the time spent travelling), that's not going to apply at a meaningful level to the vast majority of UK business travel. £5 isn't meaningful; you can't even get a Big Mac meal for that now, so it's only the next step up that is significant, and most people are not going to day trip anything taking 5 hours each way.

I don't do a tax return, I just claim what my employer pays. Not worth it for the piddling amount I'd get extra.
You can’t get a Big Mac but can get a jacket potato with salad and a soft drink at Wetherspoons - or a standard English breakfast. A meal deal from one of the non-expensive supermarkets is £3.

Take the frills away and you can actually afford quite a lot with £5!
 

507020

Established Member
Joined
23 May 2021
Messages
1,836
Location
Southport
Some of the surviving carriages from the Grayrigg derailment now used for training.
That seems like a good use for them. It’s a shame that they were written off when they were still brand new.
You can’t get a Big Mac but can get a jacket potato with salad and a soft drink at Wetherspoons - or a standard English breakfast. A meal deal from one of the non-expensive supermarkets is £3.

Take the frills away and you can actually afford quite a lot with £5!
Last time I looked they were selling sandwiches on Class 390 Pendolinos for £3.90
 

507020

Established Member
Joined
23 May 2021
Messages
1,836
Location
Southport
Are sandwiches on a Super Voyager £2.21?
I'll get my coat...
I believe so. I hear Avanti West Coast can’t wait for the introduction of the Class 805/807 units…
Yes but they were in "Travellers-Fare" packaging.
Was that not on the 87s?
Would be nice if when the Pendos were being loco-hauled the sandwich prices changed to 57 pence! (Not that they're hauled in regular service any more, of course)
They will be next time they go on the Settle-Carlisle line. £3.33 off the price of a sandwich would be a nice gesture to compensate for the additional journey time of the diversion. I doubt anyone will ever pay £8.05 or £8.07 for a sandwich.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top