Misleading train indicators at Heathrow central

[fandroid]

The westbound Piccadilly Line train indicators at Heathrow Central are seriously misleading. I attach a photo. It shows "Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 & 5".

I understand that is the one of the standard destinations indicated for all westbound Piccadilly Line services at all stations, but given the large number of strangers to the Tube on that platform, it could cause great confusion and even mean some passengers missing their flights.

Is it impossible to tailor the screen announcements for that one important station? (Just updating them would show that someone cares - terminal 1 has been shut for years!)

 

[Farigiraf]

The train would be going to T5 and you are already at 2&3, and 1 is closed. Only problem would be if it said it was going to T4 and wasn't.

I do think the name Heathrow Central is misleading, passengers might not realise they're already at 2/3 and get lost

 

[Mawkie]

The westbound Piccadilly Line train indicators at Heathrow Central are seriously misleading. I attach a photo. It shows "Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 & 5".

I understand that is the one of the standard destinations indicated for all westbound Piccadilly Line services at all stations, but given the large number of strangers to the Tube on that platform, it could cause great confusion and even mean some passengers missing theirView attachment 144271 flights.

Is it impossible to tailor the screen announcements for that one important station? (Just updating them would show that someone cares - terminal 1 has been shut for years!)

Where is this "Heathrow Central" you speak about? The Underground renamed it in 1983!

I drive the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow T5 (sometimes twice a day) and have literally never, ever, encountered a single traveller that got confused and didn't get off at Terminal 2&3.

Are you suggesting that someone stood at Heathrow Terminals 2&3 would not notice the signage, the announcements, the general melee, or the platform staff, and suddenly decide, on the strength of a platform indicator (and against all other information available to them) that they would board an arriving train and arrive at T5? I would say that's a stretch, and doesn't in any way match my actual lived experience.

 

[fandroid]

It's a bit basic, isn't it, that a platform indicator shows the true destination of the train and not three places that are misleading, one of which doesn't even exist?

Basic customer service just too difficult for LU?

 

[MaidaVale]

The platform describers (for the most part) get their data directly from the signalling system and this is the same across most lines. Changing individual destinations for singular cases tends to be a bit of a waste of time and money providing it doesn't add any real confusion to the passengers. Having briefly worked at T2&3 and now on the Piccadilly as a whole, I've never heard of an instance where this has caused confusion (other than the occasional person asking for Terminal 1).

This same link to the signalling system is also what causes "Hainault via Newbury Park" to be displayed at Fairlop and Barkingside despite the train already having passed Newbury Park. Despite the Central and Piccadilly having severely different signalling systems, It's overall not seen as viable to make exceptions for individual cases unless it actually causes confusion (such as if Hainault via Newbury Park was displayed on the Woodford shuttles)