Why no platform indicators at High Street Kensington on platforms 3 and 4?

[infobleep]

Why do platforms 3 and 4 and Kensington High Street have no indicator boards?

How does one know which train is going to leave first?

I was travelling from Stamford Brook and accidentally doesn't alight at Earls Court and ended up at High Street Kensington instead of South Kensington as intended.

After hanging around at High Street Kensington and seeing a train depart, I decided to go back to Earls Court. I then had a long wait, by London Underground standards, for a train towards Upminister, which would stop at South Kensington.

I arrived at Stamford Brook at 15;23 and I got to South Kensington at 16:19. Clearly, I did something wrong for it to take this long

 

[Dstock7080]

Apart from the weekend Olympia services, few early morning and evening services operate from platforms 3&4.
Today however Ealing trains are operating to High Street every 20mins.
There is an indicator in the ticket hall advises the first train to Earl’s Court.
Circle Line operates directly from platform 1 to South Kensington.
An Upminster service departed Stamford Brook at 1528.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Why do platforms 3 and 4 and Kensington High Street have no indicator boards?

How does one know which train is going to leave first?

I was travelling from Stamford Brook and accidentally doesn't alight at Earls Court and ended up at High Street Kensington instead of South Kensington as intended.

After hanging around at High Street Kensington and seeing a train depart, I decided to go back to Earls Court. I then had a long wait, by London Underground standards, for a train towards Upminister, which would stop at South Kensington.

I arrived at Stamford Brook at 15;23 and I got to South Kensington at 16:19. Clearly, I did something wrong for it to take this long

You won't get to South Ken from platforms 3 and 4 - they're only for trains terminating from/to Earls Court. You need platform 1 for through trains anti-clockwise round the Circle. Though if there's a long gap in the Circle service indicated, it can sometimes be quicker to get any District train to Earls Court (which could indeed be platforms 1, 3 or 4) and then cross over to an eastbound District from there.

If you actually do want to go to Earls Court from High Street Ken, and there's a terminator waiting to head back from 3 or 4, in the past I've used a combination of tactics: look at the P1 indicator, look to see if either route is signalled (though I presume P1 wouldn't be until the train was actually there, in case crossing to the Earls Court route fouled the route of an oncoming clockwise Circle, and (as with westbound at Edgware Rd SS station) simply asked the train driver if they were expecting to be first out.

NB - Stamford Brook to High St Ken must be a rare journey - I thought Districts to High St and Edgware Road pretty much always came from the Wimbledon branch or from Olympia.

Apart from the weekend Olympia services, few early morning and evening services operate from platforms 3&4.
Today however Ealing trains are operating to High Street every 20mins.
There is an indicator in the ticket hall advises the first train to Earl’s Court.
Circle Line operates directly from platform 1 to South Kensington.
An Upminster service departed Stamford Brook at 1528.

[This above response arrived while I was typing my earlier one...]

Aha - yes - the indicator in the ticket hall... though not much use if you're already down on the platforms and wondering!

But thanks for the other extra info.

 

[rebmcr]

look to see if either route is signalled

No longer possible as of yesterday.

 

[gmaguire]

Not knowing which train leaves first from Earl's Court is a constant source of headaches for me. If you're lucky, the driver of either train might mention it over the tannoy. And if you're lucky you might hear it. And if you're lucky they will be correct. And if you're lucky there will be enough time to actually switch trains, if necessary. And if you're lucky, but didn't pick the right train, the other one won't be held for too long. It's like musical trains. Ridiculous.

You'd think that the first in would be first out. Nope.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Not knowing which train leaves first from Earl's Court is a constant source of headaches for me. If you're lucky, the driver of either train might mention it over the tannoy. And if you're lucky you might hear it. And if you're lucky they will be correct. And if you're lucky there will be enough time to actually switch trains, if necessary. And if you're lucky, but didn't pick the right train, the other one won't be held for too long. It's like musical trains. Ridiculous.

You'd think that the first in would be first out. Nope.

That's part of the fun of the Earls Court interchange when heading eastbound on the District! (Though I don't use that connection often these days, otherwise standing in the middle of the eastbound platforms when there are two trains in platform both heading down the trunk section, waiting to make a running jump when the doors start to close, would be a good way to keep fitter.) Anyway, there's got to be a few places where Londoners can chuckle at visitors running around confused ... like changing between lines at Embankment!

No longer possible as of yesterday.

Aha - so does the automatic operation mean there's no visible [to a passenger] signal to indicate that the train has a clear route, ahead of its actual departure? And no junction indicator? Nothing - apart from seeing whether the points have been switched on Platform 1?

 

[rebmcr]

Aha - so does the automatic operation mean there's no visible [to a passenger] signal to indicate that the train has a clear route, ahead of its actual departure? And no junction indicator? Nothing - apart from seeing whether the points have been switched on Platform 1?

Indeed, I believe there will be a blue aspect displayed when ATO is enabled, regardless of whether the train yet has a Movement Authority.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Aha - so does the automatic operation mean there's no visible [to a passenger] signal to indicate that the train has a clear route, ahead of its actual departure? And no junction indicator? Nothing - apart from seeing whether the points have been switched on Platform 1?

Indeed, I believe there will be a blue aspect displayed when ATO is enabled, regardless of whether the train yet has a Movement Authority.

That's a bit sad, really...

 

[bluegoblin7]

Indeed, I believe there will be a blue aspect displayed when ATO is enabled, regardless of whether the train yet has a Movement Authority.

No lineside signals at all at Earl's Court (although there is a plethora of 'Route Secure' [RS] indicators for use in degraded working).

Once a train has been issued a movement authority and is ready to depart, all of the train's white bodyside indicator lights will illuminate; this is the only way to determine trains are ready to proceed, and are in use across the CBTC-enabled area.

 

[infobleep]

Well, I didn't have much of an issue at Earls Court. High Street Kensington was the main issue

Thanks for all your interesting replies. They clearly need more platform indicators at High Street Kensington.

I went to see a film at Cheswick Cinema and then headed to The Brompton Oratory after, hence the journey from Stamford Brook to South Kensington.

Stamford Brook is a nice station.

 

[LU_timetabler]

Well, I know this may come as a shock, but between Stamford Brook and Earls Court, the onboard train displays and announcements and possibly driver announcement at Earls Court would all have told you where the train was going.
Yes High Street Kensington is probably missing a fair few indicator boards, but once at High St Ken, I think the best bet would have been to go to platform 1 for a Circle to South Kensington. I'm constantly amazed at how many passengers completely ignore onboard announcements.