London Midland automated announcements

[xydancer]

Does anyone know why London Midland seem incapable of making the correct automated announcements - particularly on southbound Crewe-Esuton services at Northampton?

Time after time - either at Northampton or shortly after leaving - we are told that the train is bound for Euston (at least that is correct), stopping at Alsager..., and that the first stop is Alsager. Cue mirth from those in the know, lots of questions from those that do not.

I could list countless other instances of incorrect LM on-train announcements. Only today those sitting in the Birmingham portion of a northbound service that divided at Northampton were told the first stop would be Wolverton!

Is the system that difficult to operate? Or is there some problem with the software specific to Northampton?

And given this nearly always happens, why isn't the automated system turned off (at least here) and manual announcements used instead?

 

[thefab444]

The first time PIS code is entered it will announce the calling pattern in full, after which it will use the GPS to work out where it is e.g. if the code for a Waterloo - Poole stopper is entered at Brockenhurst, it will display the full calling pattern i.e.

"Welcome aboard this South West Trains service to Poole. Calling at Farnborough, Fleet, Basingstoke, Winchester, Shawford, Eastleigh, Southampton Airprt, Southampton Ctl, Totton, Ashurst N F, Brockenhurst........ Sway, N Milton, Hinton Adml, Christchurch, Pokesdown, Bournemouth, Branksome, Parkstone and Poole."

The next time an announced is triggered by GPS, it will automagically know where it is and adjust the calling pattern to suit.

 

[Pumbaa]

Its the way the software is set up on the /1s and /2s. If you have matching trains, its not usually a problem going northbound with a split.

If both /2 or /1, the PIS will harmonise. If a /2 /1 mixture, the PIS from where it's being reset will dominate, ie usually the rear unit in the formation. For the Crewe services, this is the rear train. Hope that helps.

Going North, when the unit splits at Northampton, the PIS will reset with GPS if it isn't told that the service will split. When that happens, it loads up the next information it has, and for Northampton thats going south to M Keynes. When it happens at Euston, it will immediately announce the next stop as Harrow, and at New Street it will automatically announce Stechford.

Edit - fab444 beat and helped me!