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When train software goes wrong

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BurtonM

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I was waiting for a TPE 185 to go home last night, and when it arrived the front destination board read 'C185 Unit 127 Car 3' and the interior PIS read 'Install car now...', however the audio announcements were working as normal.

New one on me - what had happened there?
Have you seen anything like that?
 
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D365

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Looks like the screens are in some kind of 'diagnostic mode'. I've seen something similar before on a Class 365 and Class 170.
 

Crossover

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Computer just needed a reboot :P

That did actually happen with Pendolino A Decade Of Progress (what a decade its been...) at Coventry a few years ago - the whole unit had to be repowered to make the PA work again
 

randyrippley

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Computer just needed a reboot :P

That did actually happen with Pendolino A Decade Of Progress (what a decade its been...) at Coventry a few years ago - the whole unit had to be repowered to make the PA work again


On an old-fashioned train you could have just closed all the windows and then opened them again
 

E_Reeves

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If often see 'Prienst aborted' on class 185s and 360s. Not sure whether it is a similar type of thing?
 

Crossover

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If often see 'Prienst aborted' on class 185s and 360s. Not sure whether it is a similar type of thing?

I saw the former once - I think there may have been an issue with the connections between the two connected units
 

Tracked

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One of the XC Voyagers I caught last month had something like

Train Going to Sleep

Showing on the display on the front as it pulled into Doncaster, can't remember the exact wording, something like the above though
 

headshot119

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One of the XC Voyagers I caught last month had something like

Train Going to Sleep

Showing on the display on the front as it pulled into Doncaster, can't remember the exact wording, something like the above though

You can manually key messages into the Voyager destination displays, there's been a few cases of funny messages like "off to bed" etc over the years.
 

Crossover

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You can manually key messages into the Voyager destination displays, there's been a few cases of funny messages like "off to bed" etc over the years.

The best one is "I Love You" and "Stop Following Me" on a coupled Voyager - wish I could find the picture online again!
 

gimmea50anyday

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If often see 'Prienst aborted' on class 185s and 360s. Not sure whether it is a similar type of thing?

Thre are a couple of units running with PIS/PA faults. Theres a controller in each cab but if one has fault or has lost its connection to the info controller computer then that controller wont work. This results in either the inability to set the PIS route code, or loss of PA or cab to cab communication or to the Passenger Alarms (the emergency alarm will still sound in the cab but driver has no choice but to stop) or loss of the internal or external text displays or a multiple of these symptoms. The system will still work but in a degraded form if one cab controller can still control the info controller computer
 

Bevan Price

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It seems also to happen with station departure screens, when you get either some kind of Windows error message, or some seemingly random computer code numbers / characters.

Inside trains, you also get wrong displays - presumably due to GPS errors. This can be "next station" out of sync and showing the station you have just left (or the same "next station" after every stop. )
 

greaterwest

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I was on a class 450 which was announcing "The next station is X" when it was on platform / just after departure, then "This is X" a minute after departure!
 

gimmea50anyday

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The GPS does rely on the stations being programmed correctly. For a while on NCL-LIV services huddersfield announced the departure as we were approaching and the arrival spiel once departed as the memory card with the PIS codes had been programmed the wrong way round
 

bnsf734

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I was on the packed 153 on the Nuneaton - Coventry service yesterday where the PIS seemed to think it was on the Coventry - Nuneaton leg of the journey.
 

40129

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The most annoying on-going issues with PIS IME are:-

1) LM cl-350s announcing the approach to New Stre4et 2 minutes after leaving New Street
2) ATW cl-158s not including the next calling point, e.g. after leaving Wolverhampton the screen will initially show "The next stop is Telford Central" but then change to "Welcome aboard this ATW service to Aberystwyth calling at Wellington ..."

Really wish LM and ATW would get these sorted
 

BurtonM

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It seems also to happen with station departure screens, when you get either some kind of Windows error message, or some seemingly random computer code numbers / characters.

Inside trains, you also get wrong displays - presumably due to GPS errors. This can be "next station" out of sync and showing the station you have just left (or the same "next station" after every stop. )

Occasionally I see lone station boards showing unit/network information, presumably they've lost their network connection.


Last time I was in London I was on a Tube train that had managed to desync itself and was announcing the wrong stations, as well as a 1992TS/Central train that started announcing 'this station is Bank' after the doors closed and the train was heading for St. Paul's.
 

E_Reeves

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It seems also to happen with station departure screens, when you get either some kind of Windows error message, or some seemingly random computer code numbers / characters.

Inside trains, you also get wrong displays - presumably due to GPS errors. This can be "next station" out of sync and showing the station you have just left (or the same "next station" after every stop. )

I remember a couple of months ago, the station screen at Banbury kept restarting themselves and kept showing the version number and make etc.
 

zuriblue

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I was on a coupled pair of 466s which crawled out of Victoria on the Catford Loop, we got to Denmark Hill when the driver came on, announced that there was a problem with the computer which wasn't recognising some of the traction motors and the train needed to be rebooted.

It took about 2 minutes with the doors closed and the lights out and then we were on our way.

The old 4-EPBs were simpler.
 

Envy123

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Yesterday on the Northern Line, the "closing doors" sound looped repeatedly while we went to the next stop. It stopped when the train opened its doors at the next station.

How does that happen?
 

Jonfun

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Had a unit where the pre-loaded trips in the TMS had got in a right muddle once...
 

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randompixel

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I'm sure this one is pretty common, although should never have passed a coder let alone a software tester.
 

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BurtonM

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Edinburgh to Newbury in ten minutes... If only XC could make Voyagers that fast, I'd understand the overcrowding!
 
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