Quick Question: Station Displays

[benbristow]

Just a quick question, I'm quite unsure on what to search for.

Does anyone here know how station digital timetable displays receive their realtime feeds? I'm assuming it's via the internet somehow. Do rural/'in the middle of nowhere' stations use 4G/3G etc to bring the times through or radio signals of some sort and in bigger stations are they ethernetted up?

Just a morbid curiosity is all.

 

[Saperstein]

Yes, stations use a broadband connection for booking office transactions and TVMs, so I would imagine that they are also linked up-to the PIS displays at stations.

I don’t know about rural stations where there is possibly no broadband, perhaps ISDN?

Saperstein.

 

[thenorthern]

There are antennas on some information screens at rural stations so I think that might be used to receive their information.

 

[Esker-pades]

The quality of the information presented on those screens can be awful. Because trains report very infrequently (every 30+ minutes) on those routes (I'm thinking the North and West Highland Lines here), the service can often be wiped from the board before the train has departed, causing much confusion. I'd rather have paper timetables and a help point for disruptions than an unreliable digital screen.

 

[tsr]

I'd rather have paper timetables and a help point for disruptions

The vast majority of stations (even remote ones) have those anyway.

Indeed, a lot of stations have had Help Points for a considerable time before CIS systems have been installed. These usually work much like a very simple mobile phone which can only dial the options shown on the buttons. (Also, there are or were some Help Points on the West Highland Line which have had something looking much like a payphone, but painted yellow and with just one button to push.)

 

[Esker-pades]

The vast majority of stations (even remote ones) have those anyway.

Indeed, a lot of stations have had Help Points for a considerable time before CIS systems have been installed. These usually work much like a very simple mobile phone which can only dial the options shown on the buttons. (Also, there are or were some Help Points on the West Highland Line which have had something looking much like a payphone, but painted yellow and with just one button to push.)

I am aware and have used them at various locations.