Incorrect stock formation information being advertised (Wakefield Westgate)

[LMS 4F]

This morning I took a friend to Wakefield Westgate to catch a train to Glasgow Central. She had a pre booked first class ticket.
The service was a XC one and the station is run by LNER.
On platform two the television information clearly stated first class is at the rear of the 5 coaches. The Lady is not the most mobile so we made our way slowly towards where the 5th coach would be.
When the train arrived 1st class was at the front, so a dash was needed to the other end. By dash I mean slow hobble in her case and I had spoken to the TM who held the train.
I challenged the customer service staff at the station who said it was XC fault. I spoke to XC customer services on the phone and they said, no we don't run the station it is LNER business.
The LNER Customer Services on the phone admitted that the screens are set up for their services and as far as XC or any other company trains at their stations the screen should not be believed regarding where 1st class is situated.
This may seem a trivial point to anyone in full health and familiar with train travel but to the less mobile unsure of how the system works then this has potential to cause a major personal upset.
I have suggested announcements when non LNER trains are due at these stations but I'll not hold my breath.

 

[voyagerdude220]

That's very poor of LNER. They should be able to check the formation of the train by checking it on Trust.

Trust will list the unit number and which way around it is. E.g. 604xx vehicle would be First Class, details of the three intermediate vehicles, then 603xx (Coach F)

 

[800002]

Another example of a disjointed and fragmented railway system.
I suspect LNER would expect some sort of payment in return for such a service.
The fact it is allowed tohappen in the first place is appaling.

CIS is a bit alien to me - having only experienced a major terminus before.
Would the station staff be able access TRUST? I've known station staff to only have CCF viewing and access to their own trains running info via whichever program they were using. Is another operators services available to them?

 

[swt_passenger]

It’s quite possible for another TOC to display XC formations correctly, I’ve been watching XC trains appearing on SWT and now SWR operated displays the right way round for many years. I wouldn’t say it’s 100% correct, but it almost always is. GWR displays at Reading almost always display XC the right way round, and deal with the reversals in the station as well...

 

[sheff1]

Exactly the same happens with XC trains at Sheffield. Bearing in mind most of these trains have travelled many miles before they reach Sheffield (and, in the normal course of events, reversal points on the journey will be as timetabled), someone should be able get the correct formation into the system but it would appear no one has that responsibility.

Just as bad, is when a XC train is announced as 8 or 9 carriages and those who think they are in the know spread along the platform then, on arrival, one set is locked out. To rub salt into the wound, the misled passengers at the wrong end of the platform are shouted or whistled at by onboard or platform staff.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's very poor of LNER. They should be able to check the formation of the train by checking it on Trust.

Trust will list the unit number and which way around it is. E.g. 604xx vehicle would be First Class, details of the three intermediate vehicles, then 603xx (Coach F)

Why is there not an automated interface from TRUST to the PIS to show a correct formation diagram? It doesn't sound a difficult thing to do in this day and age.

 

[3270]

XC formations are usually right on CIS screens but I believe there's quite a bit of manual observation done overnight to check which way round each unit is.

 

[800001]

Lead to believe that the information displayed is fed into the system from cross-country control. So the issue is firmly with cross country.
If its wrong at Wakefield it will be wrong at every station regardless of operator.

 

[221129]

Why is there not an automated interface from TRUST to the PIS to show a correct formation diagram? It doesn't sound a difficult thing to do in this day and age.

I would never trust TRUST for formation. Its wrong more often than the screens are.

 

[CyrusWuff]

If memory serves, XC have default formation remarks set against their trains and generally send out messages via Tyrell in the event of the train being in reverse formation so that station staff can update their CIS.

Failing that, it relies on station staff cascading formation info, which might not have been thought of given Sheffield (the previous calling point for said service) is EMR territory.

 

[waterboo]

Yep, LNER cannot be blamed here really.. XC insert the formation from their control, which updates DARWIN which feeds data to the CIS at all the stations the train is due to call at. Generally if the formation changes at short notice, a hub station does have the ability to remove the formation comments to avoid confusion/ misleading customers.

 

[Mojo]

I would never trust TRUST for formation. Its wrong more often than the screens are.

Can’t say I noticed that but my experience is 12 years old. One of my first jobs on the railway was as a CSA at a station served by XC and at the start of the shift we were expected to go through the list of trains we had been allocated for the day on Trust and then work out the formation and length of train so we could direct customers with reserved seats or booked assists to wait on the platform in the correct place. I don’t ever remember this being wrong, although you did have to be careful for trains that change direction en route such as on weekends where there was engineering work and trains from the South West reverse at Newport.