pokemonsuper9
Established Member
Allowed on with plenty of timeOut of curiosity, what's Blackpool North like these days?
Platforms known very far in advance.
Allowed on with plenty of timeOut of curiosity, what's Blackpool North like these days?
Last time I was at Blackpool North, the platform is shown but the door between the concourse & platform is kept locked until a few minutes before departure, causing a chaotic rush when it does get opened by the member of staff.Out of curiosity, what's Blackpool North like these days?
MARK
Yarmouth or South London?One place that seems to have a thing about keeping platforms a secret is Vauxhall.
That would be the South London oneYarmouth or South London?
MARK
I think this summarises the problem well, I don't think many people disagree that suppressing platforms for a period of time at certain locations is necessary, as is the mainstream sources respecting that flag. The railway once again goes and takes a necessary tool and utterly abuses it for their own convenience, berating passengers that found the information by putting in some work (though berating passengers seems to be a favourite pastime of Paddington's gateline in general).Fwiw one of the reasons I don't put more information than just the headcode in on traksy is that it self-selects the info to people who are more likely to know what they're doing. I also personally prefer to only hit the platform when it's actually been announced. I make an exception if it's left so late, as at Paddington, that there's no chance of distributing the passengers down the train, and in fact a real possibility of the slightly less mobile not making it through at all.
It's just one of those "failed at the first hurdle" ways the railway sometimes like to show that they regard their customers as an inconvenience.
The solution to that is simple - you play an (automatic) announcement on the original platform periodicially before the train departs and ensure all the information boards are updated immediately. And you make sure there is a train describer board at the entrance to every platform so that arriving passengers know to go elsewhere.What if it changes short-notice? You'd have complaints about people missing trains as they were on the wrong platform!
It's been behaving a little bit better recently. Now they send platform information, only once it has been confirmed though.Love KGX where it seems like every platform is always suppressed.
It happens somewhat often at certain stations. Kings Cross was not sending any platform information for a number of weeks a few months back.Very very rarely does confirmed platform not get "relayed at all".
The CIS workstation should be relaying data to Darwin. Sometimes that fails - usually because the Darwin connection/workstation has failed and no one is bothered to restart it.Platform advertisements are highly unlikely to be done on a Darwin workstation panel, and instead uses the CIS controller software as provided by the operator (e.g. Worldline)
It happens somewhat often at certain stations. Kings Cross was not sending any platform information for a number of weeks a few months back.
The CIS workstation should be relaying data to Darwin. Sometimes that fails - usually because the Darwin connection/workstation has failed and no one is bothered to restart it.
If Trainline are showing suppressed platforms they probably should stop that, but there's a very good chance they're ignoring the flag because the TOC cannot be bothered to properly maintain the data in Darwin and/or release platforms sensibly.
Yeah which they are entitled to do for all stations which don't do suppression (there might be an argument about text size, I don't remember what it looks like, but if it says estimated and isn't really tiny text I don't see a problem). My point is they might be showing it for suppressed stations because the data management of those stations is (on average) so poorTrainline does it for any station, so it isn't related to any TOCs. The vast majority of stations in this country do not have surpressed platforms.
I find King Cross moderately easy to work out where my train is going from before it's announced (see what's occupied or just leaving; see what's coming in; narrow it down to two-ish). That's the easy bit... getting through the gate line with everyone else, that's the issue. And even though I'm travelling First, my carriage has people seated with their laptops out before I've boarded, so they must be really quick off the mark.Love KGX where it seems like every platform is always suppressed.
I nearly quoted Blackpool North as an example, but I've never actually experienced it myself, whereas I've been through Euston relatively frequently.Out of curiosity, what's Blackpool North like these days?
MARK
If I had taken that approach I would have missed a number of trains over the years where the platform wasn’t announced at all.Personally, I think it's best if people don't go on the platform until it is announced,
The way Euston, and to an extent Paddington, behave in announcing platforms less than five minutes before departure with the resultant stampede to the platform is a reason why some passengers try and get ahead of the game.Personally, I think it's best if people don't go on the platform until it is announced, even if you know what platform it is due to RTT or something similar - most likely you are just going to get in the way, and if you wait at the entrance to the platform you will get on first anyway without causing any staff members any issues.
Once the platform is announced the railway is ready for you to board, so that's when you should join the train.
It's becoming a nuisance at some stations with passengers coming down early, obstructing the cleaners and then having the nerve to complain about the mess after departure. On one instance a train is required to be locked up with all passengers off to couple up - this delayed the train's departure and subsequently lost it's path on the finite mainline.
Another kicked off after being caught out with a set swap - the new train was clearly advertised on CIS screens and NRE app but guessing his RTT didn't refresh, leading Mr Angry looking out the window of his empty train at departure time thinking "ooo wonder where that trains going??".
I still don't think there's any need to wait on the platform or certainly to board the train before it is ready - I'll wait next to the gates for the platform, go straight through as soon as it's announced and you're ahead of the stampede and get on first so you have your choice of seats, all without getting in the way of any staffThe way Euston, and to an extent Paddington, behave in announcing platforms less than five minutes before departure with the resultant stampede to the platform is a reason why some passengers try and get ahead of the game.
At Euston I usually go to the top of the platform to watch the trains arriving or leaving.I still don't think there's any need to wait on the platform or certainly to board the train before it is ready - I'll wait next to the gates for the platform, go straight through as soon as it's announced and you're ahead of the stampede and get on first so you have your choice of seats, all without getting in the way of any staff
I still don't think there's any need to wait on the platform or certainly to board the train before it is ready - I'll wait next to the gates for the platform, go straight through as soon as it's announced and you're ahead of the stampede and get on first so you have your choice of seats, all without getting in the way of any staff
I refer you to this thread. I’ve personally been caught in a stampede at Euston and if things don’t change it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured.I still don't think there's any need to wait on the platform or certainly to board the train before it is ready - I'll wait next to the gates for the platform, go straight through as soon as it's announced and you're ahead of the stampede and get on first so you have your choice of seats, all without getting in the way of any staff
The way Euston, and to an extent Paddington, behave in announcing platforms less than five minutes before departure with the resultant stampede to the platform is a reason why some passengers try and get ahead of the game.
Absolutely. I will always use third party apps at Euston. Doing so has saved me a ton of bother over the years, not to mention several hundreds pounds of potential expense for hotels / additional tickets. I wish this whole situation could be resolved but as long as the Euston regime doesn't change then nor will mine.